This is a simple prayer to remember the majesty of G-d’s creation. It’s the first of a series of prayers and poems tied to the parasha of the week. Some, like this one, will be repostings because the particular piece fits with the Torah reading. Others will be new pieces. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This piece appears inThis Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.
For Creation
Author of life,
Architect of creation,
Artist of earth,
Your works declare Your Holy Name.
Mighty rivers,
Turbulent seas,
Towering mountains,
Rolling hills,
Vast spaces of brilliance and grandeur.
You created pallet and paint,
Color and hue,
Shape and form,
Abundant and beautiful,
Glorious and majestic,
Full of mystery and wonder.
Blessed are You,
With divine love You created a world of splendor.
The Torah is waiting for you. Not just to study it. Not just to know it. To live it. This is the latest in a series of prayers that invoke a prophetic voice, prayers that call on us to serve the Source of All Being, including: “Let Truth,” “Let Joy,” “Let Holiness” and “Let Love.” Each one ends with a call to action. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The text follows.
Let Torah
Let Torah hold your moments
Carry your days,
Lift your years.
Let Torah fill your hands,
Nourish your breath,
Refresh your heart.
Let Torah sustain your words,
Enliven your deeds
Lead you home.
For Torah is in each life and each generation,
In the yearning for G-d and in G-d’s yearning for us,
The flow of secrets from Sinai,
Divine guidance and grace,
Calling out to you dear sisters and brothers:
‘Awake you slumberers!
Awake you who wander empty and lonely without wonder and awe.
Have you forgotten this precious gift?
Have you forsaken your past and your future?
Have you traded your birthright for empty promises?’
This, then, is G-d’s command:
Let Torah hold you,
Fill you,
Sustain you.
Let Torah guide you into radiance and mystery.
Study and learn,
Question and seek,
Hear and grow,
Lifting your life in sacred service.
Let Torah be your breath and your heartbeat.
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Today I walked to the tombs of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Moshe ChaimLuzzato (the Ramchal). It was a pleasant uphill walk of about 25 minutes, with a brief detour to the Chabad House of Tiberias to check directions. This is what came to me as I walked, with a remarkably different tone than my first prayer completed in Israel, “To Find Home.” It’s the second piece that I’ve finished on this trip.
Sages
Blessed are the sages who came before.
Blessed are the sages who’ll come later.
Blessed are the sages of our day.
Blessed is your heart.
For you
Dear sisters and brothers,
You too are sages.
The wisdom of the ages
Is in your eyes and on your lips,
In your flesh and in your bone,
In your laughter and in your tears,
Holy music that sings around you,
Radiance that dances before you,
Prayers that echo through you.
Blessed is the sage within you.
Blessed are your studies and your deeds.
Blessed is your heart.
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This story celebrates the love Torah and the great joy of passing that love from generation to generation. It’s great for Shavuot and Simchat Torah. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
Obediah
One morning, after his father went to t’fillah, Obediah the sofer’s son snuck into Papa’s workshop to write his own Torah. The workshop was so tidy, the surface of Papa’s desk clean and ready. Obediah took a sheet of parchment from a large wooden drawer. He took a jar of ink and a quill off the shelf and climbed into Papa’s chair so he could reach the top of the desk. He poured some ink into a small glass just like his father. And as he dipped the quill into the ink a shiver of joy went through him. Obediah would write his own Torah! The Torah of his father and his father and his father, who received it from the rabbis, who received it from the prophets, who received it from the judges, who received it from Joshua, who received it from Moses himself, who stood in G-d’s Holy Presence at Mount Sinai. And for a moment Obediah was there, he was there at Sinai with Moshe and Aaron and Miriam. Obediah saw the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. He heard the blast of G-d’s shofar and the deafening silence that followed. He watched as G-d held the holy mountain over the people’s heads. And Obediah the sofer’s son said to no one in particular, “Na’aseh v’neeshma. I will do, and I will listen.”
So Obediah began to write. Bresheit. In the beginning. Barah. Created. Elohim. G-d. “Yes!” Obediah thought. What could be more true and perfect and full of love then G-d in the beginning creating us in order of give us the Torah? In order to give me the Torah?
Just then, Papa walked into the study. Obediah looked up at Papa and looked back at his work. Drips of ink on the desk. Smudges on the back of the parchment. And three beautiful words of Torah.
“Papa, I’m writing a Torah.”
Papa picked him up and scolded him and told Obediah never to do this again and that Obediah did a beautiful job and never to do this again and how proud Papa was of Obediah and never to do this again. Papa put Obediah back in the chair, a tear of joy in his eye. “We’ll clean this up together,” Papa said out loud. But in his heart Papa said, “Shecheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higyanu lazman hazeh.”
And G-d looked down at Obediah and Papa and all the work which in creating G-d had made. And G-d said, “Tov Me-od.” It is very good.
Postscript: Click here for a list of all of my short stories. Click here for a list of Shavuot prayers and stories.
Please use these prayers. See “Share the Prayer!” in the right hand column. For notices of new prayers posted here, please subscribe. To read four to six mini-prayers each week, as well as notices of new prayers posted to the site, please join the To Bend Light fan page on Facebook.
This short, short story celebrates the pure, unbounded joy of loving Torah. It’s a favorite and great for Simchat Torah. Here are more stories and prayers for Simchat Torah, including a prayer “For The Gift of Torah Scholarship.” The image is from a poster created for my “Whispered Prayer” by sofer Jamie Shear. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
Motyl the Fool
Motyl doesn’t know a single word of Talmud. He can’t recite a single verse of Torah. But when he lifts the Sacred Scroll on Simchat Torah, when he holds the wood in his hand and the velvet brushes his cheek, when the song wraps itself around his heart, the parchment itself can feel his joy. Motyl dances, clutching the Torah to his chest and singing with all his might, “Torah orah, Torah orah, hallelujah!” One by one the words of the Law rise off the Scroll to dance with him. He dances with Breisheit and Shabbat, with Shema and Hineni. And Motyl the Fool can feel the fire of G-d’s Word. Motyl doesn’t know a single word of Talmud. He can’t recite a single verse of Torah. Motyl doesn’t need to. The words know him.
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 on Facebook and Twitter.
I peeked. Yes, once I peeked open my eyes during the S’hema. The tradition is to focus one’s mind uniquely on this prayer. To do so, many people cover their eyes. So do I. This once, I peeked. I needed to see. What I thought I saw — could it have been real? — led to this short, short, 108 word story.
To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
Mendel Baruch
One Shabbat morning, Mendel Baruch recited a perfect S’hema. His mind clear, his heart pure, his very soul declaring the unity of G-d. The entire congregation called out to heaven in love with heaven’s own words.
“S’hema Yisrael…” The chant rising from the men and women…
“The Eternal our G-d…” Almost visible, like smoke forming the script of Torah…
“The Eternal is One.” Like calligraphy drawn with song rising to praise the Holy Name.
When the words touched both heaven and earth, the angels joined the prayer. In that moment, the space between here and beyond was filled with Torah. And nothing, nothing existed but G-d’s holy word.
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Loving Torah is a way of life. This prayer is part of a series of prayers thanking G-d for various forms of artistry: song, dance, art. Why? Study of sacred text is an artistic endeavor, combining skill and knowledge with interpretation and insight. Here are more prayers and stories for use on Shavuot. This piece appears inThis Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.
For the Gift of Torah Scholarship
G-d, we give thanks for the gift of scholarship,
For wisdom, insight and understanding,
For the gift that unlocks treasures hidden in Your Holy Word.
You gave us Torah at Sinai
And righteous men and women to be Your messengers,
Revealing divine secrets stage-by-stage.
Hear this prayer for those who study Talmud and Torah,
Mishna and Gemara,
Zohar, Musar and Tanya,
The words of G-d to Israel,
The lessons of scholars of every generation.
Make their thoughts Your vessel.
Let heaven pour Your voice into them
So that they overflow with sacred fire
Drawing others to Your word.
So that when we hear Your mysteries,
Our souls turn back to You in joyous reunion.
Together, we offer the light back to heaven,
And rejoice.
“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
This is a simple prayer to remember the majesty of G-d’s creation. It’s the first of a series of prayers and poems tied to the parasha of the week. Some, like this one, will be repostings because the particular piece fits with the Torah reading. Others will be new pieces. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.
