Tag Archive for "holy day" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘holy day’

The Season of Counting

Posted on: March 26th, 2013 by tobendlight

This is a meditation on counting. Counting as a spiritual practice is a reminder to stay present in the current moment, the task at hand and that we are on a journey. Beginning the second night of Passover we count the days until Shavuot. By Counting the Omer we remember the journey from the depths of slavery to the heights of G-d’s Holy Presence. This piece appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

The Season of Counting
This is the season of counting:
Of counting days and nights,
Of counting the space between slavery of the body
And freedom of the soul.

This is a season of seeing:
Of seeing earth and sky,
Of seeing renewal in the land
And renewal in our hearts.

This is a season of journey:
Of inner journeys and outer journeys
Taking us places that need us,
Places that we need.

This is the season of counting,
The season of joyous anticipation,
Of wondrous waiting,
In devotion and awe,
For our most precious gift,
The gift that binds our hearts to each other across the millennia,
The gift that binds our souls to G-d’s Holy Word.

Postscript: Here are links to prayers and meditations for each week of counting the Omer and Shavuot:

Week One: Chesed (Lovingkindness, Love, Benevolence)
Week Two: Gevurah (Discipline, Justice, Restraint, Awe)
Week Three: Tiferet (Beauty, Harmony, Compassion, Truth)
Week Four: Netzach (Eternity, Endurance, Fortitude, Ambition)
Week Five: Hod (Humility, Splendor)
Week Six: Yesod (Foundation, Bonding)
Week Seven: Malchut – Nobility, Sovereignty, Leadership)
Shavuot

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!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: Jan Zabransky on logopond.com

Elijah

Posted on: March 24th, 2013 by tobendlight

There’s a special kind of a hope, a kind of hope that opens the heart to our deepest yearning for a world of wholeness and love ushered in by G-d’s hand. For me, it’s captured singularly a song that we sing at the Pesach Seder and after Havdalah, a song for “Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite. Let him come quickly in our day with the messiah, the son of David.”

Elijah
Eternal One, hear our cause!
Love and gladness, hope and salvation,
Israel restored, the world redeemed,
Justice and mercy in an age of peace.
Announce the time of blessing and wisdom.
Herald the return of holiness, Your world to come.

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Postscript: This is my first acrostic. I subsequently wrote an expanded version of this prayer that is not an acrostic. I’ve been working on two alphabetical acrostics for far too long and have been stumped by certain unforgiving letters near the end of the alphabet. Here’s a link to another Passover meditation, “The Season of Freedom.” Click for a full annotated list of meditations and readings for Pesach.

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: Beth Flusser on Haggadot.com

Release Me

Posted on: March 23rd, 2013 by tobendlight

Here’s a new prayer for Passover, which echoes the theme of two of my other Pesach offerings, “Egypt Inside” and “Breaking Bonds.” It’s about yearning for freedom from the emotions and experiences that hold me back, as well as the hope to see myself through G-d’s eyes.

Release Me
Holy One,
Release me from judgment.
Release me from doubt.
Release me from hunger.
Release me from want.
Release me from loneliness.
Release me from despair.
Release me from disappointment.
Release me from anger and shame.
Release me with Your gentle hand
And a song of hope.
Release me with the light of Your Word
And the echo of Your voice.

G-d of Old,
Guide me to wisdom and strength.
Teach me to break free of the chains
That I have wrapped around my own heart.
Teach me to live a life of service to others,
A life in celebration of Your gifts.
Teach me to see myself through Your loving eyes,
So that I may return, rejoicing,
To You
And Your people.

Postscript: Here’s a link to another Passover meditation, “The Season of Freedom.” Click here for a full annotated list of meditations and readings for Pesach.

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Photo Credit: Ben David Cards

Lamps Within

Posted on: December 6th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a new meditation for Hanukkah about bringing the light we carry inside of ourselves into the world and lighting the lamps of awe and wonder in our children. This meditation appears in my CCAR Press book, “This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day.” My friend Rabbi Karol wrote this beautiful melody for this prayer.

Lamps Within
A lamp glows inside your heart,
With eight ways to light it,
Eight ways to keep it shining,
Eight ways to keep its glow.

Light it with your joy.
Light it with your tears.
Light it with this song.
Light it with the works of your hands.
Light it with hope.
Light it with service.
Light it with this prayer.
Light it with praise to G-d’s Holy Name.

Bring the lamp of your soul out into the street
So that all who have forgotten
The miracles around us
Will remember the beauty within,
So that all who have forgotten
The miracles of old
Will remember to rejoice.

A lamp glows inside your children.
Keep it shining.
Watch it glow.

Light it with your joy.
Light it with your tears.
Light it with song.
Light it with the works of your hands.
Light it with hope.
Light it with service.
Light it with prayer.
Light it with praise to G-d’s Holy Name.

Postscript: Here’s a link to another Hanukkah meditation, “The Season of Dedication.”

Photo Source: Garden Delights Arts and Crafts

The Season of Dedication

Posted on: December 4th, 2012 by tobendlight

Hanukkah Menorah 1 When I was a boy the central miracle of Hanukkah didn’t impress me. One day’s worth of oil burned for eight days. A miracle, sure, but after everything G-d did for us in the desert, it didn’t seem so big of a miracle. I was more impressed with the desire of the Maccabees to preserve our faith, to rededicate the Temple, to restore it as a place of holiness. This prayer appears in my CCAR Press book, This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day.

The Season of Dedication
This is the season of dedication:
Of dedicating our moments and our lives,
Of dedicating our hope and our strength,
To live by G-d’s Word.

This is the season of cleansing:
Of cleansing our hearts and our sanctuaries,
Of cleansing our deeds and our ways,
Creating sacred time and space.

This is the season of service:
Of service to our neighbors and community,
Of service to K’lal Yisrael,
In the name of justice and peace.

This is the season of dedication:
Of dedication to strength and honor,
Righteousness and duty.
This is the season that calls forth miracles,
That summons the light of holiness,
The season the reminds us to rebuild and restore
Our commitment to mitzvot and avodah
In G-d’s holy name.

Postscript: Now that I am older, I am not so impressed with the Maccabees, either. They seem to be historic role models of sinat chinam. This prayer was first posted on Dec. 1, 2010. It is part of a series of prayers tied to various holidays and seasonal themes in the Jewish calendar, including: “The Season of Counting,” “The Season of Building” and “The Season of Healing.”

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Photo Credit: Jerusalem Baskets

My Mitzrayim

Posted on: June 10th, 2012 by tobendlight

I am fresh off of a Call of the Shofar Seasons of Transformation workshop. One of the men told a story about the mitzrayim that we carry inside ourselves, the mitzrayim I carry in me. Mitzrayim, Egypt, the place of my physical bondage, is also the place of my spiritual bondage. This prayer, written two years ago, echoes that theme.

Today I repost this prayer in honor and tribute to the men and women who’ve taken the brave step of facing their personal mitzrayim in Call of the Shofar, the participants of this past weekend in Israel, the staff men and Shofar leadership. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Egypt Inside
This I confess to myself:
I have taken Egypt with me.
I’ve kept myself a slave to grief and loss,
Fear and anger and shame.
I have set myself up as task master,
Driving my own work beyond the limits
Of reasonable time and common sense.
I’ve seen miracles from heaven,
Signs and wonders in my own life,
And still wait for the heavens to speak.

G-d of redemption,
With Your love and guiding hand leaving Egypt is easy.
Leaving Egypt behind is a struggle.
In Your wisdom You have given me this choice:
To live in a tyranny of my own making,
Or to set my heart free to love You,
To love Your people,
And to love myself.

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

Blessed are You, G-d of wonder,
You set Your people on the road to redemption.

Postscript: I also thank my brothers in The Mankind Project who encouraged me to participate in Call of the Shofar. Click here to read my prayers for and about men. Here’s what I wrote when I first posted this prayer on March 29, 2010: “Leaving Egypt is the quintessential Jewish metaphor for the road to freedom. Leaving is only the beginning of that road. Leaving Egypt behind, leaving slavery behind, is much more difficult.”

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Shoah Memorial Prayer

Posted on: April 19th, 2012 by tobendlight

זכר צדיקים לברכה
A memorial prayer for those who perished in the Holocaust. This is the centerpiece of a six-prayer Yom HaShoah liturgy. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Shoah Memorial Prayer
Creator of all,
Source and shelter,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To those who perished in the Holocaust,
Our fathers and mothers,
Our sisters and brothers,
Our rabbis and teachers,
Our neighbors and children,
The named and the unnamed,
Whose lives were cut off by
Brutal, vicious, cunning and calculated violence.
May they find peace in the world to come.
Remember the survivors who have since passed away,
And the virtues of our people who’ve died at the hand of malice
In every generation.
We remember the works of their hands
And the messages of their hearts.
Bless the defenders of Israel with safety and strength,
And the righteous of all nations who provide
Protection, shelter and comfort to the Jewish people.
Let their deeds be a source of favor in heaven
And healing on earth.
Put an end to anger, hatred and fear
And lead us to a time when no one will suffer at the hand of another,
Speedily, in our days.
May the memories of all who faced these horrors
Be sanctified with joy and love.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

Postscript: This prayer is adapted from “At the Hand of Anti-Semitism: A Yizkor Prayer.” Thanks to my friend Brenda Epstein for the suggestion. Here are two prayers appropriate for use commemorating Kristallnacht, Yom HaShoah and Tisha b’Av: “After the Horror” and “Tears of Crystal, Tears of Broken Glass.” Click here for a six-prayer Yom HaShoah liturgy.

Please check out my ELItalk “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: Highland Park Conservative Temple

Beauty Dances

Posted on: October 9th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a Sukkot prayer about the beauty that arrives with this festival of joy, and the call to bring that beauty into the world. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Beauty Dances
Beauty dances
With us
Whenever we build
A tabernacle
To God’s holy Name.

Love sings
With us
Whenever we rejoice
In gladness
On God’s festive days.

Peace cries
With us
Whenever we yearn
In prayer
For God’s holy shelter.

Come,
Let us build this place,
This tabernacle where we praise,
With all of our hearts,
God’s pardon and promise.
Let us build this place,
Where we delight,
With thanksgiving and wonder,
In God’s bounty and gifts.

Come,
Let us build this place,
This sukkat shalom,
This shelter of peace,
Where beauty dances
And love sings.
Where peace cries out:
Build, build,
You Children of Israel,
A tent of holiness,
Strong and true.
Build it in your heart,
In your home,
In your life,
In God’s world.

Postscript: This appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim.

Photo Source: The Toronto Centre

Sukkot Prayers

Posted on: October 1st, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a list of prayers for Sukkot with brief descriptions, divided by topic: “Joy,” “Harvest Season” and “Sukkah: Physical home, Spiritual home.” To read a prayer, click on the title. If you read only one of them, go for “Beauty Dances,” but this is a lovely list. Try a few. Here are prayers for Simchat Torah.

Joy
Sukkot is z’man simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing:

Rejoice! – A prayer/poem about embodying joy
For Joy – About finding joy in the face of loss
Let Joy – Awake to the joy around you

Harvest Season
Prayers of thanks for G-d’s gifts:

For Autumn – A prayer for the new season
Harvest Prayer – For the gifts of the land
This Bounty – A prayer of thanksgiving
Life as a Banquet – Rejoice in the banquet of life
Life as a Garden – Tending the beauty of hearts and souls

Sukkah: Physical Home, Spiritual Home
Prayers about the meaning of home:

The Season of Building – Tents of holiness, shelters of peace
Dwelling Place – A sense of home and peace
Beauty Dances – Beauty dances and love sings for Sukkat Shalom
The Way Home – The journey home
Israel: A Meditation – Israel, our people, our nation, our home

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 and one of prayers for Yom Kippur. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

Click here to tweet this: Beautiful! Prayers and meditations for Sukkot from @ToBendLight https://tobendlight.com/?p=4167

Photo Source: Alden Solovy; this was my 5774 (2013) Sukkah.

For Devotion

Posted on: August 11th, 2011 by tobendlight

אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ
“O Lord, open You my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.” – Psalms 51:17

This meditation opens with the words of Psalms 51:17 which are used before reciting the Amidah to set the intention for devotion in prayer. Each of the subsequent lines builds upon the line before to deepen the intention. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Devotion
אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ
G-d, open my lips, so that my mouth may declare Your Praise.
Open my mouth, so that my heart may sing Your Glory.
Open my heart, so that my eyes may see Your Wisdom.
Open my eyes, so that my soul feels Your Presence.
Open my soul, so that my hands do Your Mitzvot.
Open my hands, so that my works glorify Your Torah.
Open my works, so that my deeds bear witness to Your Truth.
Open my deeds, so that my life bears witness to Your Justice.
Open my life, so that my spirit bears witness to Your Mercy.
Open my spirit, so that my days declare Your Holy Name.

Postscript: Here are two more meditation based on a lines from Jewish prayer, “Affirmation of Faith” and “Gathering: A Dream of Reunion,” as well as related prayers “For Humility,” “For Joy” and “For Service.”

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 consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: Kaballah Source

Posts Tagged ‘holy day’

The Season of Counting

Elijah

Release Me

Lamps Within

The Season of Dedication

My Mitzrayim

Shoah Memorial Prayer

Beauty Dances

Sukkot Prayers

For Devotion

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