Groundbreaking Prayer

May 4, 2014 / 4 Iyar 5774

Rabbi David Stern

May the Holy One of Blessing bless this day of sacred beginning:
The ground we break here, the hopes we hold here, the children we will raise here.
May God bless construction workers and craft people and contractors and designers.
May every hand on every tool know it is doing sacred work.

Like any path on the way to a vision, this one will be messy.
And so we ask God to bless this mess:

Keep us patient with inconvenience, help us to find the goodness in detour and surprise. Amidst all the
noise that construction makes, may our laughter chime like ringing steel, our prayers sing with the
rhythm of every hammer and every nail, and the vision of what we can be peer through every gap in the
construction fence.

May this grand project remind us that we are all works in progress–and with each step toward the good
here, may we take steps toward the good in our own lives. So that while the construction workers and
craftspeople and contractors and designers are doing their work, may we never stop doing our own: the
work of justice, the work of healing, the work of strengthening this city, the work of strengthening the
Jewish people. While they pursue their task, may we never cease to do the same–in learning, in prayer,
and in deed.

Today we launch towards reality what we have long called the architecture of possibility. Sacred space
upon sacred space, galvanized gathering upon galvanized gathering, one heart’s story open to another,
one generation’s gift joining the gifts of all who have come before. That is what we begin to build anew
today: relationship upon relationship, heart upon heart, the intersection of each person’s story with our
people’s story, the weaving of sacred community--connect, connect, connect.

And so the perfect prayer for this new day is something very old. Two thousand years ago, in the ancient
Temple in Jerusalem, the priests would work in week-long shifts, and the change of shift would take place
on the Sabbath. The Talmud, 1,500 years ago, records this as the prayer that the outgoing watch would
say to the incoming watch:

Mi sheh-shichen et shmo babyit hazeh hu yashkin beyneychem ahavah v’achavah v’shalom v’reyut: May the One
whose Name dwells in this House cause love, kinship, peace and friendship to dwell among you.

Notice: It was not a blessing for the Temple, it was a blessing for all those who helped it achieve its
purpose. So may the House we begin to build this day be blessed, and even more, may it be a source of
blessing to all of us who call it home, and to all those we seek to serve: Mi sheh-shichen et shmo babyit hazeh
hu yashkin beyneychem ahavah v’achavah v’shalom v’reyut: May the One whose Name dwells in this House
cause love, kinship, peace and friendship to dwell among you. Amen.