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May 2009
Prayer for a Stillborn Child
Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin was a presenter at the JBFCS’s National Center for Jewish Healing conference, “A Loss Worthy of Grief: Jewish Approaches to Bringing Comfort After Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Neonatal Death” held on April 23rd, 2009, co-sponsored with Plaza Jewish Community Chapel and UJA-Federation of New York.
In her book, Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss, Rabbi Cardin offers Jewish texts and prayers, readings and rituals for parents struggling with infertility and pregnancy loss.
We are sharing with you below a prayer suggested by Rabbi Cardin to be said in the synagogue on the Friday night after the loss of a stillborn child.
Dear God, Healer of the broken-hearted,
we mourn today, we grieve for the one who could have been.
We mourn the one
who never knew the secret kiss
that comes with Your sacred breathing.
El Rachum v’Chanun, God of mercy and graciousness,
we have loved and lost.
Ours is the grief of dreams turned to dust
We pray that You have breath enough to regenerate our hope.
These "Spirituality Notes" are excerpts from our monthly E-newsletter. Articles are © JBFCS Rita J. Kaplan Jewish Connections Programs and may be reprinted free of charge as long as this credit line is included.
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