This meditation for Havdalah is patterned after my Shabbat meditation, “Come Beloved.” Together, the two prayers bookend Shabbat with parallel rhythms and language, borrowing images from Kabbalat Shabbat and Havdalah. This appears in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.
Farewell, Beloved: A Havdalah Meditation
If you listen,
Listen…
If you listen you will hear
Shabbat returning to her distant place,
Retreating slowly, quietly,
Gently opening the space
Between the chodesh and the chol,
Between the holy and the mundane,
Separating eternity from daily routine.
If you listen you will hear
The music of Shabbat rise,
Leaving behind the scent
Of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves,
A taste of sweet wine,
A braided beam of light from beyond time,
A memory and a promise.
…לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשׂוֹן וִיקָר
L’Yehudium hayta ora, v’simcha, v’sason, v’ikar…
We once had light and gladness,
Joy and honor…
May it return.
…בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ, יָבֹא אֵלֵֽינוּ
Bim’hera v’yameinu, yavo eleinu…
Come speedily, in our time,
Bringing blessings of peace,
A world of wholeness,
When beauty and wonder,
Justice and mercy,
Kindness and love
Reign on earth.
© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day
Postscript: I began writing this meditation at the 2015 National Havurah Committee Summer Institute where I was the Liturgist-in-Residence. I finished it after my first Shabbat back in Israel. Here are a few of my other Shabbat prayers and meditations: “Shabbat Sings,” “Shabbat Settles on Jerusalem” and “For the Arrival of Shabbat.” Here’s a link to an annotated list of all of my Shabbat prayers and mediations.
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: Brassy Brown guest blogger Marian Moore