Spiritual Resources – Biblical Verse Bank
Our extended Kehillath Israel family is eager to share spiritual resources during these trying times. It can be hard to know what to say. Turning to our Bible, we are very much aware that a particular verse, although unable to provide answers to deep questions, can offer solace and a place for personal reflection.
For this reason, we are asking all our congregation and friends: “What verse do you turn to when dealing with the current crisis?”
Below you can read verses that others have submitted. At the bottom of the page, please use the form to submit a verse that is meaningful to you.
Ps. 122:7
May there be well-being within your ramparts, peace in your citadels.
Walking the streets Jerusalem when Operation Prote Edge first broke out, the Psalmist’s words sung inside me. They continue to resonate.
– Submitted by Rabbi Michelle Fisher
Jeremiah 31:16
כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה, מִנְעִי קוֹלֵךְ מִבֶּכִי, וְעֵינַיִךְ, מִדִּמְעָה: כִּי יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלָּתֵךְ נְאֻם-יְהוָה, וְשָׁבוּ מֵאֶרֶץ אוֹיֵב.
וְיֵשׁ-תִּקְוָה לְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ, נְאֻם-יְהוָה;
Thus said the Lord: Restrain your voice from weeping, Your eyes from shedding tears;
For there is a reward for your work declares the Lord: They shall return from the enemy’s land.
And there is hope for the future declares the Lord:
This pasuk is part of the haftorah read on the second day of Rosh HaShannah, which imagines Rachel crying from her grave as her descendants pass by on the way out of the land and into exile. G-d comforts her with these words, promising not only that the people will return, but that there is a hopeful future.
The current situation in Israel and Gaza often feels hopeless and depressing. There is so much loss, destruction, trauma and fear on all sides of the conflict that it is hard to envision a hopeful future. Our tradition reminds us to take the long view– there is hope.
I have been thinking recently about this essay (http://www.latimes.com/
-Submitted by Stephanie Berkowitz
Ecclesiastes 1:14
I observed all the happenings beneath the sun, and I found that all is futile and pursuit of wind:
-Submitted by Michael Mendel
Isaiah 62:1
For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still, until she emerges as a source of righteousness and salvation like a flaming torch.
-Submitted by Rabbi William Hamilton
Dev 30:14
Rather, it is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.
Nitzavim was the first parsha that I studied enough to understand. It is often hard to watch events unfold across the sea. It’s easy to feel distant from them, and detached. But though they are complicated, certain essential truths are not concealed from us, nor too difficult to understand, nor beyond our reach. Those truths are not unknown, are not accessible only by so-called “experts,” and are not the exclusive property of the strong or elite who can go get them. They are very close to every person, and intimately discernable, if we can only be still and listen. There is complexity, and there is a simplicity on the other side of complexity.
-Submitted by Susan
Deut. 20
“it is the l-rd your G-d who goes with to fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you.”
Knowing that Hashem is watching over the men and women of the IDF, that they are not alone in their battles!
-Submitted by Peter Levine
Psalm 63:2
O G-d, Thou art my G-d, earnestly will I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee,
in a dry and weary land, where no water is.
-Submitted by Lara Chicofsky
Please share with us a verse that speaks to you at this time.
We’d like to thank theTorah.com for conceiving this idea
Our verses are collected here. Please send in your verse using the form at the end of the page.
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