We Pray For Life Poem by Shalom Freedman

We pray for life
And for forgiveness of sins
For the coming year

We pray because we love to pray
And in the prayer we return
To the music of our past
And again are with our parents and grandparents
Long gone

We pray because we fear
That if we do not pray
Our world will collapse

We pray and do not know why we pray

We pray because we have always prayed
And prayer is the language of our connection with God

We pray because we need to believe
That for all our needs and all our uncertainties
There is an Answer and Help

We pray because in praying
We bind ourselves again
To all those generations of Jews
Who in so many different places
Prayed to be home safe in Eretz Yisrael at last

We pray and we pray and we pray-