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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rabbi Warren Elf

Good morning, happy New Year and Shabbat shalom.

This new year has started with a great deal of turmoil, unrest and war in our world at present, with the overthrow of Assad and new leadership in Syria, war continuing in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, and many other conflicts around the world.

These conflicts spill over into our communities here in Britain and I continue to be amazed, and saddened, by the rhetoric and vitriol that can be generated through misinformation and misunderstanding that harms our relationships and community cohesion here.

The anger and fear felt by our fellow citizens in peace loving communities and the racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and other prejudices that are so prevalent, have really affected community relations in the UK.

Thankfully there are lots of people working to improve things in our communities and society. We may be unable to affect what is going on elsewhere in the world but we can be decent and respectful to each other. We can listen to each other and try to understand what each other’s fears, angers and concerns are about – and explain what ours are to others!

I really hope that 2025 will be a more peaceful and positive year. I pray for peace here and around the world. I pray that the injustices we see can be recognised and each one addressed, although repair may take a long time. I pray that we see the Divine and the humanity in each other and can establish better connections. I pray that we can join together to repair our world and work together, even when we have differences. I pray that, as it says in the book of Leviticus, we can love our neighbour, and the stranger, as ourselves.

Amen.