A few weeks ago, I taught the children of our Religious School about acrostic prayers.  In an acrostic, the first letter, syllable or word of each line can spell out a name, a word, or even a message.  Some of our prayers, like the Ashrei  (also known as Psalm 145!) give us a way to remember the Hebrew alphabet; the acrostic is functioning here as a neat mnemonic device.

The children had two words to work with: “Prayer” and “Tefilla,” the Hebrew word for prayer.  We will be reading aloud the beautiful work they produced tonight at services.  Spelling has been left as it was in the original 🙂 :

Please let me have your hands.
Raise my spirit.
And you love us.
Yes, and we love you.
Energy is what I need.
Reach my hopes.

Please god let this be a good day
Rise above us
And make it good.
Yes we know we make mistakes
Encourage us to do better
Relise that we try to be good

The day will start
Every time
For a kindness
In each others
Love and
Loyalty
Amen

Please help the people in need,
Raise us up
And make life peaceful
Yes, we love you god.
Empower us to be great people
Respect each other greatly

Plese help my famlily stay happy and helthy
Redeem the world and make less vilonce
And let ne reach my favrit dream in reality
Yes, help us make peace and happiniss
Enjoy all lives
Rejouce our famelys and frinds

Wondering which child wrote which acrostic?  Check out the next Shmoozeletter for the answers!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Barbara