Reimagine Torah. Reimagine Prayer.

Torah as poetry. Poetry as Torah. Prayer with heart and soul. Alden Solovy is a modern-day paytan, a traveling poet/preacher/teacher who uses Torah and verse to engage and inspire. Alden embodies the intersection of scholarship and heart. A new voice for ancient yearnings, his prayer-poems will resonate with your soul. His presence is sought after in Jewish spiritual spaces around the world.

Gratitude

On Acceptance into Rabbinical School

For most of my life, I have yearned to be a rabbi. Now, thanks to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of ...

Read
Holidays

For Bereaved Children, Revisted

This prayer is dear to me. I wrote it on behalf of my daughters 15 years ago as I witnessed ...

Read
Hopes

Words of Medicine

A prayer-poem about being at a loss for words to share with God in these difficult times. Somehow, this meditation ...

Read
IsraelPraises

Hallel for the Hostages

Since Covid, reciting the festival Hallel — Psalms 113-118 — in times of distress has been a recurrent theme in ...

Read
Holidays

Yom HaShoah, תשפ’ד

A Yom HaShoah prayer-poem for 5784, in the form of a vision, imagining how the souls of murdered in the ...

Read
HopesIsrael

When Will We Sing?

Tradition holds that the newly-freed Israelites crossed the Red Sea on the seventh day of their journey. With Pharoah’s army ...

Read
Holidays

Elijah and Miriam: Two Poems for Passover 2024

Here are two new prayer poems for Passover 2024 in the light of the October 7, 2023, invasion, massacre, and ...

Read
HopesIsrael

Posters, Necklaces and Graffiti

A prayer poem for the hostages held in Gaza, abducted by Hamas on October 7. We pray for their health, ...

Read
Hopes

To Hope Again

A prayer poem about the pain of losing hope and the struggle to find hope again, turning to the most ...

Read
Holidays

Light from Beyond

A Hanukkah poem about light. The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies — where I am the Liturgist in Residence — ...

Read
HolidaysIsrael

Al Hanism, 5784

On Hanukkah it’s traditional to add Al Hanisim, “About the Miracles,” to the Amidah and the Grace after Meals. How ...

Read
Israel

Thirteen Birds

Thirteen Hamas hostages were released on Friday evening, the first of a planned set of four releases, totaling 50 hostages ...

Read

To stay connected, please subscribe. You can also find To Bend Light on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

For prayer writing prompts, join my Six-Word Prayer Page on Facebook. Here’s a link to find out more about my books.

“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