Prayer for Our Country on Election Week; Parashat Vayera

TRANSCRIPTION
Welcome to another video from The Mindful Rabbi.

In our Torah portion this week, parashat Vayera, we read of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We know the evil and the lewdness and the horror perpetrated within the cities, and we ultimately see that God punishes them by their destruction.

The truth is, though, that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were not ultimately destroyed by God, but rather they were destroyed from within--from the fighting, the atrocities, the malaise of the cities. They brought their destruction on themselves.

This week we have our national elections. Some of us will be voting for President Trump, some of us for Joe Biden. Some of us might write in another name, and some of us might abstain and not even vote. I'm not here predicting a doomsday scenario, but we certainly know that this upcoming week and the weeks ahead could be filled with tumult, with angst, with infighting.

And so my hope and prayer this week as we're reading parashat Vayera and as we are voting in our national election is to make sure that, no matter what the result ,no matter who is elected our next president, we, unlike the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, do not destroy ourselves from within. And so my hope and prayer is that we have a safe voting period, that we come together as a community and as a country no matter the results, and that we make sure that, above all, we prioritize our community.

Keyn y'hi ratzon; so may it be God's will.

[Oooooooofj]

”We remember that in a wholesome state before the sin, Adam was commanded not to eat meat. Therefore we know that in the time to come, after the world is repaired, the heavens and earth will be revitalized, the nature of man and the beast will change to the majestic, then we will return to supreme moral sensitivity and accordingly it will be forbidden to kill an animal to eat their flesh.” (Rav Abraham Isaac Kook).
“And I will make a covenant for them on that day with the beasts of the field and with the fowl of the sky and the creeping things of the earth; and the bow, the sword, and war I will break off the earth, and I will let them lie down safely.” (Hosea 2, 20)
“And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them. And a cow and a bear shall graze together, their children shall lie; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw. And an infant shall play over the hole of an old snake and over the eyeball of an adder, a weaned child shall stretch forth his hand. They shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount, for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea bed". (Isaiah 11, 6-9)
Genesis- vegetation is man’s nourishment. The vision of the end of days- vegetation is man’s nourishment. One who is focused on wholesome worship of God will strive for high ideals.