Archive for the ‘Guest Writer’ Category

 

Guest Writer: Hannah Greenberg

Posted on: January 24th, 2022 by Alden

My friend Hannah Greenberg is in her second year of studies at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Earlier this academic year, a group of students wrote their own prayers and meditations based on my prayer “In Praise,” which was handed out to the class to use as a kavannah for t’fillah. This is her stunning prayer, riffing off of Isaiah 6:3, which we recite in the Kedusah, “Holy, holy, holy, Adonai of Hosts, whose presence fills the earth!” “In Praise” appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, from CCAR Press.

Music of the Infinite
Music of the infinite
קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ
יְ-הֹ-וָ-ה צְבָאוֹת
Our voices join an angelic choir
To praise
To call out
To yearn
For the Divine

Music of the infinite
For the Conductor of the world
Virtuosic voices
Harmonies combine
To create
To join
To revere
The Divine

Music of the infinite
To sanctify
To recognize
To laud
The Oneness

Music of the infinite
We join
To seek compassion
To find greatness
To renew faith
In the Absolute

Music of the infinite
We are finite
We are infinitesimal
We are human

Music of the infinite
On this new year
We sing
We bless
We rejoice

Music of the infinite
All we can give to You
is our voice
Our soul

Music of the infinite
We join in
קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ
יְ-הֹ-וָ-ה צְבָאוֹת
מְלֹא כָל הָאָֽרֶץ כְּבוֹדוֹ

© 2021 Hannah Greenberg

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Postscript: Hannah’s prayer, which has timeless resonance, was originally written for Rosh Hashanah. Because of issues with my website, and being on deadline for a new book, this took me much longer to post than I’d anticipated. For us, I believe it is worth the wait. To Hannah, my applogies for the delay. Check out other guest writers here.

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul , This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” 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.

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Photo by Alden Solovy

Guest Writers: Students at United Hebrew Congregation

Posted on: January 2nd, 2019 by Alden

In the fall, as part of a liturgist/scholar-in-residence Shabbat, I had the pleasure leading a prayer writing workshop with students at United Hebrew Congregation, St. Louis. After talking about Jewish worship, the students worked in teams to write new prayers using an interactive, game-based process. Here’s some of what the students wrote. I added line breaks, capitalizations and some of the punctuation. The words are exactly as written by the students.

From Paige, Zacharia, Noah, Emily, Maxwell, Adam and Josh
One
Praise Adonai, our God,
Sovereign of the Universe!
Blessed is the eternal flame of life
And the holy spirit of Israel.
We cherish Your guidance
And proclaim Your holiness.

Two
Thank you, God,
For healing our hearts
And wiping away our tears of sorrow.
Help us with guidance and forgiveness,
While pushing away hatred and slander.
Grant us safety from war and protect our families

From Caleb, Spencer, Brian, Maggie, Kaley, Jacob and Russell
One
Sorry.
I regret running from responsibility.
Listen Eternal,
And answer my prayer.
May Adonai help us climb from darkness and sorrow
And bless us with rebirth of mind.

Two
Ruler of the Universe,
Heal my friend.
Heal my loved ones.
Provide my family with food.
Forgive our sins.
Heal and serve all, kindly.
Allow our happiness.
Allow my apologies.

Three
God of all the Universe,
We give thanks for You.
Grant us happiness, life and Torah.
Reach out
And connect us with Israel.

© 2018 United Hebrew Congregation

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Postscript: Thanks to Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg, Cori Neidenberg and the entire team at United Hebrew Congregation for a very special weekend. See also Guest Writers: Confirmation Students, Temple Beth El, Knoxville.

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: United Hebrew Congregation website

Guest Writers: Confirmation Students, Temple Beth El, Knoxville

Posted on: July 19th, 2018 by Alden

As part of the final year of confirmation class, Rabbi Erin Boxt of Temple Beth El, Knoxille, used my three books — including This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day — to inspire and teach prayer and prayer writing. The students also learned about prayer with me via video-conference. Each had the opportunity to write a prayer for their confirmation service. Lauren Sydney Dryzer wrote three prayers; Benjamin Garcia Margulies wrote two.

Three from Lauren Sydney Dryzer
One
Open up my eyes to see the truth,
And let me realize that I have been avoiding reason.
Show me what I’ve been hiding,
Adonai, show me the way to holiness.

I have spent years telling myself the same lies
That I need to conform:
Look the same, act the same, be the same.

The truth can open my eyes
So that I can see I am who I am for a reason.
Adonai gave me this body,
And it is my responsibility to treat it with kindness,
To treat it with love,
And to treat it like it is holy.

Two
Shine light on the darkness,
And cut through misperceptions.
Give me strength to take on this burden,
Adonai, give me sight to perceive lies.

The light of my life is in
The smiles of my friends,
The joy of giving,
The bittersweet ending of a chapter
That leads to a beginning.
Adonai, this and many more of your gifts
Can lighten up the world.

My shoulders are weary,
And it seems that soon they will break.
Yet, You let me realize
That true strength
Is not in pondering how much longer to go,
But in how far I’ve come.

Everywhere, lies persist;
They come from all of the people in your life.
What You have shown me is that
I need to fix this lie before any others:
“I am happy where I currently am.”
Oh, let me continue to grow,
To never be content,
And to always search for more.

Three
Guide me to opportunities,
And bless me with good fortune.
Ready me for the future,
Adonai, ready me for redemption.

I see a future with endless passion and charity,
I see a future where I don’t question if I love who I am,
I see a future with people living in coexistence,
I see a future where my generation changes the world.

I want a future with no poverty,
I want a future where every child has an education,
I want a future with no hunger,
I want a future where all communities work together
To help those who cannot help themselves.

I am the future of my parents and of my ancestors,
I am the future of my classmates and of my friends,
I am the future of my country and of my religion
I am the future of a movement and of a world,
And I cannot and will not surrender until this is the future.

Two from Benjamin Garcia Margulies
One
G-d you stand by me
Together we stand in the shadow of the big and small tasks before me
I know that you will guide me through the large
But I also ask for strength with the small
For I know many small things become a large task I thank you G-d

Two
G-d, whose plan is more masterful than yours?
In your pursuit to teach me you place challenges before me
Challenges I asked for help with
And help I did receive
You gave me strength to be persistent
And taught me to seek the help of others
And for that I must thank you G-d
And await the coming challenges you have prepared for me

© 2018 Temple Beth El, Knoxville. All rights reserved.

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Postscript: This innovative project — using my books as texts for confirmation students — was conceived by Rabbi Boxt. Rabbi Boxt has been a long-time supporter of my work and innovator in the use of this work. When he was at HUC-JIR, he was the first to use pieces of my work as part of a rabbinic thesis.

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: Temple Beth El, Knoxille

Guest Writer: Yoni Hammer-Kossoy

Posted on: May 16th, 2018 by Alden

A Shavuot prayer-poem by my kehilla friend Yoni Hammer-Kossoy. His poetry recently appeared or is forthcoming in Forage Poetry, Dime Show Review, the Sunlight Press and the American Journal of Poetry. Yoni is a featured contributor to Songs of Eretz Poetry. Born and raised in the US, he’s lived in Israel with his family for the last 20 years.

Standing at Sinai
We are standing at Sinai and the Torah is given in a heartbeat,
standing and the Torah is still being given

unfolding across time and generations.
We are standing and the others are in shadow,

those who came before and those who will someday come after,
but we feel them as a tree’s deepest roots

seek hidden pools of water,
as a tree feels in every bud the flower and fruit that must follow.

We feel them standing with us in every echo of their names
feel them say amen to what is, has been, and will be.

We feel them standing in every silent question and answer
posed and offered in family pictures

just as some future version of you or me
will feel you standing and hear your echo.

We are standing because that is the gift we are given,
and is the gift we have to give. We are standing at Sinai,

standing in the desert cold
and the heavens fill with sun like a breath overflowing and true,

the kind of breath you take to sing or shout or run for joy
because you can. We are standing in the lush summer heat,

nothing more or less than a regular morning
when a crow calls light, light, light

and the world keeps spinning.
We are standing, we are standing.

© 2018 Yoni Hammer-Kossoy. All rights reserved.

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Postscript: Find Yoni on Facebook and Twitter.

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: Shalom Hammer-Kossoy

Guest Writer: Rabbi Karyn Kedar

Posted on: March 25th, 2018 by Alden

Rabbi Karyn Kedar is a friend who has developed a set of Omer counting tools, both from my publisher, CCAR Press, the book “Omer: A Counting” and a set of lovely inspirational cards with photos by Chime Costello. Here are some of my favorites:

“To know when to reach and when to yield takes years of practice, years of prayer. To know when to be still takes even longer.” — One week and three days of the Omer (my birthday)

“We are summoned to live a better and lovelier life; calmer, quieter, more aware. And even when it is hard and we can feel the exertion of the beating of our heart, we must yield as much kindness as humanly possible.” — Two weeks and three days of the Omer

“When you speak of yourself, use words that are gentle, passionate. Speak of love, of courage, of perseverance, of strength of character, of fortitude. And then become the words you speak.” — Four weeks and four days of the Omer

“And know, of all the words I have found, kindness is the most powerful. It can transform the world. At the end of my days, the only thing I will regret in my life are times when I was unkind.” — Seven weeks of the Omer

© All quotes from “Omer: A Counting” are 2014 CCAR Press

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Postscript: “Omer: A Counting” and the Omer inspirational cards are available from CCAR Press using these links.

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.

Image Source: CCAR Press

Guest Writers: Avi Dell and Ze’eva Berman

Posted on: March 16th, 2018 by Alden

This is a mash-up of two prayers written in my “Introduction to Creative Liturgy” class at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. Ze’eva Berman (cantorial) and Avi Dell (rabbinical) are first-year students there. The first in-class assignment was to write a prayer for a moment of personal challenge. After hearing the prayers separately, I asked them to read the prayers together, alternating between them line-by-line. It fit. Afterward, Avi and Ze’eva reworked the combined prayer slightly, using it in student-led t’fillah. To capture in print the feeling of hearing it out loud, the alternative verses are in standard type (Ze’eva) and italics (Avi). This post is part of new addition to this space: occasionally featuring guest writers.

Untitled
I feel shaken and I feel scared.
Spiritual awakening is at your door.

I don’t know what will happen
And I don’t know how it will feel.
Cling not to whom you were before.

Stay with me through my grief, my joy, my emptiness.
Steady me with your constant presence of love.

Knowing that in your final scene,
You deserve to be anywhere but in-between.

© Ze’eva Berman and Avi Dell. All rights reserved.

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Postscript: Read the prayer of my first Guest Writer, Eliza Scheffler, also an HUC-JIR student, by clicking here, and my second guest writers, pupils at Temple Beth Jacob, Concord, NH, by clicking here.

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: DevPolicyBlog

Guest Writers: 7th Graders at Temple Beth Jacob

Posted on: February 8th, 2018 by Alden

Inspired by my Six-Word Prayer Facebook community, Rabbi Robin Nafshi, Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, NH, asked the 7th graders to sum up three Jewish prayers in six words: Maariv Aravim, Ahavat Olam and Mi Chamocha. Each student wrote a six-word prayer. The class put them together to make three eight-line, six-word prayers. The activity was part of a project creating art for a Shabbat Service. Here are those prayers, written by Alex, Anna, Emily, Judah, Julia, Rachel, Sam and Sammi. This post is part of a new addition here: occasionally featuring guest writers.

Ma-ariv Aravim
Ruler of all, Creator of life
You created Day, night, light, darkness
Earth is now whole, thank You
Thanks for giving light in darkness
Sky and night, light the way
You created us all, so thanks
Change is always happening to us
Thanks God for seasons and days

Ahavat Olam
We always love family and friends
I love God for everything done
We love You, You love us
You protect Israel and teach us
Thanks for Torah, thanks for Love
One God loves us through Torah
Everlasting love learned in the Torah
Torah teaches us, yet I wonder

Mi Chamocha
You saved us, gave us peace
You’ve saved us, we are thankful
The sea splitting, saving the people
God saved us, we thank You
Thanks for helping us leave Egypt
God’s glory is shown to children
Creation is everything, God is one
You saved us, and are one

Prayers are © 2018 Temple Beth Jacob, Concord, NH

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Postscript: I’ve begun offering workshops for adults and teens using six-word prayers as a teaching tool. Here’s an article on Six-Word Prayers by my friend and Eli talks companion, Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer. And here, again, is a link to the Six-Word Prayer Facebook community. Read the prayer of my first Guest Writer, Eliza Scheffler, also an HUC-JIR student, by clicking here.

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 and imageflip.com

Guest Writer: Eliza Scheffler

Posted on: January 18th, 2018 by Alden

Eliza Scheffler is a first-year rabbinical student at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. She took my class, “Introduction to Creative Liturgy.” This is what she wrote when I opened up an empty aron kodesh — the ark/closet that typically holds Torah scrolls — and presented it as a writing prompt. This post is the first of new addition to this space: occasionally featuring guest writers.

Prayer of an empty ark
Where did my Torahs go?
Did you usher them out into the world for justice?
Did they wipe away brutality?
Did they vanquish suffering?
Or were they stolen, burned, destroyed?
Left unguarded and faded slowly?

What will come of you now —
All of you —
Do you need my Torahs still?
Who will retrace their letters?
Who will read them?
What will we learn?

“Prayer of an empty ark” is © 2018 Eliza Scheffler. All rights reserved.

Hello! New here? Want more? Subscribe here to receive my newest prayers by email. 

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: Bass Synagogue Furniture

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