Posts Tagged ‘hike Israel’

 

For the Disabled

Posted on: March 14th, 2023 by Alden

Next week, hikers will hit Israel’s trails to raise money for Tsad Kadima, an organization founded by parents of children with cerebral palsy to provide innovative educational services and rehabilitative treatment across the country. The Tsad Kadima way is to help kids and adults strive for educational advancement while promoting maximum personal agency tailored to each person’s condition. Please consider a donation of any size. Donate to my Hike for Hope for Tsad Kadima by clicking here. This prayer-poem includes optional language in [brackets].

For the Disabled
G-d of all,
You have made a world of
Infinite variation and infinite beauty,
Giving us each different skills and challenges,
Strengths and weaknesses,
Abilities and inabilities,
So that we may take our individual places
In tikkun olam,
In repairing Your world,
So that we would need each other
To accomplish Your will.

Look with special care upon those
Whose abilities are challenged by obstacles to their
Physical, emotional, or cognitive functioning.
Bless them with loving, understanding, and dedicated parents,
Families of strength and heart,
And friends who bring them joy and laughter.
May they be surrounded with encouragement,
With love and with compassion.
Bless their caregivers with skill,
To support them with energy and enthusiasm.
Bless their teachers with talent,
To teach them with patience and wisdom.
Bless all who advocate for the disabled before the seats of power.
May the work of their hands never falter
Nor despair deter them from this holy calling.

[May these blessings also be heard in the name of
My child/partner/parent _________________ (name).
May he/she/they reach the highest potential.]

G-d of love,
Help us to be present for each other,
With generosity of spirit,
Generosity of understanding,
And generosity of blessings.
Help us to see the wonder and majesty
In our differences.
May we all find our place
In service to Your holy name.

© 2023 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight

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Postscript: This year the Hike for Hope will be in Ramat Hanegev/Sde Boker from March 21-23, 2023. We’ll explore the desert canyons and expanses, wildflowers, natural springs, and archaeology that make this area a hiker’s paradise. Donate to the Hike for Hope by clicking here.

Please check out These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”

Let’s Hike Together in Israel

Posted on: April 13th, 2020 by Alden

I wrote this meditation — “On the Trail” — after 17 days thru-hiking and  mountaineering on Mount Rainier. In Israel, I’m still an avid hiker. So… let’s go hiking together! Really. When we’re done sheltering in place, Via Sabra – the experiential Israel tour pros – and I invite you to hike with me in my spiritual Israel. We’ll have a professional tour guide describing the land and plan a variety of cultural and culinary experiences. For those inclined, I’ll lead a variety of spiritual experiences. If you’re interested in finding our more, drop me an email.

On the Trail
G-d of beginnings,
G-d of mystery and adventure,
The path is steep,
The route is hidden,
The trail a narrow ridge line,
Exposed and treacherous,
Slicing between majestic canyons,
Rising to the awesome sky.
The load is heavy, the destination unknown,
But the journey has rhythm and dance,
Song and story,
Ancient music that rises around us,
To take us from sunset to sunset
As we move into the glorious unknown
Step by step,
Moment by moment,
Day by day by day.

G-d of the wayfarer,
G-d of the traveler and sojourner,
Divine light of wonder and truth,
Lead us.
Show us the way
Across vast open spaces
And through tight, narrow passages.
Guide us.
Show us the way
Through stormy days
And moonless nights.

Blessed are You, Source and Shelter,
Guide and Compass, Oasis of Strength,
You lead Your people from trail to trail,
From trial to trial,
From darkness to light,
With love.

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

Postscript: This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer. It was first published on April 4, 2010.

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.

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