Tag Archive for "mystery" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘mystery’

Chayei Sarah 5775: Who Walks So Near

Posted on: November 12th, 2014 by Alden

This is a prayer of gratitude for love, inspired by this week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, which includes the meeting and the union of Isaac and Rebekah. “And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted for his mother.” (Gen. 24:67) This is a love that heals. Here’s a link to “Gather Me,” posted for Chayei Sarah 5773.

Who Walks So Near
G-d of mystery,
Who is this
Approaching my life
With radiance,
With beauty,
With joy and thanksgiving?

G-d of majesty,
Who is this
Who walks so near
To my yearning hand,
My tired eyes,
My beating heart?

Creator of redemption,
I give thanks for this woman/man,
This gift,
Whom You’ve directed
With Your secret ways
To enter my life.

Let us build a tent of compassion and love.
Let us build a tent of kindness and service.
Let us build a tent of radiance and hope.
Let the generations gather in the shelter of our lives.
Let celebration resound throughout our days.
Let our lives become a blessing
To each other, our families and our people.

Blessed are You,
Soul of the universe,
Source of blessings
Source of love.

Postscript: Here, again, is a link to “Gather Me,” posted for Chayei Sarah 5773. My other prayers about love include: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “To Seek Your Love” and “A Heart of Love.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. If you like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Public domain images from “The Story of the Bible” by Charles Foster (Illustrations by F.B. Schell and others)

Sephardi Quarter Note

Posted on: November 2nd, 2014 by Alden

This prayer/poem is about the beauty of Sephardic song. The inspiration came during a class taught by Galeet Darsahsti at OSRUI‘s Shabbat Shira, an annual weekend of creativity, focused on Jewish music. Music is a common theme for me, such as: “For the Gift of Music,” “Sing Hallelujah” and one of my favorites “We are Music.” This appears in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Sephardi Quarter Note
If you listen
To the space between
The notes and the half notes,
The space between heartbeats,
You’ll hear quarter notes of love and yearning,
Ancient music of hope and sorrow,
Infinite in variation,
The echo of generations.
Notes that bend toward G-d.
Notes that linger with longing.
Notes that plead for redemption.
The voice of sorrow
And the voice of laughter.
Notes of surrender.
Notes that refuse to surrender.
Notes that cry out to Zion and Israel.

If you listen
To the space between
The notes and the half notes,
The rises and the falls,
The trills and trumpets,
You will hear a rhythm and a pulse
Calling out:
“Adon Olam,
Yedid Nefesh,
Shachar Avakeshcha,
Yodukha Rayonai.
Master of the Universe,
Beloved of my Heart,
At Dawn I Seek You,
My Thoughts will Praise You.”

In the space between the notes,
Dreams of G-d
Touch the core of being
To become music.

Postscript: Thanks to Galeet for including this prayer/poem in a recent email to her fans, as well as her suggested changes to this piece. More prayers incorporating the theme of music include: “We are Music,” “Life as a Symphony” and “For the Gift of Song.”

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: BuzzNet/Jewish Art House

Breisheit: About the Rainbow

Posted on: October 17th, 2014 by Alden

Seeing a rainbow brings an immediate sense of beauty and awe, a sense of the wonder of creation, which is why I’ve selected it for Breisheit. This is from series of prayers in the voice of the one who has a question that doesn’t need an answer. Other prayers in this series include “About the Heavens” and “About Shabbat.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

About the Rainbow
Majestic Sovereign,
Source of beauty,
When did You decide
To create the rainbow?
Was this Your design?
Or perhaps it was a
Fantastic discovery
The moment Your Divine Light
Burst through the firmament of heaven?
Did You know that
Your Glory
Could be refracted
Through a simple lens of water?
Or were awe and wonder created
When You first saw
Your own colors,
When You gasped
At Your own brilliant light
Arching across a deep blue sky?

Postscript: Here are links to “For Creation,” the prayer I posted for Breisheit 5773, and “This is the Place,” the prayer I posted for Breisheit 5774. This prayer first appeared on this site on October 5, 2010.

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: ScienceBlogs.com

Finding My Beshert

Posted on: October 5th, 2014 by Alden

Here’s a new prayer for finding a life partner, a “beshert.” More people have asked me to write on this topic than all others combined. It’s been on my list and unaddressed for years. I can’t explain why it’s taken so long, especially since I’ve written prayers for recognizing romantic love, “For New Love,” and about maintaining that love, “For an Open Heart.” Perhaps it’s because I struggle with the idea of a divinely-ordained life-partner. Note: language choices in this piece are identified by a slash “/” and optional inserts with [brackets]. To who are looking for a beshert, blessings on your journey.

Finding My Beshert
G-d of joy and celebration,
Of generations and futures,
Bless me as I begin/continue
My search for a life partner,
A man/woman for me to love and to hold dear,
A man/woman to love me and hold me dear.
For this is Your will and Your way,
That couples should bond to serve each other in joy
And to serve You through the fullness of family,
In mourning and in rejoicing,
Marking the days with thanksgiving and grace.

[My search has taken longer than I’d imagined.
Grant me the courage to continue
And the faith that my wait will be rewarded.]

G-d of our fathers and mothers,
Lead me wisely to a man/woman
Of character and strength,
Wisdom and understanding,
Torah and mitzvot,
A man woman of ____________ [add your own hopes and dreams].
Lead him/her swiftly to me,
A gift beyond measure.
Open our hearts to each other
And help us to keep our souls
Pure in service to each other and our family/families
All the days of our lives.

Blessed are You,
Source of blessing and love.

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכָה וְהָאַהֲבָה

Baruch atah, m’kor hab’rachah v’ha’ahavah.

Postscript: “For New Love” and for “For an Open Heart” appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: The Jewish Federation and The Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay

About Miracles

Posted on: August 8th, 2014 by Alden

This a new meditation in the voice of the one who has a question that doesn’t need an answer. It’s written, of course, in the voice of the Spiritual Traveler. Prayers in this series include: “About the Rainbow,” “About the Heavens” and “About Shabbat.”

About Miracles
Majestic Sovereign,
Source of awe and wonder,
When did You decide
To make daily miracles so simple,
So gentle, so quiet and so small?
Did our fear of Your Voice
Echoing from the mountain top
Push You away?
Or was this Your plan all along?
To show us Your Glory
In fire and smoke,
In the parted sea,
In the darkness and in the light,
And then to draw away
So that we would
Yearn for You to be near,
So that we would yearn
For your power and might,
For Your holiness
And for Your salvation?
Or are You waiting, patiently,
To return, again, with signs
And with wonders?

Postscript: Other prayers in the voice of the spiritual traveler include: “Come Walk” and “Rejoice!” See also: “About the Rainbow,” “About the Heavens” and “About Shabbat.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library

The Details of Beauty

Posted on: July 11th, 2014 by Alden

A gift for Shabbat. A reminder. A reminder for those in sorrow and grief, those who are tired, numb and especially to those who’ve run to bomb shelters all week. Shabbat Shalom.

The Details of Beauty
Remember
The details of beauty
With your eyes.
The autumn leaf,
A baby’s cry,
Small wonders to remind you
Of joy and wonder.

Remember
The details of love
With your breath.
The soft smile
And gentle hand,
Small wonders to remind you
Of awe and majesty.

Remember
The details of faith
With your pulse,
The quiet prayer,
The hymn of glory,
Small wonders to remind you
Of devotion and service.

G-d of Old,
The details of beauty
Surround us.
Love and faith are
Our inheritance.
Teach us to see clearly in each day
The small wonders
You set before us.
To take them in,
To feel their power
And to rejoice.

Postscript: Here are more prayers with a similar theme: “This Moment “Being Present,” “Leaving” and “Small Moments.” If you haven’t yet, please take a look at my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing, and consider ordering a copy, where some of these prayers appear.

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Let Me

Posted on: June 12th, 2014 by Alden

This is another meditation on living a life of joy and wonder, but with a twist. The core prayer is that our interactions serve to encourage and inspire one another to become our best selves. The twist: this meditation is remarkably intimate, a gentle dialogue between friends about majesty of a life together in service to G-d. As such, it may actually be a lover’s prayer, a marriage proposal or a wedding blessing.

Let Me
Let me be the one
Who reminds you
That wisdom and beauty
Shine through your eyes.

Let me be the one
Who reminds you
That power and courage
Are in your hands and in your heart.

Let me be the one
Who reminds you
That today is your day
To choose righteousness and love.

You are a gift of light.
You are a well of strength.
You are a message of hope

Let me be the one
Who reminds you
To sing, to pray,
To dance, to bless,
To feed the hungry,
To clothe the naked,
To free the captive,
To redeem the oppressed.
And you will remind me
To be the man/woman our G-d intended.
Then, together, we will be messengers
Of Torah and truth,
Bringing holiness into the world.

Blessed are You, G-d of All,
You call in us to use our gifts
To heal the world.

Postscript: Here are more prayers about love: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “For New Love,” “To Seek Your Love,” “A Heart of Love” and “A Moment of Love.” Several of these prayers appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Photo Source: Lovely Healthy Life

The Dark Corners

Posted on: February 15th, 2014 by Alden

Fear, sorrow and doubt cannot defeat the light of holiness, unless you let them. This prayer acknowledges difficult moments and emotions, offering the classic Jewish response to facing them with strength and dignity: Torah, tefilah (prayer) and mitzvot (acts of righteousness).

This piece is part of “Three Prayers,” in which three of my prayers are set to original choreography by Lin Batsheva Kahn of the Tikvah Company of Artists and original cello music by Desiree Miller of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. “Three Prayers” premieres in Jerusalem in June 2014 as part of an evening of dance and poetry by Miriam Engel’s Angela Dance Company. To listen to the music performed by Desiree, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

The Dark Corners
Fear lurks
In the dark corners of my heart,
Waiting to convince me
That love will fail.

Sorrow lurks
In the dark corners of my soul,
Waiting to convince me
That faith will fail.

Doubt lurks
In the dark corners of my mind,
Waiting to convince me
That wisdom will fail.

Rock of Jacob,
Teach me to shine
The light of mitzvot
Into the dark corners of my mind,
So that I face my fears with courage
Redeeming them with awe and wonder.

Song of Miriam,
Teach me to shine
The light of tefilot
Into the dark corners of my soul,
So that I face my sorrows with strength
Redeeming them with righteousness.

G-d of Old,
Teach me to shine
The light of Torah
Into the dark corners of my mind,
So that I face my doubts with honor
Redeeming them with holiness.

Postscript: This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book, Prayers from the Heart of Darkness.Consider using this as a slichot meditation during the month of Elul. Here are links to prayers about specific challenging emotions, including “Doubt,” “Fear,” “Anger” and “Shame.”

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

Fresh Delights

Posted on: February 5th, 2014 by Alden

This is a short meditation about the simple beauty that surrounds us day-by-day. It ends with a reminder that the wonder and the majesty that fills the earth – from the first bird of morning to the awe that surrounds us – “blossom” in praise of G-d’s Holy Name.

Fresh Delights
Life is a garden of fresh delights,
Blossoming with wonders,
Large and small.
The first bird of morning,
The fresh smells of dawn,
And the promise of awe and adventure.

Holy One,
Help me to see, to love and to cherish
This harvest,
This bounty of gifts,
This flow of sights.
Let me feel the rushing river
Pulsing in my veins.

Let me know the sacred sunshine
In my beating heart.
Let me thank you and bless You,
G-d of Old,
For Your steadfast love,
Day by day.

Life is a garden of fresh delights,
Blossoming with praises
For G-d’s Holy Name.

Postscript: If you enjoyed this meditation, you might also like: “First Bird,” “Come Walk,” “All is Well,” “River,” “Bird is Bird” and “Leaving.”

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Inside the (Hanukkah) Light

Posted on: November 27th, 2013 by Alden

This meditation carries an echo of Hanukkah. It’s about seeing, feeling and loving the light shining around us, and our yearning to be a source of light and hope for the world. Here’s the meditation set as a song by my friend Cantor Brad Hyman, as well as the article he wrote about it for Reform Judaism.org. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

Inside the Light
A rainbow shines
Inside the light.
If you could be the dew drop
You would always see it.

Stillness waits
Inside the light.
If you could be the sky
You would always feel it.

The sunrise dawns
Inside the light.
If you could be the horizon
You would always find it.

Freedom flows
Inside the light.
If you could be the wind
You would always ride it.

Beauty rises
Inside the light.
If you could be the sparrow
You would always reach it.

Mystery pulses
Inside the light.
If you could be the wonder
You would always know it.

Majesty reigns
Inside the light.
If you could be the wisdom
You would always hear it.

Faith rests
Inside the light.
If you could be the eagle
You would always hold it.

Your soul glows
Inside the light.
If you could be yourself
You would never leave it.

Postscript: “Inside the Light” first appeared here on May 22, 2012, the day I arrived in Israel. I wrote it on the airplane from Chicago to Newark on my way to Israel to make aliyah. Cantor Brad Hyman set it to music in 2017 and it was published by CCAR Press four years later. Other Hanukkah prayers include: “Lamps Within” and “The Season of Dedication.”

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Photo Source: Ron Almog

Posts Tagged ‘mystery’

Chayei Sarah 5775: Who Walks So Near

Sephardi Quarter Note

Breisheit: About the Rainbow

Finding My Beshert

About Miracles

The Details of Beauty

Let Me

The Dark Corners

Fresh Delights

Inside the (Hanukkah) Light

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