Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

 

Our Story

Posted on: April 8th, 2025 by Alden

At the end of the Passover Seder, people around the world say that we have told the tale followed by ‘Next Year in Jerusalem.’ Few, if any, actually act on that aspiration. In one sense, it is the impossible dream. We all — even those of us who actually reside here — aspire to live in the heavenly Jerusalem, the fantastic, archetypical dream of Messianic wholeness and peace, with the word of God radiating into all of existence. And our story is far, far from completed. I offer this, then, as a new aspiration to add to the end of our Seders. It is, in part a response to October 7, in part a call to remember the long arc of our history. My suggestion: say this prayer-poem followed by ‘Next Year in Jerusalem.’

Our Story
Our story is not complete.
Oh no.
There will be more highs
And lows,
But the ending,
Oh my,
Will be tremendous.
This is faith.
Faith knows
That our story is not complete,
And the ending
Is beyond
All our hopes
For joy and wonder.

© 2025 Alden Solovy

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Postscript: The research on the word that inspired this poem can be found in the book itself.

Please check out Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe and These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

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Words of Medicine

Posted on: November 13th, 2024 by Alden

A prayer-poem about being at a loss for words to share with God in these difficult times. Somehow, this meditation manages to return to hope; or, at least, what I call ‘the hope for hope.’

Words of Medicine
A long time
Has passed
Since I felt
Close to God.
And now
I have nothing
Left to say.
We sit together
In silence,
And I understand
That God, too,
Has nothing
Left to say.

Maybe tomorrow,
Or the tomorrow
After that,
We will speak
Together
In whispers
And prayers,
Gently hoping
To find words
Of medicine
As gifts
For one another.

© 2024 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight

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Postscript: With joy and curiousity, I’ve followed a poetic dialogue on Facebook, a conversation in poetry about communication with God. It began with Evan Schultz, who wrote about text messages from God, dedicating it to Menachem Creditor. Then Hanna Yerushalmi added her voice, then Emma Gotlieb, then Julie Brandon. (I hope that’s everyone..) It’s been tremendous to experience this call and response poetry. This is my addition to the poetic dialogue.

Please check out my latest volume Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe and my other CCAR Press books: These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo by Alden Solovy

Light from Beyond

Posted on: December 12th, 2023 by Alden

A Hanukkah poem about light, seeking hope in the darkness of war, terror, and hostages in captivity. The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies — where I am the Liturgist in Residence — invited me to write a prayer poem for Hanukkah as part of its series “Illuminating Chanukah: Artistic Reflections on Jewish Texts.” Each artist was asked to interpret a Hanukkah text. This poem is an interpretation of a teaching of the Sefat Emet “that each Hannukah candle draws from the or haganuz, the hidden light of creation.” For the full text, go to Sefaria.

Light from Beyond
When you look
With all of your heart
Into the flames
Dedicated to miracles,
You may glimpse
That special light
God created
On the first day of existence.

How comforting to know
That God’s holiness
And majesty
Still reach this world
Of war and terror.

How wonderful to feel
That God’s love
And blessings
Still shine
To warm our souls.

How glorious to see
That mysteries from heaven
Still wait in secret
To bring joy and light
To all of creation.

When you look
With all of your heart
Into the Hanukkah lights,
You will see
That miracles
Beyond our sight
Will one day bring joy and peace
Beyond our deepest yearning.

© 2023 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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Please check out These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: NOAA

The Density of Love

Posted on: July 18th, 2023 by Alden

A simple prayer/poem about love and hate, fire and water, written in the voice of the spiritual traveler, the one who knows, the one who hints at secrets, the one who loves you on your journey, the one who lives above the flames…

The Density of Love
Hate has a specific gravity,
A relative density to love
So much heavier,
Molten lava singeing water,
Creating steam.

O you hearts of gold,
You precious metal,
You live above anger’s fire,
And cannot be burned.

© 2023 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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Please check out These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: Image created on Canva

I Walked with God

Posted on: June 20th, 2023 by Alden

This is a new meditation on a sudden and unexpected encounter with the Divine. And a quick personal note: Friends, I’ve been working on book, music, and other projects and have not consistently posted new prayer / poems here as I have in the past. My plan, moving forward, is to return to being more consistent with sharing new work with you. Thanks for your understanding.

I Walked with God
For a fraction
Of a fraction
Of a moment,
I walked with You.
It began
And ended
So quickly
That it was gone
Before I felt
Your presence.
How is that fair?
How is that kind?
To answer my yearning
With desire.
To answer my longing
With emptiness.
To leave me with only
A shadow of a memory.
To wonder what
Could have been
If I was ready
For You.
Or maybe,
Just maybe,
You are asking
Me to remember,
To always remember,
How close
We can be.

© 2023 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight

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Postscript: I previously posted a preview of this meditation on a Facebook thread. After my friend and teacher, Rabbi Dov Laiman, wondered if even the briefest encounter with the divine should be a source joy, rather than disappointment, I added the last seven lines.

Please check out These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo by Alden Solovy

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.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo by Alden Solovy

Teach Me

Posted on: October 17th, 2021 by Alden

A short meditation on learning Torah from everyone.

Teach Me
Teach me
The Torah
That G-d taught
Only to you,
And I will
Teach you
The Torah
That G-d taught
Only to me.
For, certainly,
G-d taught you secrets
In order for you
To teach me,
And G-d taught me secrets
In order for me
To teach you,
So that our hearts
Would cleave to each other’s
Through G-d’s holy word.

© 2021 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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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.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: My Jewish Learning

The Language of Your Soul

Posted on: May 5th, 2021 by Alden

A short meditation inspired by Rav Abraham Isaac Ha-Cohen Kook‘s idea of the constant prayer of the soul, that our souls have a deep longing to be in constant prayer and that we can cultivate that yearning.

The Language of Your Soul
The language of your soul,
That fountain of blessings inside you,
Pouring forth in a river of love,
From you to G-d,
And G-d to you,
Sustaining life and creation itself,
Always seeking to sing goodness,
And beauty,
And truth,
Can only be summoned
From the secret chambers
Of your heart.

© 2021 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
Share the prayer! Email this to a friend.

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.

Photo Source: iBelieve.com

Source of Bread

Posted on: September 13th, 2020 by Alden

A meditation on physical and spiritual sustenance, and the power of blessing to summon a connection to the divine.

Source of Bread
What is bread
Without a blessing?
It feeds the body
But not the soul.
Let sustenance lead me
To You.

What is water
Without a blessing?
It quenches the thirst
But not the yearning.
Let sustenance lead me
To You.

Let life flow with bread and water,
With milk and honey,
With bounty and plenty for all.
Let no one go hungry,
Not for food,
Not for You
Source of life,
Not for You
Source of all.

© 2020 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings 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: Quora

Assembly

Posted on: September 3rd, 2020 by Alden

This prayer is the result of spending nearly two months studying the High Holidays machzor in preparation for teaching my “Mysteries of the Machzor” series. I’ve added references to the texts quoted from Leviticus, Numbers, and Jeremiah. I didn’t select the obvious source text for the second stanza, Exodus 19:6, because the verse from Leviticus adds another layer of meaning.

Assembly
When the children of Israel
Assemble before You
In holy convocation,
We assert the covenant,
The promises You made
To our ancestors.
We claim the right
To forgiveness.
.וַיֹּאמֶר ה’, סָלַחְתִּי כִּדְבָרֶךָ
Vayomer Adonai, selachti kidvarecha.
And Adonai said, ‘I forgive, as you have asked.’ (Num. 14:20)

When the children of Israel
Assemble before each other
In holy convocation,
We assert our kinship,
The solidarity we have
With our heritage.
We claim the responsibility
To be a nation of priests.
.וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ
V’amarta aleihem, kedoshim tihyu.
Say to them, you shall be holy. (Lev. 19:2)

When God’s love
And God’s mercy
Join our holy convocation,
In breaths,
In whispers
And in blasts of the shofar,
Holiness and forgiveness,
Repentance and love,
Become One.

:’כִּי כֹה אָמַר ה
.וִהְיִיתֶם לִי לְעָם, וְאָנֹכִי אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים
Ki koh amar Adonnai:
V’hayitem li l’am, v’Anochi Ehyeh lechem laylohim.
For Adonai says:
And you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Jer. 30:12,22)

© 2020 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
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Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings 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.

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