Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

 

To Pray

Posted on: April 24th, 2012 by tobendlight

prayer-conversations-with-god_Why do I want a heart of prayer? So that I can sing G-d’s praises fully, deeply, from my entire being. It’s another prayer about prayer, such as: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

To Pray
G-d, bless me with a heart of prayer:
To lift my voice,
To sing Your praise,
To extol Your wisdom,
To recall Your deeds,
To proclaim Your glory,
To declare Your majesty,
To recount Your ways,
To remember Your works,
To delight in Your gifts,
To rejoice in Your Word.

Let prayer flow from my lips.
Let me join the song of my people,
Filling the realms above
And the realms below
With joy and wonder,
So that holiness, radiance and awe,
Walk with us
Throughout our days.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: See also: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk,” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and TwitterPlease consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. 

 

Photo Source: First Baptist Church of Glenns Ferry

Sing Out

Posted on: April 10th, 2012 by tobendlight

sing_7469Singing is a powerful expression of prayer. It can bring awe, mystery and holiness. No wonder that whenever I feel the light of G-d’s gifts enter my life, I want to sing out. Here’s a prayer that calls on us to celebrate Divine gifts with song. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

Sing Out
When you feel the light of holiness,
The radiance of love,
The shimmering of glory,
The luminous glow of spirit…

When you inhale wonder
And exhale awe…

When mystery and majesty flow
Through your pulsing veins…

When G-d’s whisper becomes a thundering
Blast of the Shofar…

When your soul remembers its
Place in the heavens…

Sing out!
Sing out your joy.
Sing out your praise.

When you feel the light of Torah,
The radiance of Mitzvot,
The shimmering of prayer,
The luminous glow of loving-kindness…

Sing out!
Sing out to G-d.
Your voice will join the chorus of angels
And your heart will know
The secret of eternity.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are three related prayers: “For the Gift of Song,” “Sing Hallelujah” and “A Song that Holds My Heart.”

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

Photo Source: Yoga Sanctuary

Two Years of Prayer

Posted on: March 22nd, 2012 by tobendlight

We pray. Why? Many reasons. To connect with G-d. To connect with others. To connect with ourselves. And we use prayers in unique ways. Prayers from To Bend Light have been used in worship services, memorial services, 9/11 commemorations, in hospital rooms, Veterans Day services, as an introduction to a family genealogy, in a cookbook/fundraiser for first responders, two rabbinic theses and even as an epitaph on a headstone. (For complete information on reprints, permissions, using and posting these prayers, see “Share the Prayer!”)

Today marks the second anniversary of sharing my prayers online. So far the prayers, poems and stories posted here have been read more 42,000 times by people in 49 nations. Thank you for your connection and commitment to prayer. Thank you for your ideas and suggestions. And thank you for taking time to read and listen to my words.

The site now has 272 posts, including 215 original prayers and 12 short stories. I’ve also begun posting notes to help readers use these prayers, such as lists of prayers related to specific holidays and seasons like Passover and Counting the Omer, or to find specific topics, like Prayers for Social Justice and Yizkor and Memorial Prayers.

Here are a few of my favorite new pieces posted this year:

My Liturgy for 9-11 was read most often in the past year, driven in large part by the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

Special thanks to Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Brenda Epstein, Alan Schwartz, Gail Hopke, Susan Diamond, Rabbi Paul Kipnes, Fran Rossi Szpylczyn, Rev. Naomi, Rev. Jennifer Danielle Crumpton, Boysen Hodgson and Pastor Austin Fleming, as well as Prayables, RJ Blog, Tzeh Ulimad, A Concord Pastor Comments, Bechol Lashon, Beth Emet: The Free Synagogue, Temple Emanu-El-Beth SholomThe ManKind Project Journal, BeliefNet, Positive Jewish LivingOdyssey Networks and Sacred Journey as well as everyone else I thanked last year or those I may have inadvertently missed, for your support, encouragement and partnership.

With love and blessings,

Alden

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Sadly, also new this year, instances of theft of this material, which leads me to post this additional notice:

Notice
These prayers may be used and shared only as described on this site. For complete information on reprints, permissions, using and posting these prayers, see “Share the Prayer!” No other uses are authorized and are in violation of the author’s copyright. All content on this site is copyright material of Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights are reserved.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Blessing For a Spouse / Partner

Posted on: March 9th, 2012 by tobendlight

Holding HandsI know a young couple who bless each other at the Shabbat table: they hold hands, look into each other’s eyes, then give and receive a blessing. This is a great addition to the Jewish custom of blessing our children. This piece appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. I use it for day six of counting the Omer, “Bonding in Lovingkindness.”

Blessing For a Spouse / Partner
Holiness walks with you,
My beloved.
Your face glows,
Your eyes shine,
And beauty surrounds you.
You sparkle with joy and hope.
Your countenance shimmers with the wonder of Creation.
You bless the hours and the days.

Let the glory of heaven light your path.
May you know G-d’s blessing
And G-d’s shelter,
Even as you fill our lives with strength and purpose,
With Torah and Mitzvot,
With Shabbat and holy days,
With your radiance
And with your love.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

Postscript: Here are three Sabbath prayers: “For the Arrival of Shabbat,” “Welcome, Sabbath Queen” and “About Shabbat” Here are two Sabbath stories: “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.”

Please check out my Meet the Author video 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 Credit: Caroline’s Journal

Messengers

Posted on: February 17th, 2012 by tobendlight

Holding-Hands-TogetherThis is a prayer about those people we meet along the way who are reminders of how G-d wants us to live, with outstretched hands and open hearts. This prayer echoes the themes of kindness from strangers and service to others found in several of my prayers, poems and meditations. Here are two of them: On the Road” and “For Service.” This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Messengers
G-d of awe and wonder,
Your messengers are all around,
Leading us on Your path,
Guiding us to joy and love.
Open my eyes to the teachers in our midst,
Leading us to Torah and chesed,
Righteousness and charity,
With their kindness and their gentle deeds.
Open my heart to know and to understand their ways,
Their joy in service to You
Through their service to others,
So that I may become
A source of Your blessings.

Holy One,
Well of Mercy,
Praise to You in heaven and on earth.
Praise for Your messengers among us.
Praise for the Sabbath of our days.
Praise for the Sabbath of our hearts.

Blessed are You, Rock of generations,
Source of All Being,
You plant the seeds
Of holiness among us.

© 2019 CCAR Press from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings

Postscript: See also: “On the Road” and “For Service.”

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: Israel Seen

Prayers of My Heart

Posted on: December 21st, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a short and simple prayer about living with joy and tenderness, guided by G-d’s word. To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Prayers of My Heart
G-d of millennia,
G-d of generations
And the great expanse,
I have but a moment,
A flicker of time to
Bless and be blessed.

These are the prayers of my heart:
Tenderness and Shabbat.
The spiritual practice of love.
To know and not to know.
To be strong in faith and open to adventure.
To laugh in the wind.
To smile in the sunshine.
To play in the rain.
To live in dignity.
To consecrate the hours.
To sanctify my days.
To live Your Torah.
To praise Your name.
Shabbat and tenderness.
The spiritual practice of love.

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

Postscript: Here are four related prayers: “For Devotion,” “For Humility,” “For Joy” and “For Service.” And here are more prayers about prayer: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Whispered Prayer,” “To Pray” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.”

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

Shabbat Shira: For the Gift of Music

Posted on: December 5th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a short and sweet prayer about music reposted today in gratitude for a fantastic weekend at OSRUI, the musical retreat Shabbat Shira. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Gift of Music
G-d, we give thanks for the gift of music,
For horn and flute,
For strings and drums,
For crescendo and staccato,
For the gift that gives our spirits a divine voice.
Hear this prayer for those who write music, arranging sound, seeking beauty.
Hear this prayer for those who play music, creating sound, releasing beauty.
Make their music Your vessel.
Let heaven pour joy and sorrow, love and loss through them
So that they overflow with Your most secret prayers for Your people,
Drawing others to Your blessings.
So that when we hear their music
Our souls turn back to You for shelter.
Together, we offer our voices back to heaven,
And rejoice.

Postscript: I also had the pleasure of reading this at an open mike night at Shabbat Shira. It was originally posted on May 12, 2010, and was reposted along with “For the Gift of Song,” in memory of  Debbie Friedman, z”l, on January 9, 2011. My other creativity prayers include: “For the Gift of Dance,” “For the Gift of Art,” “For the Gift of Laughter,” “For the Gift of Words” and “For the Gift of Torah Scholarship.”

© 2010 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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.

Thanksgiving Prayers

Posted on: November 15th, 2011 by tobendlight

horn-of-plentyHere are links to prayers that would make lovely additions to your Thanksgiving Day, including one-line excerpts and brief descriptions. Click on the title to read the entire prayer:

  • Giving Thanks – “To whom shall I give this grateful heart, this joy that shines through the center of my being?” A reminder to live with gratitude and love.
  • One Gift – “You, Holy One, are the Source of all gifts, the
    Source of all blessings.” To remember our gifts.
  • Meditation at the Thanksgiving Table – “Let us remember those in need.” A prayer to be said together.
  • A Moment of Blessing – “This is a moment of blessing. Blessings given. Blessings received…” Right here, this very moment, blessings abound.
  • This Bounty – “In gratitude for these gifts, Holy One, Bless me with wisdom to use them with skill…” A prayer of thanksgiving.
  • An Amazing Life – “This is an amazing life, a river of blessings, a gift to cherish in awe and wonder.” A prayer of gratitude for this amazing life.
  • Harvest Prayer – “The yield arrives full and ripe, plump and ready, bursting in flavor, brimming with gifts…” In thanks and praise for the gifts of the land.
  • For Autumn – “G-d of time and space, may this season be a blessing and a teacher…” A prayer for the autumn season.
  • Life as a Banquet  – “Grant me the grace to live my life as a banquet, a river of abundance and blessing…” The banquet of your life is full. Share your gifts.

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.

Photo Source: Mentoring Moments

Doubt, Fear, Anger, Shame

Posted on: October 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

Can doubt, fear, anger or shame be blessings? Here are links to four prayers about troublesome emotions. They speak to the need to reclaim the gifts hidden in these feelings: the challenge to grow and change, the opportunity to harness them for healing. As we move toward repentance, prayer and righteousness on Yom Kippur, may we find ways to redeem our feelings, our experiences and our lives as blessings. Here are links to four prayers about facing these emotions:

Here’s a prayer about the witnessing the pain of others, called: “Witnessing: A Meditation.”

Click here for a prayers for the Yamim Noraim, listed by topics. Here’s a focused list of prayers for Elul, one of prayers for Rosh Hashana, another for Yom Kippur prayers and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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. If you like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

For My Child’s Surgery

Posted on: August 16th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer is for parents to say before a child’s surgery. Gender choices are identified with a “/” slash. Here’s a related prayer “For a Critically Ill Child.” This will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For My Child’s Surgery
G-d of health and healing,
I surrender my daughter /son to the physician’s hand,
The surgeon’s knife,
The nurse’s care,
Placing her / his body in the cradle of others,
Just as I pray for you to hold her / his soul with Your loving hands.

Bless her / his surgeon with a steady hand,
Keen vision and a passion for healing.
Bless her / his caregivers with wisdom and skill,
With compassion, focus and dedication.
Bless our family with ease and comfort,
Energy and endurance, tranquility and peace.

Source of life,
Bring Your healing power to my daughter / son
_______________ (child’s name in Hebrew or your native tongue).
Remove her / his pain,
Relieve her / his distress,
And cure her / his body, mind and spirit.
Bless her / him with strength, courage and hope
So that she / he may know life and health,
Joy and love.
And grant her / him a full and speedy recovery.

Blessed are You, G-d of mystery,
Source of health and healing.

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

Postscript: This prayer is adapted from “For Surgery.” Other prayers for healing include: “Upon Recover from Surgery,” “For a Critically Ill Mother,” “For a Critically Ill Child,” “For a Critically Ill Father” and “For Healing the Spirit.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

 

“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