Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day
**יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה
Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day**
Avinu sheb'shamayim — Our Father in Heaven,
We come before You today on Yom HaShoah, with six million names on our hearts — names meant to be forgotten, and not forgotten by You. "I have engraved you on the palms of My hands" (Isaiah 49:16). We say zachor — we remember. Let that remembrance make us watchful. Let it make us brave. And we cling to those who came through the fire still declaring Ani Ma'amin — their faith steadies our own.
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We come before You with heavy hearts and yet with hope. You are the God who declares, "He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). We stand on that promise today.
We lift the Land to You. Twenty-three people have been killed in Israel and thousands more wounded in ballistic missile attacks since this war began forty-five days ago. Rockets still fall on the north. Families are burying their sons and daughters. Yet we hold to Your Word: "I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children" (Isaiah 49:25). You see it all, Adonai. Have mercy.
We pray for the soldiers of Israel — in Lebanon's south, on Israel's northern edge, in skies contested night after night. Give them courage, give their commanders wisdom, and shield the innocent on every side. Your Word commands us: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem — may those who love you be secure" (Psalm 122:6). So we pray.
Lord, we hold before You the razor's edge this world now stands on. The ceasefire with Iran expires April 21, and talks have broken down — the sticking point being Iran's nuclear ambitions and enriched uranium. A naval blockade of Iranian ports came into effect yesterday, oil has surged past $100 a barrel, and the region teeters. Yet mediators say the door is not fully closed — that both sides are still bargaining, that a deal may yet be possible before the ceasefire expires. Father, we pray into that narrow window. Give wisdom to every negotiator.
We pray for the Israel-Lebanon talks opening in Washington today — the first direct official talks between the two countries since 1983. The declared goal is the disarmament of Hezbollah and a peace agreement with Lebanon that would last for generations. Lord, hold every party to that standard — and exceed it with Your own shalom. Let these talks be more than diplomacy. Let them be the first breath of something lasting.
But Lord — this is our deepest cry — we ask for what no agreement signed by men can deliver. We ask for the shalom that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). For You alone are "our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:14). No document brokered in Washington or Islamabad can substitute for the reconciliation Yeshua HaMashiach alone brings.
You promised: "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh" (Joel 2:28). Send Your Ruach HaKodesh. Let hearts of stone become hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Let men and women on every side encounter the risen Messiah — the Prince of Peace, of whose government there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:6–7).
"Even so, come, Lord Yeshua" (Revelation 22:20). Come quickly.
Until that day, make us faithful in prayer, rooted in Your Word, and unashamed of the Gospel — "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16).
Baruch atah Adonai, Oseh Shalom.
Amen.