"May it be Your will, Eternal One, our God and the God of our ancestors, that You lead us toward peace, emplace our footsteps toward peace, guide us toward peace, and make us reach our desired destination for life, gladness, and peace.
May You rescue us from the hand of every foe, ambush, bandits and wild animals along the way, and from all manner of punishments that assemble to come to Earth.
May you send blessings in our every handiwork, and grant us peace, kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see us.
May You hear the sound of our supplication, because You are the God who hears prayer and supplications." Blessed are You, Eternal One, who hears prayer.

When Lisa Greene gifted me with T'fillat haDerech, I had just passed the Beit Din exam in London. My journey had begun when I was born, but over time there had been special paths, significant milestones.

I had contributed to the birth of a truly human being, who brought joy and motivation to her father, to me and to our relatives, and then to her people. Through tremendously bad and tremendously good experiences I had, at least, broken the bondage of 'don't even think about doing the job you want to do'. I had gained awareness of my body, also through awareness of the limits and the wounds of my mind, and I know how to teach it to those who need it. I had finally found my way to rejoice in my everyday life, in my work and in my adult education, despite the difficulties and the obligation (which I have always kept since my move to Milan in 1984) to be there for my parents in Modena. Joy is precisely this, it is not being happy in a bubble as long as everything goes well, it is trying to maintain kindness and trust even when everything does not go well.

Back in 2012, when Lisa introduced me to this prayer, my special path was establishing my personal and social life in London, my Jewish life, and developing a wholeness. I thought wow, this text is very suitable for me, because I travel a lot, because I love the natural and animal world so much that I can risk underestimating a danger, because my work is all about creating with my own hands, because I was a child when I began to talk to You and because I do not believe that sorrows and misfortunes are punishments.

And yet, I hadn't quite got it. In fact, after a decade of Jewish life, I still had not fully internalised this prayer, even though I feel that it is very much 'for me' and I love its almost primordial clarity, its simple complexity. I hadn't realised that the dangers it contemplates are not necessarily outside, they don't only just come in the form of external agents, from others to myself. As usual in Judaism, taking concepts only literally leads to error, or at least to limited vision.

This morning, in reciting it, I paused at the last part and thought: whoever created this prayer (btw, Kol ha Kavod!) insists on asking God to bless our handiwork and grant us peace, kindness and compassion both in God's eyes and in the eyes of those who 'see' us (not look at us, which is already a more voluntary action than seeing). We not only ask for protection from God (which would be enough, as if to say "You just take care of us and we're fine"). We also ask God that others don't harm us. I feel here a triangulation is suggested, whit each of us being an agent and being affected by the other, with God as a point of reference.

Since I believe that God is within us, I believe that God's quality of "listening to prayer and supplication" is potentially within each of us. Today I perceived the T'fillat ha Derech as an encouragement (no matter how many times in the past I have suffered for asking - not for material things, but for attention or dialogue, which for me it is even more important) to trust in the possibility of " supplicating" people, for something in which I believe. So today I have decided to start a project that I have been mulling over for a long time, which concerns the physical and emotional safety of the members of a couple or a family. And God knows I will need you!

Shabbat Shalom,

and Chodesh Adar Tov from LiOr