Here’s a prayer about joy, first posted for Purim and Adar. It’s also great for Sukkot, the time of our rejoicing. This prayer is part of a series including “Let Truth,” “Let Holiness,” “Let Love” and “Let Torah.” Each invokes a prophetic voice and ends with a divine call to action. Please listen along by clicking on the triangle below. The text follows.

Let Joy
Let joy spread across your face,
Flash from your eyes,
Beam from your lips.

Let joy quiet your heart,
Sooth your lungs,
Relieve your chest.

Let joy flow through your bones,
Awaken your nerves,
Caress your flesh.

For 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 hours and days,
Blind to hope and love.
Have you forgotten Sarah’s laugh and Miriam’s song?
Have you forsaken Jacob’s dreams and Ezekiel’s visions?’
Have you succumbed to fear and shame?

This, then, is G-d’s command:
Let joy hold you,
Carry you,
Burst forth from your words and deeds.
Let joy take you from season to season.
Dance and sing,
Celebrate and rejoice,
Lifting your life with exultation.
Let joy be your light and your lamp.

Blessed are You, G-d of joy.

© 2011 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

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