Here’s a prayer of thanks for the harvest season. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
Harvest Prayer
The yield arrives
Full and ripe,
Plump and ready,
Bursting in flavor,
Brimming with gifts
Of earth and sky.
Tree and grass,
Vine and root,
Blessings of the rich soil,
The gentle rain,
The constant sun.
Blessings from the flow of seasons,
And the work of our hands.
Blessings of abundance and grace,
The work of Your creation.
Blessed are You,
Adonai our G-d,
Source of Life,
Your bounty sustains us.
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This list of prayers and stories for Yom Kippur id divided by topic: Vidui (confession), T’shuva (Repentance), Neilah (closing service), Living in Holiness, Sacred Time and Death/Mourning. Here are several additional lists of prayers for Elul, Rosh Hashana and Sukkot. Here’s a link to yizkor and memorial 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 onFacebookandTwitter.
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 onFacebookandTwitter.
Regarding Old Wounds – Take your most crushing losses and turn them into a deep well of strength and love.
Living in Holiness
These prayers examine the art of living a life of holiness, focusing on attributes (grace, humility) and practices (listening for G-d’s voice, doing G-d’s will):
The Season of Return – This is a season of return to G-d, repentance and t’shuva.
History – A celebration of the gifts of history and memory.
Confession
Here are meditations on confession (vidui). Although they were written for use on Yom Kippur, they are appropriate as Elul meditations to prepare for vidui:
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Here’s a meditation to be recited after the Yom Kippur confessional prayer. It can also be used during the Hebrew month of Elul as preparation for the High Holy Days, the Yamim Noraim. It is the companion piece to “Meditation Before the Yom Kippur Vidui.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
Meditation After the Yom Kippur Vidui
For the sins I’ve committed against myself,
And for the sins I’ve committed against others,
I offer a new heart.
For the sins I’ve committed against my family,
And for the sins I’ve committed against my friends,
I offer new understanding.
For the sins I’ve committed against children,
And for the sins I’ve committed against adults,
I offer new restraint.
For the sins I’ve committed against men,
And for the sins I’ve committed against women,
I offer new vision.
For the sins I’ve committed against neighbors,
And for the sins I’ve committed against strangers,
I offer new insight.
For the sins I’ve committed against the powerful,
And for the sins I’ve committed against the weak,
I offer new wisdom.
For the sins I’ve committed against nations,
And for the sins I’ve committed against peoples,
I offer a new voice.
G-d of generations,
Source of forgiveness and grace,
For the sins that I remember,
And for the sins that I’ve forgotten,
I offer myself, in humble service,
To You, Your Word and Your Holy Name.
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Confession – vidui – is not a major theme of Jewish daily prayer, but it becomes central on Yom Kippur when a communal confession is traditionally recited five times. Here’s a new meditation to prepare for a thorough and honest self-assessment. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
Meditation Before the Yom Kippur Vidui
G-d of Old,
Judge and Sovereign,
Healer and Guide:
Today I recount my deeds,
The sins I’ve committed,
The blessings I’ve bestowed.
Today I recall my year,
The challenges I’ve faced,
The decisions I’ve made.
Today I reach into my heart,
The moments of anger,
The moments of love.
By Your command
G-d of Mercy,
I lay bare the secrets within me,
Light and darkness,
My gentle hand and my clenched fist,
My strength and conceit,
Anger and fear.
By Your command
G-d of Wisdom,
I open myself to see truth,
Beauty and degradation,
The holy and the profane,
The victorious and the guilty.
By Your command
G-d of Salvation,
I reclaim all that I am
And all that I’ve done,
My pride and my shame,
Returning to You
So that I may redeem my days
With awe and righteousness.
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This prayer is about naming G-d according to the blessings we receive. It’s another in my series of “quick prayers,” including: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon” and “Quick Meditation at Night.” The irony is this: the more time I take thinking about the words of this particular prayer, the more gratitude I receive.
To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The text follows.
Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk
G-d of Old,
Your name is Peace.
Your name is Justice.
Your name is Mercy.
G-d of Life,
Your name is Compassion.
Your name is Love.
Your name is Hope.
G-d of Blessing,
Your name is Truth.
Your name is Wisdom.
Your name is Righteousness.
G-d of our fathers,
G-d of our mothers,
Your name is in my heart
And before my eyes.
Blessed are You Adonai,
Your name shines throughout creation.
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For Summer
Heat and light,
Day overtakes night,
Warm air settles over the earth,
The land vibrant with growth.
Your creatures build and thrive.
Mornings, alive with motion,
As warmth surrenders to heat.
Nights, bursting forth with wonder.
Bless this day, God of seasons,
Bless the summer with energy and vitality
So that all of Your creatures
Enter the coming seasons
With the fullness of Your bounty.
God of time and space,
May this season be a blessing and a teacher.
Make me like the land,
Fertile with sustenance and beauty.
Make me like the midnight sky,
Sparkling with ancient gifts.
Bless my days with service
And my evenings with rest.
Make me like the summer dawn,
Vibrant, awake, vital and ready.
In Israel, Shabbat sparkles. Here’s an annotated list of my prayers, blessings and stories with Shabbat as the central theme. My (current) favorites are “Come, Beloved” and “Shabbat Settles on Jerusalem.”
Tweetable! Here’a suggested tweet. Please tweet it (with link): Lovely shabbat prayers and stories from @tobendlight: https://tobendlight.com/?p=3458
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During the seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot, the period from the exodus to revelation on Sinai, Jews count the days and the weeks. And so we remember the journey from the depths of slavery to the heights of G-d’s Holy Presence. According to mystical practice, each week has a theme (and each day a sub-theme) that leads us to revelation. Here are links to prayers and meditations for each week of Counting the Omer:
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“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
Here’s a prayer of thanks for the harvest season. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
