Posts Tagged ‘rejoice’

 

Vayetze 5773: A Moment of Love

Posted on: November 25th, 2012 by tobendlight

“…Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she tended them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.  And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.” – Genesis 29:9-11

After he sees Rachel, Jacob opens the well for her flock, a feat of great strength, and he opens his heart fully: a lesson in love from the third generation of our fathers and mothers.

A Moment of Love
Love is a well of strength,
A river of hope,
A fountain of holiness,
A moment for tears.

Love is in our arms,
In our hearts,
In our voices,
And in our eyes.

G-d of our mothers,
Let me be like she
Who tends the flocks,
Bringing them safely
To the waters.

G-d of our fathers,
Let me be like he
Who opens the source
Of blessing
To our lives together.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
Creator of life and love.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: My other prayers about love include: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “For New Love,” “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 Credit: Chabad Jewish Center of Massachusetts.

Thanksgiving Meditation

Posted on: November 18th, 2012 by tobendlight

img_0719Here’s a meditation to be used when gathered with friends and family at the Thanksgiving table. This prayer appears in my book, This Grateful Heart, from CCAR Press. Here’s a link to more Thanksgiving prayers.

Meditation at the Thanksgiving Table
G-d on high,
What an abundance of gifts
Arrayed before us.
Food, family, friends.
Your bounty and grace.

Let us remember those in need,
And those who are also present here in silence:
The fruit and vegetables picked by migrant workers.
The fields planted and picked by underpaid laborers
In the cold rain and blazing sun.
The clothing made by children in factories,
Modern day slaves indentured by poverty.

Let me remember those who suffer daily
Alone and in fear.
Perhaps someone at this table or in a home nearby
Is nursing a broken heart,
Or hiding the secret of addiction, violence, trauma or pain,
Someone whose sorrows and losses are judged and shunned
By our neighbors and our society.

Let this day be the beginning of a deeper love for all beings.
Let this day be the beginning of healing for all creatures.
Let this day be the foundation of service to Your world.
Let this moment be for rejoicing in all Your gifts.

Thank you,
G-d on High,
For the gifts placed before us:
The awareness of suffering and
The opportunity to heal,
The abundance in our lives and
Your call to share these riches
In love.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: See also “Life as a Banquet,” “An Amazing Life” and “Giving Thanks.” Here’s a link to more Thanksgiving Day prayers.

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: Sexton Farms

The Season of Building

Posted on: September 29th, 2012 by tobendlight

City_Of_Sukkas_In_JerusalemSukkot is known as z’man simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing. One of the major mitzvot of the holiday is to ‘dwell’ in a sukkah. So we build these temporary structures. This prayer for Sukkot focuses on how rejoicing flows naturally from the active choice to build a life of wonder and awe, integrity and honor. It appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

The Season of Building
This is the season of building:
Of building tents of holiness,
Shelters of peace
In our land and in our hearts.

This is the season of rejoicing:
Of rejoicing in God’s bounty and grace,
In the radiance and splendor
In heaven and on earth.

This is the season of thanksgiving:
Of giving thanks for the gifts of the land,
For gifts yet to come
As we delight in the wonders of creation.

This is the season of building:
The season of building tabernacles of joy and gladness,
In our moments and in our days,
In our homes and in our lives.
This is the season that summons jubilation and exultation
As we yearn for the great promise to be fulfilled:
A world of harmony and love
Under one great Sukkah,
A sanctuary of wonder and awe
For all nations and all peoples,
Men and women arrayed in the light of God’s glory,
Until the end of days.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: Here’s a link to more prayers for Sukkot. This is part of a series of prayers tied to various holidays and seasonal themes in the Jewish calendar, including: “The Season of Freedom,” “The Season of Dedication,” The Season of Counting,” “The Season of Healing” and “The Season of Return.”

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 Source: Wikimedia Commons

Cry, No More

Posted on: September 26th, 2012 by tobendlight

4give yoselfThis prayer is about having compassion for ourselves while repairing the damage we’ve done to self and others. I wrote it after my first Yom Kippur in Jerusalem, my first in Israel as an oleh chadash. I use it on Yom Kippur and during the Counting the Omer, day 10, “compassion in discipline.” It appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Cry, No More
Cry no more for the sins of the past.
Rejoice in your repentance and your return.
For this is the day that G-d made
To lift you up from your sorrow and shame,
To deliver you to the gates of righteousness.

Remember this:
Love is the crown of your life
And wisdom the rock on which you stand.
Charity is your staff
And justice your shield.
Your deeds declare your kindness
And your works declare your devotion.

Cry no more for your fears and your dread.
Rejoice in your blessings and your healing.
For this is the day that G-d made
To raise your countenance and hope,
To deliver you to the gates of holiness.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: “This is the day that G-d made” (Psalms 118:24) is used in our liturgy, including the service of praises, Hallel. Here are links to prayers for Elul, prayers for Rosh Hashana, prayers for Yom Kippur and prayers for Sukkot. Here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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 Credit: Gospel Newsroom

Awake You Slumberers!

Posted on: September 22nd, 2012 by tobendlight

“Awake, ye sleepers from your slumber, and rouse you from you from your lethargy. Scrutinize your deeds and return in repentance.” – רמב”ם

Are you awake? Are you listening? Are you fully present in this moment? Are you fully present in your life? Are you fully present in G-d’s world? When you hear the call of the Shofar on Yom Kippur, when the great Tekiah sounds, will you be ready to rise up and live a life in service to G-d’s holy word?

Here are links to five meditations about waking up to some of G-d’s gifts – truth, joy, holiness, love and Torah – posted now in anticipation of Yom Kippur. They follow the same rhythm and structure: an introduction of three short stanzas; the assertion that G-d’s gifts are present in the universe; a call to reengage with purpose (“Awake you slumberers!”); a reminder of what we may have forgotten; and a call to action.

Here is a taste of “Let Joy:”

“…joy is in the dawn and the dusk,
The silence and the great expanse,
The flow of light from G-d’s grace,
Divine wonder and awe,
Calling out to you dear sisters and brothers:
‘Awake you slumberers!
Awake you who sleepwalk through…”

Are you ready to “Let Truth,” “Let Joy,” “Let Holiness,” “Let Love” and “Let Torah” guide your life? Each of these meditations is aimed at helping us back to G-d’s gifts. And each of these links also includes audio of the meditation.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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Cancer Remission

Posted on: July 15th, 2012 by tobendlight

It takes a certain kind of fearlessness to fight the cancer fight. My cousins Marty and Evie had it. So does my friend David Eisenberg, a shining example of courage. David won his battle; Mary z”l and Evie z”l did not. This prayer is for all who have emerged on the other side of the battle.

This is from a series of prayers that I’ve written to be said at various stages of the disease. I’m not posting them in sequence of the disease process. I posted “For Cancer Treatment” when my cousins were diagnosed and two Hospice Prayers when hospice care became their next steps. David’s victory is cause to publish this prayer: for him and everyone fighting this disease. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Cancer Remission
G-d of blessing,
G-d of wholeness,
My cancer treatment has been successful
And my disease is now in remission.
The battle has been long and arduous.
The fight has taken its toll.
I have faced many traumas in this struggle.
I have received many gifts.

As my body and spirit begin to grow stronger,
I turn my energy toward spiritual and emotional renewal.
Thank you for the knowledge, insight and perseverance
Of my physicians, nurses and caregivers
As they worked toward my healing and recovery.
Thank you for the steadfast support of my family and friends.
Thank you for the gift of recovery.

G-d of life,
Grant me strength.
Keep me free of this and any cancer.
Protect my soul and my spirit.
Grant scientists and researchers tools and understanding
To develop new treatments for this disease, speedily, in our days.

Blessed are You,
G-d of gifts and blessings,
G-d of health and healing,
Source of life.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Other healing prayers include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically Ill Father” and “For Healing the Spirit.” Thanks to the friends and family who assisted with writing the series of cancer prayers. Most asked not to be named. You know who you are. I appreciate your wisdom.

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Thanksgiving Prayers

Posted on: November 15th, 2011 by tobendlight

horn-of-plentyHere are links to prayers that would make lovely additions to your Thanksgiving Day, including one-line excerpts and brief descriptions. Click on the title to read the entire prayer:

  • Giving Thanks – “To whom shall I give this grateful heart, this joy that shines through the center of my being?” A reminder to live with gratitude and love.
  • One Gift – “You, Holy One, are the Source of all gifts, the
    Source of all blessings.” To remember our gifts.
  • Meditation at the Thanksgiving Table – “Let us remember those in need.” A prayer to be said together.
  • A Moment of Blessing – “This is a moment of blessing. Blessings given. Blessings received…” Right here, this very moment, blessings abound.
  • This Bounty – “In gratitude for these gifts, Holy One, Bless me with wisdom to use them with skill…” A prayer of thanksgiving.
  • An Amazing Life – “This is an amazing life, a river of blessings, a gift to cherish in awe and wonder.” A prayer of gratitude for this amazing life.
  • Harvest Prayer – “The yield arrives full and ripe, plump and ready, bursting in flavor, brimming with gifts…” In thanks and praise for the gifts of the land.
  • For Autumn – “G-d of time and space, may this season be a blessing and a teacher…” A prayer for the autumn season.
  • Life as a Banquet  – “Grant me the grace to live my life as a banquet, a river of abundance and blessing…” The banquet of your life is full. Share your gifts.

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: Mentoring Moments

Beauty Dances

Posted on: October 9th, 2011 by tobendlight

sukkotThis is a Sukkot prayer about the beauty that arrives with this festival of joy, and the call to bring that beauty into the world. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Beauty Dances
Beauty dances
With us
Whenever we build
A tabernacle
To God’s holy Name.

Love sings
With us
Whenever we rejoice
In gladness
On God’s festive days.

Peace cries
With us
Whenever we yearn
In prayer
For God’s holy shelter.

Come,
Let us build this place,
This tabernacle where we praise,
With all of our hearts,
God’s pardon and promise.
Let us build this place,
Where we delight,
With thanksgiving and wonder,
In God’s bounty and gifts.

Come,
Let us build this place,
This sukkat shalom,
This shelter of peace,
Where beauty dances
And love sings.
Where peace cries out:
Build, build,
You Children of Israel,
A tent of holiness,
Strong and true.
Build it in your heart,
In your home,
In your life,
In God’s world.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: This appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim.

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 Source: The Toronto Centre

Simchat Torah Prayers

Posted on: October 9th, 2011 by tobendlight

Hebrew_Sefer_Torah_scrollStories and prayers for Simchat Torah, when Jews all over the world rejoice in the gift of the Torah. Here are three short, short stories and several prayers about Torah and Torah scholarship:

Stories

On Torah

Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim. Here are focused lists of prayers for Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Simchat Torah. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Sukkot Prayers

Posted on: October 1st, 2011 by tobendlight

IMG_6231Here’s a list of prayers for Sukkot with brief descriptions, divided by topic: “Joy,” “Harvest Season” and “Sukkah: Physical home, Spiritual home.” To read a prayer, click on the title. If you read only one of them, go for “Beauty Dances,” but this is a lovely list. Try a few. Here are prayers for Simchat Torah.

Joy
Sukkot is z’man simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing:

  • Rejoice! – A prayer/poem about embodying joy
  • For Joy – About finding joy in the face of loss
  • Let Joy – Awake to the joy around you

Harvest Season
Prayers of thanks for G-d’s gifts:

Sukkah: Physical Home, Spiritual Home
Prayers about the meaning of home:

Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim. Here’s a focused list of prayers for Elul, another one of prayers for Rosh Hashana and one of prayers for Yom Kippur. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

Click here to tweet this: Beautiful! Prayers and meditations for Sukkot from @ToBendLight https://tobendlight.com/?p=4167

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 Source: Alden Solovy; this was my 5774 (2013) Sukkah.

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

“Mesmerizing, spiritual, provocative, and thoughtful, Alden was everything you would want in a guest scholar and teacher.” – Rabbi Denise L. Eger, Congregation Kol Ami, Los Angeles, and Past President, CCAR

"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023

“Alden left everyone feeling inspired.” – Cantor Jeri Robins, Shabbat Chair, NewCAJE6