Tag Archive for "For the Joy of Shabbat"

Posts Tagged ‘For the Joy of Shabbat’

Shabbat Settles on Jerusalem

Posted on: April 7th, 2015 by Alden

Here’s a short meditation on Shabbat in Jerusalem. I wrote this at a poetry workshop at Limmud UK. Here are links to more of my Shabbat prayers: “For the Arrival of Shabbat,” “Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home,” “Blessing for a Spouse/Partner” and “Come Beloved.” Each of them appear in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Shabbat Settles on Jerusalem
Shabbat settles on Jerusalem
Like a dove,
Gliding on silent wings.

Shabbat settles in my heart,
A lover with open arms,
Embracing my soul with song,
Wrapping me in quiet breathing.

And I send blessings into the world.
Light.
Bread.
Prayers of peace.

Postscript: Here are two short, short stories – also known as flash fiction – about Shabbat: “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!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: Jerusalem – City of Gold, Deborah Tepper Papercut Art

Quiet

Posted on: June 27th, 2014 by Alden

This prayer is about the holiness of quiet. It captures an essential aspect of the Sabbath. Especially here in Jerusalem, as Shabbat approaches, there is first an intensity of motion and doing – preparations for Shabbat, social activities, parties, smachot – and then the city slows, calms and a tangible quiet settles over us all. In this quiet, so much more can be heard. This prayer appears in my second volume from CCAR Press, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings.

Quiet
In the quiet,
My breath is the wind,
My heartbeat is thunder.

In the quiet,
My spirit settles,
And my soul rests.

In the quiet,
All that I am,
Meets everyone I might be.

G-d,
Grant me moments of gentleness,
Moments of gratitude,
Moments of calm,
Moments of peace,
So that I might hear the echoes of eternity,
And the stillness within.
So that I might live a life
Of joy and laughter,
Wisdom and dignity,
Love and honor,
In service to myself,
In service to others,
In service to Your holy name.

Blessed are the gentle
Moments of grace.

Postscript: Here’s a prayer “For the Arrival of Shabbat” and a question to G-d “About Shabbat.” You might also enjoy this “Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home,” a Shabbat “Blessing for a Spouse / Partner” and two short, short stories – also known as flash fiction – about Shabbat: “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.”

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: WikiMedia Commons

Shabbat as a Meditation

Posted on: April 12th, 2013 by tobendlight

This meditation moves through the themes of Shabbat, reinforcing the rhythm of the day, the internal music of Shabbat. It takes us from candle lighting and welcoming the Sabbath Queen to yearning for the world to come and Havadallah. In doing so, it’s a reminder that Shabbat finds its radiance and glory in the essential mix of keva and kavanah, of our actions and our intentions.

Shabbat as a Meditation
This day of rest,
This day of wonder and awe,
Of holiness and light,
Is a chorus of the heart,
A sacred rhythm of meditations:
To invite holiness,
And welcome light.
To remember G-d’s gifts,
And welcome the Sabbath Queen.
To sanctify the home,
And honor each other.
To bless our children,
And remember creation.
To pray and sing in joy and thanksgiving,
And to remember the glory of Jerusalem.
To hear words of Torah,
And study with open hearts.
To share our bounty with others,
And rest under a canopy of peace.
To yearn for the world to come,
And to know the difference
Between holiness and the mundane.

Postscript: My Shabbat prayers include a “Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home” and a Shabbat “Blessing for a Spouse / Partner.” Here’s a prayer “For the Arrival of Shabbat” and a question to G-d “About Shabbat,” plus two short, short stories – also known as flash fiction – about Shabbat: “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.” Sarah Rivka is one of my favorites.

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 Credit: Shabbat Recipes for the Jewish Home

Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home

Posted on: November 30th, 2012 by tobendlight

One of my great joys of parenthood is putting my hands on my daughters’ heads and blessing them. As they went off to college and to see the world, those opportunities diminished. Now we are an ocean apart. And still, every Shabbat, when I light my candles, I remember them in prayer, in blessing. Optional lines appear in [brackets].

Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home
My children,
Dear ones,
You are light before my eyes.
I miss your laugh, your smile, your hug,
Your hand in mine.

Bless you on your journey.
Bless you in your home and on your travels.
May you be surrounded with
Joy and beauty,
Adventure and wonder,
Hope and love.
Let Torah and mitzvot guide your steps.
[Bless your family.]
[Heal your body and spirit.]
Let G-d’s goodness rain down upon you
From this Shabbat until the next,
And all the days of your life.

Postscript: My other prayers for children include: “On the Birth of a Child,” “Father’s Meditation,” “Meditation for a Child’s First Torah Reading,” “For My Child’s Surgery,” “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “My Child Leaves Home,” “On the Birth of Grandchildren” and “For Bereaved Children.”

Photo Credit: The Shiksa in the Kitchen

Welcome, Sabbath Queen

Posted on: March 2nd, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a Hebrew poetry “smash-up,” combining the themes of the Yiddish song כוח with the image of the Sabbath Queen from the liturgical poem לכה דודי. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Welcome, Sabbath Queen
Let go! Let go!
Release your struggle and strife.
Release your work and your toil.

Welcome, Sabbath Queen,
With gifts of joy and light.
With gifts of comfort and peace.

Let go! Let go!
Release your troubles and concerns.
Release your worries and your burdens.

Welcome, Sabbath Queen,
With gifts of gentleness and song.
With gifts of radiance and love.

Enter this holy day
This sacred time
This ancient beauty
That returns to nourish
Body and soul.

Enter this luminous wonder,
The place of Torah and t’fillah,
This moment that touches creation
With celebration and stillness.

Come,
Sing with us in sacred harmony.
Sing of majesty and wonder,
Revelation and redemption.
Sing out G-d’s wisdom and compassion.
G-d’s gift of rest.

Welcome, Sabbath Queen.
Welcome.

Postscript: Jewish poetry, liturgy, story and song are rich with the deep Jewish love for Shabbat. Here’s a prayer “For the Arrival of Shabbat” and a question to G-d “About Shabbat,” plus two short, short stories – also known as flash fiction – about Shabbat: “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.” Sarah Rivka is one of my favorites.

IPlease 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. Please take a moment to post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or mention it in a tweet. Thanks.

Image Source: Alden Solovy

Posts Tagged ‘For the Joy of Shabbat’

Shabbat Settles on Jerusalem

Quiet

Shabbat as a Meditation

Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home

Welcome, Sabbath Queen

“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

Your contribution helps support the creation of new prayers available to all on this site.