Posts Tagged ‘Shema and its blessings’

 

Heart, Soul, Might

Posted on: August 15th, 2020 by Alden

Here’s a new meditation on the Shema. My other meditations on the Shema include “Affirmation of Faith” and “Gathering: A Dream of Reunion.”

Heart, Soul, Might
When you choose
ואהבת (v’ahavta)
To love
את יהוה אלהיך (et Adonai Elohecha)
Adonai your G-d
בכל-לבבך (b’chol l’va-v’cha),
With all your heart,
You must choose
To love yourself
The way G-d
Already does.

When you choose
ואהבת (v’ahavta)
To love
את יהוה אלהיך (et Adonai Elohecha)
Adonai your G-d
בכל-נפשך (b’chol nafshe’cha),
With all your soul,
You must choose
To love others
The way G-d
Already does.

When you choose
ואהבת (v’ahavta)
To love
את יהוה אלהיך (et Adonai Elohecha)
Adonai your G-d
בכל-מאדך (b’chol me’odeh’cha),
With all your might,
You must choose
To love creation
The way G-d
Already does.

When you choose
To love everything and everyone
The way G-d already does,
You will flow with grace
Through the river of life
To the Soul of the universe.

,למען תזכרו ועשיתם את-כל-מצותי
.והייתם קדשים לאלהיכם
L’maan tizk’ru, vaasitem et-kol-mitzvotai,
Vihyitem k’doshim l’Eloheichem.
Be mindful of my mitzvot and do them,
And you will become holy unto your God.

© 2020 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

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Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings 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: Orthodox Christian Network

Two Ravens

Posted on: January 6th, 2019 by Alden

This is the first of what will certainly be several new pieces inspired by my renewed learning at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. The idea that the raven Noah sent from the ark after the flood foreshadowed ravens feeding the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17:4) came up in Rabbi Meir Schweiger‘s Tanach class. The timing was uncanny. At the time I was enjoying The Key of Rain, co-authored by my teacher Rav Mike Feuer, which uses that prophecy in the story. Meanwhile, my Rambam class, taught by Rabbi Levi Cooper, was learning Hilchot Yesodi HaTorah on prophecy. The final stanza of this piece alludes to Masechet Brachot Mishna 1:1 from my class with Raḥel Berkovits.

Two Ravens
Two ravens
Flying over the hills
Can be seen
As messengers of G-d
If you look
With prophet’s eyes.

A fox
Scavenging in the Temple ruins
Can be seen
As a sign of redemption
If you look
With sage’s eyes.

You children of Israel,
Awake!
You are surrounded by mysteries,
Bathed in holiness,
The light bursting freely from ancient wisdom.
If only you would look with your heart.
If only you would see with your soul.
Then, the secrets of gratitude and wonder
Would dance with you
Like wedding guests
Yearning for communion
With G-d’s Holy Word.

© 2018 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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Postscript:  This piece comes as a bit of a surprise, inasmuch as it reflects a synthesis of learning from multiple teachers from materials both in and out of class. In the past, my experience of being inspired by Jewish learning has been that one class meeting can (but doesn’t necessarily) lead to one new idea and one new prayer.

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 Key of Rain, cover illustration used with permission

Va’etchanan: Affirmation of Faith

Posted on: July 29th, 2015 by Alden

Shema Shirt

This week’s Torah portion, Va’etchanan, includes both the 10 Commandments and the bold declaration of our belief in G-d, the sine qua non of Jewish affirmations, the Shema. [Deuteronomy 6:4] This prayer weaves two paragraphs about the love of God – and dedication to mitzvot – into the words of the Shema. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Affirmation of Faith

Hear O Israel,

The covenant we made
Together on Sinai
Is a pledge for all time,
A vow for the ages,
To do and to listen
To teach and to learn
With the fullness of our hearts
From the depths of our souls
And the strength of our being
Binding ourselves to

Adonai Our G-d

With Torah and Mitzvot,
Binding our lives to each other
With righteousness and charity,
So that blessings will rain down from heaven
To feed our hearts and fill our land
With G-d’s abundant gifts,
The brilliance and wonder
That flow from service to G-d’s Holy Word,
In remembrance of creation
And our liberation from slavery,
Declaring throughout the generations:

G-d is One,

G-d is One,
G-d is One.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃‎

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

Postscript: This prayer was originally written for a conversion reaffirmation ceremony, which is discussed in the original post of December 10, 2013. Here’s a link to a meditation called “Doubt,” representing a radically different approach to finding faith.

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: Hebrew TShirts

Affirmation of Faith

Posted on: October 16th, 2012 by tobendlight

Shema ShirtThis is an affirmation of faith built around the sine qua non of Jewish affirmations: the Shema. It can be used many ways, such as a conversion ceremony or as a meditation before a bar or bat mitzvah. I’ve also included it in my liturgy for Yom HaShoah. This piece appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Affirmation of Faith

Hear O Israel,

The covenant we made
Together on Sinai
Is a pledge for all time,
A vow for the ages,
To do and to listen
To teach and to learn
With the fullness of our hearts
From the depths of our souls
And the strength of our being
Binding ourselves to

Adonai Our G-d

With Torah and Mitzvot,
Binding our lives to each other
With righteousness and charity,
So that blessings will rain down from heaven
To feed our hearts and fill our land
With G-d’s abundant gifts,
The brilliance and wonder
That flow from service to G-d’s Holy Word,
In remembrance of creation
And our liberation from slavery,
Declaring throughout the generations:

G-d is One,

G-d is One,
G-d is One.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃‎

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

Postscript: Here’s a link to a meditation called “Doubt,” representing a radically different approach to finding faith. I wrote this prayer after my friend Roberta asked if I had a prayer she might use as part of reaffirming her conversion after 30 years. I was taught that conversion is the result of the soul’s recognition of itself as having been present on Sinai during revelation. So conversion is the process of education and action to manifest a pre-existing truth. So why would a prayer of affirmation make reference to the conversion itself? Shouldn’t it be a prayer that any Jew can use, in joy or in grief, whether to affirm faith 30 years post-conversion or 30 seconds after a tragedy?

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: Hebrew TShirts

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