Tag Archive for "Elul" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘Elul’

Repentance Inside

Posted on: September 10th, 2013 by tobendlight

What does it take to internalize a deep sense of repentance, so that real change is possible? What will it take to be the man G-d envisioned when making me? This is from a series about internalizing G-d’s gifts, including “Egypt Inside” and “Forgiveness Inside.” This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Repentance Inside
This I confess:
I have taken my transgressions with me,
Carrying them year-by-year into my hours and days,
My lapses of conscience
And indiscretion with words,
My petty judgments
And my vanity,
Clinging to grief and fear, anger and shame,
Clinging to excuses and to old habits.
I’ve felt the light of heaven,
Signs and wonders in my own life,
And still will not surrender to holiness and light.

G-d of redemption,
With Your loving and guiding hand
Repentance in prayer is easy.
Repentance inside,
Leaving my faults and offenses behind,
Is a struggle.
In Your wisdom You have given me this choice:
To live today as I lived yesterday,
Or to set my life free to love You,
To love Your people,
And to love myself.

G-d of forgiveness, help me to leave my transgressions behind,
To hear Your voice,
To accept Your guidance,
And to see the miracles in each new day.

Blessed are You,
G-d of justice and mercy,
You set Your people on the road to t’shuva.

Postscript: Here are focused lists of prayers for the High Holidays: Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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: Wikimedia Commons

Yom Kippur 5774

Posted on: September 8th, 2013 by tobendlight

Yom Kippur. A day of prayer. Of fasting. Of repentance. It can be deadly dull, hour after hour, year after year. Yet, I’ve experienced moments that have taken my breath away. These experiences went far beyond a deep connection with prayer. They shifted my relationship to G-d and my understanding of myself. They also inform my work as a poet and liturgist. I wrote about them in the Times of Israel, in an essay titled “Cry No More: Three Prayers, Two Visions and a Fire.” I invite you to read it as part of you Yom Kippur preparation.

Here’s a link to an annotated list of all of my Yom Kippur prayers. This year my “go to” prayer is “The Path of Righteousness.”

May you be inscribed for a year of health and happiness, awe and wonder, prosperity and peace.

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Photo Source: Getty Images/Steve Allen

Let Your Heart Stir

Posted on: August 11th, 2013 by tobendlight

This three-stanza prayer/poem reflects the spiritual journey of t’shuva, repentance and return. The first stanza represents the month of Elul, when we are literally called to introspection by the sound of the shofar. The second stanza represents Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment that also heralds the joy and hope of a new heart and another chance to live a life of holiness. The third stanza represents Yom Kippur, when, after 40 days of introspection and one intense day of prayer and fasting, our spirits are renewed. Our hearts stir throughout these 40 days, but differently as the progression of themes and emotions lead us to new awareness, new behavior and new relationships with ourselves, with the world and with G-d.

Let Your Heart Stir
Breathe in the sound of the shofar.
Let the trumpet of our people
Be the voice of your heart.
For your soul knows the call.
Let your heart stir
And your eyes open, anew.

Taste the sweetness of the new year.
The delight of healing,
The joy of possibilities,
The pleasure of being.
Let your heart stir
And your eyes open, anew.

Exalt in the triumph of forgiveness.
Let the glory of repentance
Be the light of your days,
For your spirit knows the way home.
Let your heart stir
And your eyes open, anew.

Postscript: Here are links to prayers for Elul, prayers for Rosh Hashana, prayers for Yom Kippur and prayers for Sukkot.

Tweetable! Click here to tweet this: “Breathe in the sound of the shofar. Let the trumpet of our people
Be the voice of your heart…” A prayer: https://tobendlight.com/?p=8243

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Photo Source: Temple B’nai Shalom

Join Me – A Meditation for Rosh Hashanah 5773

Posted on: September 14th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a new meditation on seeking G-d’s guidance, wisdom and compassion, written for Rosh Hashana 5773 which begins at sundown Sunday. The prayer reflects the major themes of the season – prayer, righteousness and charity – and makes allusion to a central metaphor of the High Holidays, G-d as sovereign balancing justice with mercy.

Join Me
Come with me today
G-d of Old
Join me on this journey

Lead me in my thoughts
Lead me in my words
Lead me in my deeds

Guide me to strength and purpose
To vision and insight
To gentleness and love

Come with me today
G-d of our mothers
G-d of our fathers
Show me the path
To wisdom and holiness

Lead me in my heart
Lead me in my breath
Lead me in my being

Restore me to Torah and mitzvot
To righteousness and charity
To justice and mercy
A life of blessings
Abundant in grace
Overflowing with beauty
Hands of healing
Eyes of love
A soul of peace
In service to You
Enthroned in my spirit

G-d of Israel,
We return to You
With humility
Our Rock, Our Shield
Our Comfort, Our Guide
Our journey home

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

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Rhythms, Revised for Elul 5772

Posted on: August 17th, 2012 by tobendlight

This meditation is about contrasting rhythms of life, time moving in a straight line and holiness moving in circles. Although it can be said at any time of the year, it has particular relevance during the Hebrew month of Elul and on Rosh Hashana. I’ve changed a few key words to soften the language. Here’s a link to the orginial prayer, posted in July, 2010, and a list of more prayers for Elul.

Rhythms (Revised for Elul 5772)
Gracious and compassionate One,
G-d of time and seasons,
You’ve made a world of mystery and wonder,
A world of moments and millennia,
Clarity and confusion,
Illness and health,
Life and death.
Time moves forward,
Steadily into the unknown,
Steadily from the seen into the yet-to-be.
In Your wisdom, G-d of All Being,
Time also moves in cycles and seasons,
Carrying us from the holy to the mundane back to the holy,
A loving pattern of power and grace, comfort and hope.

Protector and Redeemer of Israel,
Grant me wisdom as my life moves forward through the flow of time.
Grant me strength as it turns through the circles of holiness.

Blessed are You, Holy One, who creates and sustains
The rhythms of our lives.

Postscript: Here’s a list of prayers for Elul, another one of prayers for Rosh Hashana, a list of prayers for Yom Kippur and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

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Meditation Before Neilah

Posted on: October 7th, 2011 by tobendlight

This meditation for the last service of Yom Kippur is the second prayer inspired by a song composed by my cousin Irwin Keller for Neilah called “At the Closing of the Gates.” To hear this prayer, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Meditation Before Neilah
Wait.
There is something else,
G-d of Old,
I must show You.
It’s dark
And secret.
Part sadness.
Part anger.
Part fear.

Listen.
There is something else,
G-d of Old,
I must tell You.
It’s hard
And heavy.
Part pride.
Part guilt.
Part shame.

Stay.
There is something else,
G-d of Old,
I need from You.
It’s ancient
And new.
Part Torah.
Part Mitzvot.
Part joy and love and light.

G-d of Justice,
G-d of Mercy,
Hear my plea.
Wait for me to return to You.
Listen as I confess to You.
Stay as I struggle to live my life as a blessing,
According to Your wisdom,
According to Your law,
According to Your word.

Postscript: To listen to Irwin’s song, as well as the first prayer it inspired, click here: “At the Gates.” Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim. Here’s a focused list of prayers for Elul, another one of prayers for Rosh Hashana, a list of prayers for Yom Kippur and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

Tweetable! Click here to tweet this: “Wait. There’s something else, G-d of Old, I must show You…” Powerful Neilah prayer by @ToBendLight https://tobendlight.com/?p=4268

Photo Source: Ragamuffin Studies

At the Gates

Posted on: October 6th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer is about standing at the gates of heaven in prayer. It alludes to the Un’taneh Tokef which asserts that t’shuva (repentance), t’fillah (prayer) and tzdakah (charity) are key to a full reconciliation with G-d, with oneself and with the world. It was inspired by a song written by my cousin Irwin Keller for Neilah called, “At the Closing of the Gates.” This prayer is the result of listening to his song, with a few changes recommended by Irwin. To listen to his song, click on the triangle in the first bar, below. “At the Closing of the Gates,” by Irwin Keller:

To listen to the words of the prayer while reading, click on the triangle in the second bar. The text follows. “At the Gates,” by Alden Solovy:

At the Gates
At the gates of repentance
You will be asked:
Are you ready to enter?
Are you ready to live a life of t’shuva?

The gates of repentance
Surround my heart.
Unlock my fear,
G-d of Old,
So I may enter
The well of love
With wonder and awe.

At the gates of charity
You will be asked:
Are you ready to enter?
Are you ready to live a life of tzdakah?

The gates of charity
Surround my deeds.
Unlock my fortitude,
Source and Shelter,
So I may enter
The well of healing
With righteousness and strength.

At the gates of devotion
You will be asked:
Are you ready to enter?
Are you ready to live a life of t’fillah?

The gates of devotion
Surround my spirit.
Unlock my faith,
Rock of Israel,
So I may enter
The well of mystery
With prayer and rejoicing.

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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

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.

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Yom Kippur Prayers

Posted on: September 20th, 2011 by tobendlight

גמר חתימה טובה

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.

Vidui (Confession)

Meditation Before the Yom Kippur Vidui – On preparing for a thorough and honest confession.
Meditation After the Yom Kippur Vidui – Living differently after a heartfelt confession.
The Greatest Sin – Allowing the conditions for sin to take root.

T’shuva (Repentance, Return)

Cry No More – This is the day G-d made to relieve your sorrow.
Who, Still Broken – A meditation on Un’taneh Tokef.
Repentance Inside – To leave my transgressions behind.
Regarding Old Wounds – Are you willing to take your most crushing losses and turn them into a well of strength and love?
Let Your Heart Stir – Let the shofar echo into your life.

Neilah (Closing Service)

At the Gates – At the gates of prayer, repentance and charity.
Meditation Before Neilah – What have I left to say to G-d?
The Entry to Our Hearts – A cry for hope and healing.

Living in Holiness

Is This the Fast? – An introspection based on Isaiah 58:6-7.
For Wonder and Awe – To put aside vain pursuits and seek G-d.
The Path of Righteousness – The path is paved with questions.
G-d’s Plan: An Introspection – Surrendering to G-d’s will.
Let Holiness – A prayer to embody holiness.

Sacred Time

The Season of Healing – Healing our souls and our lives.
The Season of Return – Preparing for t’shuva, returning to G-d.

Death and Mourning

For an annotated list of Memorial and Yizkor prayers, click here. Here are three prayers about preparing for death:

Near the End: A Meditation – On preparing for the journey of death with grace and dignity.
Remember – Whatever our fears, this is a call back to our deepest sense of peace and well-being.
Things Break – Each day we face the flow of endings and beginnings. G-d’s love remains.

Short Story

“Cantor Cohen” is a Yom Kippur story of a Chazzan preparing to lead his congregation in prayer, repentance and righteousness.

Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim. Here are focused lists of prayers for Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

Photo Source: Temple Judea

Rosh Hashanah Prayers

Posted on: September 14th, 2011 by tobendlight

שנה טובה

Here are prayers for Rosh Hashanah with brief descriptions, divided into two topics: living in holiness and for creation and the new year. Here’s a focused list of prayers for Elul, a list of prayers for Yom Kippur and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

For Creation and the New Year

Meditations for the New Year, which is also Yom Harat Olam, the birthday of the world:

For the New Year – In thanks for the New Year, the flow of time and the gift of life.
Another Year: An Introspection – A reflection on the passage of time and how to use it.
A New Year Begins – Love is the only answer.
Meditation on the Eve of a New Year – Counting blessings.
For Creation – A quick meditation on the beauty of creation.
Rhythms – A meditation about the contrasting rhythms of life, time moving in a straight line and holiness moving in circles.
About the Rainbow – A reflection on the glory of creation.

Living in Holiness

These prayers set a tone for the period of t’shuva from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur:

The Path of Righteousness – The path of righteousness is paved with questions.
G-d’s Plan: An Introspection – A prayer/poem about surrendering to G-d’s will.
For Compassion – About seeing myself in all men and women, and showing compassion for others in service to G-d.
On Making a Mistake – A prayer about elevating a mistake into an act of wisdom, charity and love.

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