Last week’s Shabbat was filled with joyful celebrations: a wedding blessing, a baby naming, a bar mitzvah, lots of children present and eager to open our ark, and the installation of our new Board. At the end of the service, we closed with a setting of Debbie Friedman’s T’filat HaDerech, a blessing that we recite any time we embark on a journey or any time we enter a new chapter in our lives. We ask to be blessed as we go on our way and to be guided by God’s peace in whatever the next chapter may hold.
A traveler’s prayer was originally discussed in Talmut B’rachot and has been included in many variations in our siddurim (prayer books) for centuries. Now that it is summer, so many of us plan to or have already embarked on journeys: starting new sessions at camp, enjoying a new chapter at work or in retirement, and literal travels that may have been postponed or rescheduled any number of times. Whatever adventures you are embarking on this summer, may they be ones of excitement, self-exploration, joy, fulfillment, and hopefully relaxation.
I hope my own interpretation of T’filat HaDerech, this blessing for new directions, will serve as inspiration and blessing for you on your journeys this summer, wherever they may lead you.
—Cantor Emma Lutz
A Blessing for Our Travels: May it be Your will, our God and the God of our ancestors, that You lead us toward peace, guide our footsteps, and help us reach our desired destination for life, gladness, adventure, and peace. May You rescue us from any ambush along the way, from any insurmountable challenge, any wave that attempts to crash over us. May You remind us to pack everything that we need, from sunscreen to the perfect book. May we find real rest on our days off the road, sustaining us for the year ahead. May You send blessing and guidance as we take each step, and may we treat others well in Your eyes and in the eyes of those we meet. May we be open to learning new things about the places we visit and the person we are becoming as we learn. May You hear the sound of our humble request because You are God Who hears prayer requests. Blessed are You, God, who listens to our prayer and guides our every step.