Tag Archive for "friends"

Posts Tagged ‘friends’

Vayishlach 5775: Family Healing

Posted on: November 30th, 2014 by Alden

In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob attempts to reconcile with his brother. This is a prayer for healing family wounds. Much as Jacob prepared to encounter Esau, this is a prayer for the spiritual willingness to heal. Choices to tailor the prayer to particular family situations are in [brackets]; use these choices or your own language. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Family Healing
G-d of Old,
Our family has been fractured,
Torn apart by _________________ [anger, violence, death, alcoholism, suicide, disease, mental illness, neglect, abuse, abandonment, finances],
Old wounds that have steeped into our bones and our blood,
Our thoughts and our words.
Release me from my anger and my guilt,
So I may see my kin with new eyes –
Their losses and fears,
Their pain and shame –
And therefore find a source of
Forgiveness and renewed love.

Well of Blessings,
Lead us to new vision and new wisdom,
The place where love rests safely in our hearts
And peace waits quietly in our hands.

G-d of Generations,
Grant healing to my family, speedily,
So that we may rejoice together in Your gifts,
With joy and thanksgiving.

Postscript: Here’s the prayer I posted for Vayishlach 5773, “The Descent,” a prayer about wrestling with angels. My prayer “For Family” includes a similar message to this prayer, but more softly stated. Here are prayers of family praise: “For the Patriarch,” “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Sisters,” “For Our Brothers” and “For the Family Historian.” This prayer first appeared on this site on November 8, 2012.

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Photo Source: Pinterest, Family Constellations

Quick Blessing for a Friend’s Departure

Posted on: July 18th, 2013 by tobendlight

What can I say when a friend departs? When his journey moves on? When her path and mine diverge? For me, these moments are rich with history and love, but they need few words. So here’s a quick blessing to give to a friend when your lives move apart. This will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Quick Blessing for a Friend’s Departure
Heart of my heart,
Dear [brother/sister/friend],
Bless you on your journey.
May you find what you seek
And what you need,
What seeks you
And what calls you home.
May the light of health and hope
Carry you toward beauty and wonder.
May the light of holiness
Carry you toward strength and service.
Let peace and joy surround your days.
And let awe and thanksgiving
Lead you on a path of virtue.

Postscript: Other prayers in this series include: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.” See also “Quick Prayer for Healing.”

If you use this prayer, please click “like” on this page and subscribe. Please take a moment to post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or mention it in a tweet. Thanks. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!”

Photo Source: Pic Pulp

Mother’s Meditation

Posted on: January 27th, 2013 by tobendlight

This prayer is to be said by mothers with children who have begun their independent lives. It’s the companion piece to “Father’s Meditation.” The two prayers follow the same overall structure and rhythm.

This prayer, along with “Father’s Meditation,” will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Mother’s Meditation
Gracious and Compassionate One,
Father of the Universe,
Mother of Life,
Fountain and Well,
Hear this prayer:

My children are Yours,
To guide and protect with Your open hand,
To nurture and care with Your wisdom,
To hold and heal with Your loving ways.
Grant them vitality and fortitude
As they build lives of their own.
Fill their days with friendship and hope,
Joy and kindness,
Thanksgiving and peace.
Shield them from pain and strife.
Grant them years of prosperity and serenity,
Gratitude and faith,
Awe and wonder.
May they enjoy the fruits of Your creation
In service to Torah and our People Israel.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
G-d of our ancestors,
G-d of generations.

Postscript: Here’s a parent’s prayer for when for when “My Child Leaves Home.” Click here for more prayers about family.

Photo Credit: Body+Soul

Father’s Meditation, Revised

Posted on: January 20th, 2013 by tobendlight

This prayer is to be said by fathers with children who have begun their independent lives. It’s a revision to a prayer of the same name. Today I wrote the companion piece, called “Mother’s Meditation.” The two prayers follow the same overall structure and rhythm. As I wrote the new meditation, it seemed clear that some of the new phraseology in “Mother’s Meditation” belonged in this prayer and that some of the phraseology in the original version of this piece belonged in the other prayer. Both prayers appear in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Father’s Meditation
Gracious and Compassionate One,
Mother of the Universe,
Father of Life,
Source and Shelter,
Hear this prayer:

My children are Yours,
To guide and protect with Your strong hand,
To nurture and care with Your outstretched arm,
To hold and heal with Your righteous ways.
Grant them vitality and fortitude
As they build lives of their own.
Fill their days with meaning and purpose,
Joy and adventure,
Thanksgiving and peace.
Ease their burdens and relieve their struggles.
Grant them years of prosperity and serenity,
Wisdom and courage,
Gratitude and wonder.
May they enjoy the fruits of Your creation
In service to Torah and our People Israel.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
G-d of our ancestors,
G-d of generations.

Postscript: Here’s a parent’s prayer for when for when “My Child Leaves Home.” Click here for more prayers about family.

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 Credit: fcaministers.com

Family Healing

Posted on: November 8th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a prayer for healing family wounds. Choices to tailor the prayer to particular situations are in [brackets]. Use this or other language to describe your family circumstances. My prayer “For Family” includes a similar message, more softly stated. This prayer appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Well of Blessings,
Lead us to new vision and new wisdom,
The place where love rests safely in our hearts
And peace waits quietly in our hands.

G-d of Generations,
Grant healing to my family, speedily,
So that we may rejoice together in Your gifts,
With joy and thanksgiving.

Postscript: Here are prayers of family praise: “For the Patriarch,” “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Sisters,” “For Our Brothers” and “For the Family Historian.”

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.

Vayeira: Messengers

Posted on: November 1st, 2012 by tobendlight

“And Adonai appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he (Avraham) was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day; and he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing beside him, and he saw and he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and he bowed down to the earth.” – Genesis 18:1-2

Are you ready to receive the messengers of G-d? To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

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.

Postscript: 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 prayer was first posted on February 17, 2012.

Photo Credit: The Bedouin Tent

Messengers

Posted on: February 17th, 2012 by tobendlight

This 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.

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

Photo Source: Israel Seen

For Family

Posted on: July 6th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer is about remembering the love of family and the desire to heal the wounds that can come between us. A quick note about the structure: There are several choices, identified in [brackets], so that readers can tailor the prayer to their families. Gender selections are noted with a slash, such as “brother / sister” or “son / daughter.” Also see a related prayer called “Family Healing.” Both prayers appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Family
G-d of generations,
Source of hope,
Flame of forgiveness,
Bless our family with kindness and respect,
Compassion and grace,
And the wisdom to heal the wounds of time.
Make me a brother/sister to my [brother(s) and sister(s)][siblings],
A son/daughter to my [father and mother][parents][step-mother][step-father],
A father/mother to my [son(s)][daughter(s)] and
A friend to my friends.
Give me the understanding and willingness
To be present in their moments of joy and grief,
Just as I pray that they will be present for mine.
Help me to forgive their weaknesses,
Just as I pray that they will forgive mine.
[For those who have harmed me, let me hold no anger or malice.]
May our bond [remain][become] powerful and sustaining
And our kinship a rock of support and strength.
Let love echo through my words
And dedication shine through my deeds.
Let my life become a testimony to the longings and aspirations
Of our ancestors.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
With love you gave us the gift of each other.

Postscript: Other prayers about family include: “Family Healing,” “For the Patriarch,” “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Sisters,” “For Our Brothers” and “For the Family Historian.”

Prayer Moments in Israel

Posted on: June 28th, 2011 by tobendlight

Three moments from my wanderings in Israel:

Shabbat afternoon in Netanya. I’m at a lovely lunch with a group made up primarily of long-time olim who went through an absorption center together decades ago. They consider each other family. Thanks to my weekend host, the conversation turned to my writing. One of the women shared this story:

A relative passed away nearly a year ago. A man. Simple, loved, respected. The family could not settle on a quote to use as an epitaph. The time was running out. The headstone needed to be ordered. Less than a week prior to that Shabbat, with the deadline looming, she found my prayer “For the Patriarch.” She sent the closing lines, the chatimah, to the family. Within hours, they decided to use these words on his stone: “Blessed are You, G-d of our fathers, who provides just and righteous men in every generation.” Words from my prayer in honor of a beloved father. In stone. Amazing. And I got the added blessing of hearing the story.

Sunday in Be’er Sheva. I’m with the head of communications for Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. We were talking about the challenge of writing a one-line message for their Rosh Hashana card. She was looking for a line to reflect the Zionism of both the founders of the university and the current leadership. I said that she could modify and use a line from my new prayer, written here in Israel, called “A Song that Holds My Heart.” The idea: change the refrain “Sing a song of hope, the song of hope, the song that holds my heart” ever-so-slightly to “Sing the song of hope, a song of Zion, the song that holds my heart.” She threw the idea in the hopper, but it didn’t make the cut for BGU. It was nice to have the line considered. Now I’m thinking about whether or not to make that change to my piece. Which line do you prefer?

Monday night, Jerusalem. Having gone in wrong way, I landed at a bus stop an hour from my destination. I met Abebe, a 21-year-old Ethiopian yeshiva student. We talked. When he found out I was going to The Kotel he decided to come with. We walked through the Old City together at night, davened ma’ariv at The Wall and he insisted on buying dinner, schwarma with chips. As the evening ended, I asked him if there was anything I could do for him. He asked me to bless him. I did. In truth, we were blessed by each other. Here’s my prayer for the strangers that we meet on the journey called “On the Road.”

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On Connecting With Old Friends

Posted on: June 25th, 2011 by tobendlight

I wrote this prayer last year when Stephen found me online, 35 years or so after we went to Israel together on an AZYF trip. Here in Israel, I’m seeing old and new friends, many who’ve come into my life — or back into my life — via cyberspace. Earlier this week I spent a day with Eric, a friend from that same trip to Israel 35 years ago. Here’s a prayer for connecting with old friends. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The text follows.

On Connecting With Old Friends
Fantastic. Amazing. Wonderful.
Frightening. Adventurous. Astounding.
My dear friend
(Add Name) ______________________________________
Has returned to my life after [years][decades][an eternity]
Of time and distance.
Help me to see the gifts we bring to each other –
The stories, the history, the moments of joy and companionship,
The challenges, the losses, the moments of pain and sorrow –
As a source of Your Divine wisdom and love.

Why now?
What lessons are here for me?
What memories will come galloping back into my heart?

G-d of mystery and wonder,
Grant me the wisdom to listen to this messenger of friendship and love.
Make this a moment of gentleness and understanding,
A moment of grace and forgiveness,
So that our lives are renewed to each other
In joy and thanksgiving.
May this reunion be a blessing to us both.

Postscript: Here’s a traveler’s prayer that also celebrates the people we meet along the way: “On the Road.”

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Posts Tagged ‘friends’

Vayishlach 5775: Family Healing

Quick Blessing for a Friend’s Departure

Mother’s Meditation

Father’s Meditation, Revised

Family Healing

Vayeira: Messengers

Messengers

For Family

Prayer Moments in Israel

On Connecting With Old Friends

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