TIMELESS PRAYER

I found this timeless prayer in a temple during a bar mitzvah service in 1990. Losing interest during a long talk by the rabbi, I picked up the prayer book and randomly opened it. At the top of the page was this quatrain; 

                    Send help to the falling

                    And healing to the sick

                    Bring freedom to the captive

                    Keep faith with those who sleep in the dust.

I found that these lines are part of a standing prayer called the Amidah. It was written in Jerusalem 2,500 years ago in response to the destruction of the First Temple and the deportation of the Jews to Babylon.

Why are these social ills still unresolved?  

During the next five years, I realized making a large painting for each line was my standing prayer.

- Donald Cole, 2021