Tag Archive for "joy" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘joy’

Halfway Point

Posted on: June 23rd, 2011 by tobendlight

When I arrived in Israel, my grief came rushing in. The feeling was so close to the surface that I felt fragile like glass, glass at the edge of a mountain. In a strong wind. It took all my strength not to break into tears – and into pieces – at any moment. So I hardened my heart. For safety.

I began to have a fantasy: I’m sitting on a park bench next to the oldest Chasid in the world. He has a long white beard and soft smiling eyes. His black coat lies across his lap, his white shirt glistening with sunlight. I’m yelling at him. “What gives you the right to be so certain, so sure? How dare you? How dare you? To think you think that you know. That you think you have secrets.” My intestines boil and my bones shake. His eyes continue to smile, his hands folded across his lap. I shout and I yell and I scream and then I collapse onto his shoulder. I’m crying the tears of a thousand men who haven’t cried for a thousand years. Sobbing. Wailing. He takes his arm and lays it gently across my back.

In Tzfat, I met some dear, sweet Jews, young and old. I didn’t yell at any them, Chasid or progressive. I cried a few tears. Not many. Instead, I listened. Then I started to sing again. And to open my heart. As they would say, Baruch Hashem.

This shift is reflected in the changing emotions of the three prayers that I’ve completed so far in Israel, written in this order:

I’m now a little more than halfway through my journey. I’ve slept in six cities and 10 different beds. I’ve met, spoken to and hiked with more than 50 people: families and students, young professionals and travelers, long-time olim and olim chadashim, old friends and friends-of-friends, secular Jews and Chabadniks. More to come.

Baruch Hashem.

Postscript: Please excuse any intermittent technical problems with the header of this site. I’ll address it when I am back in the U.S.

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A Prayer for Dad

Posted on: June 15th, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a prayer for Father’s Day. It’s from a series of prayers celebrating family. Each opens with the tone of psalm and ends with a blessing. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Patriarch
For our patriarch,
A song of dignity and honor.

Guardian of mitzvot,
Keeper of truths,
Hand of protection and peace,
We are blessed with your humor and compassion,
Your zest for life
And your zeal for family.
You remind us to open our lives to G-d’s majesty and mystery,
G-d’s justice and mercy.
You remind us to seek radiance and splendor,
Awe for creation and compassion for each other,
And choose joy over grief,
Laughter over tears.

G-d of fatherly patience and strength,
Bless our family with love
And our patriarch with vision, endurance and hope.
May his devotion inspire us to righteousness and charity,
Guided by Torah.
Bless our lives with abundance
And our days with vigor,
So that we bring majesty and mystery to our lives
And into the world.

Blessed are You, G-d of our fathers,
Who provides just and righteous men
In every generation.

Postscript: I welcome ideas for more topics in this series of family prayers. Others include: “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters” and “For the Family Historian.” This prayer was first posted on June 19, 2010.

Each Day

Posted on: June 13th, 2011 by tobendlight

A simple meditation on days of sweetness and joy, courage and valor, pledging a life of service to G-d. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The text follows.

Each Day
To start this day with joy.
To end this day with peace.
To start this day with longing.
To end this day released.

Live each day with wonder,
With kindness, awe and grace.
Live each day with courage,
With trust, with hope, with faith.

Hold fast to sacred moments.
Hold fast to precious love.
Hold fast to one another.
Hold fast to G-d above.

Hold courage through the hours,
And humor through the tears.
Hold G-d above your sorrows.
Hold G-d above your fears.

To You I must surrender,
Oh G-d of hidden spheres.
You are Source and Shelter.
To You I pledge my years.

Postscript: Here are two prayers about the gifts of life – “These Blessings” and “Morning Blessings” – and one with the same sing-song cadence of this prayer, “Come Walk.” This prayer was written prior to my current trip to Israel.

For Service

Posted on: June 6th, 2011 by tobendlight

A prayer about living a life of service. It appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. I have also selected it for use during week six of Counting the Omer. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Service
G-d of our fathers,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
G-d of our mothers,
Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel,
Open my heart to serve others
With joy and thanksgiving.
Remove ego, judgment and self-will
So that I am present with kindness and understanding.
Make me a tool of Your hand,
An echo of Your voice,
And a shining lamp of Your love.
Grant me the wisdom to offer myself willingly, without fear.
Fill me with compassion and grace,
Vitality and endurance,
So that my service becomes a blessing
In heaven and on earth.

Blessed are You, G-d of Old,
You set Your people on a noble path,
To serve with love.

Postscript: Other prayers that touch on the theme of service include: “Giving Thanks,” “To Hear Your Voice” and “To Know Your Word.”

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 Source: A Project for Kindness

Obediah: A Short Story

Posted on: June 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

This story celebrates the love Torah and the great joy of passing that love from generation to generation. It’s great for Shavuot and Simchat Torah. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Obediah
One morning, after his father went to t’fillah, Obediah the sofer’s son snuck into Papa’s workshop to write his own Torah. The workshop was so tidy, the surface of Papa’s desk clean and ready. Obediah took a sheet of parchment from a large wooden drawer. He took a jar of ink and a quill off the shelf and climbed into Papa’s chair so he could reach the top of the desk. He poured some ink into a small glass just like his father. And as he dipped the quill into the ink a shiver of joy went through him. Obediah would write his own Torah! The Torah of his father and his father and his father, who received it from the rabbis, who received it from the prophets, who received it from the judges, who received it from Joshua, who received it from Moses himself, who stood in G-d’s Holy Presence at Mount Sinai. And for a moment Obediah was there, he was there at Sinai with Moshe and Aaron and Miriam. Obediah saw the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. He heard the blast of G-d’s shofar and the deafening silence that followed. He watched as G-d held the holy mountain over the people’s heads. And Obediah the sofer’s son said to no one in particular, “Na’aseh v’neeshma. I will do, and I will listen.”

So Obediah began to write. Bresheit. In the beginning. Barah. Created. Elohim. G-d. “Yes!” Obediah thought. What could be more true and perfect and full of love then G-d in the beginning creating us in order of give us the Torah? In order to give me the Torah?

Just then, Papa walked into the study. Obediah looked up at Papa and looked back at his work. Drips of ink on the desk. Smudges on the back of the parchment. And three beautiful words of Torah.

“Papa, I’m writing a Torah.”

Papa picked him up and scolded him and told Obediah never to do this again and that Obediah did a beautiful job and never to do this again and how proud Papa was of Obediah and never to do this again. Papa put Obediah back in the chair, a tear of joy in his eye. “We’ll clean this up together,” Papa said out loud. But in his heart Papa said, “Shecheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higyanu lazman hazeh.”

And G-d looked down at Obediah and Papa and all the work which in creating G-d had made. And G-d said, “Tov Me-od.” It is very good.

Postscript: Click here for a list of all of my short stories. Click here for a list of Shavuot prayers and stories.

For the Joy of Learning

Posted on: May 29th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a prayer to express joy for the gift of learning. It’s another in my series of creativity prayers.“For the Gift of Song” describes the common framework used in this series. This piece appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Joy of Learning
G-d, we give thanks for the joy of learning,
For the love of teaching and being taught,
For the gift that connects us to You,
To each other
And to Your Divine word.
Your wisdom is near to us,
In our hearts and in our mouths,
In our hands and in our lives,
So that we may teach it to each other
With humility and love.
Hear our prayer for those who teach and learn,
Bringing new light to Your people Israel.
Make the moments together a celebration.
Let heaven pour wisdom and strength through them
So that they overflow with enthusiasm and wonder
Drawing others into Your service.
So that when we witness the love of learning
Our souls turn back to You for wisdom.
Together, we offer this journey back to heaven,
And rejoice.

Postscript: Be sure to check out the other prayers in this series: “For the Gift of Song,” “For the Gift of Words,” “For the Gift of Dance,” “For the Gift of Art,” “For the Gift of Music,” “For the Gift of Laughter” and “For the Gift of Torah Scholarship.”

Photo Source: Rural & Distance Education NSW

Hershal Dovid: A Torah Reading Story

Posted on: May 12th, 2011 by tobendlight

This 131-word story is about the joy of reading Torah. The story is named for my cousin Jon’s oldest son, David. I got the idea after attending his Bar Mitzvah. It’s similar in theme and texture to two other short, short stories: “Mendel Baruch” and “Motyl the Fool.” To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Hershal Dovid : A Torah Reading Story
When Hershal Dovid stepped up to read Torah for the first time, when he walked up to the bimah and took his place on the pulpit, when he held the yad in his hand and pointed it at the Sacred Scroll, the parchment gleamed before his very eyes. Hershal’s body began to tremble, his heart filled with a luminous flow of holy light, his voice filled with the radiance of Divine gifts. As he chanted in perfect pitch, in perfect cadence, with perfect inflection, the Torah itself joined in the song. Hershal Dovid and the Word of G-d sang a duet of everlasting love, of everlasting devotion, the song of the ancient and the new, of the finite and the infinite, of our longing for G-d, of G-d’s longing for us.

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: Judea Reform Congregation

A Prayer for Mom

Posted on: May 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

Here’s a prayer to honor Mom. “For the Matriarch” is from a series of prayers celebrating family, including “For the Patriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters”and “For the Family Historian.” Each opens with the tone of psalm and ends with a blessing. They all appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Matriarch
For our matriarch,
A song of strength and hope.

Guardian of generations,
Keeper of traditions,
Hand of guidance and love,
We are blessed by your wisdom and purpose,
Your work to bind us to our heritage,
Your dedication to peace in our homes
And joy in our lives.
You remind us to open our hearts to our brothers and sisters,
Fathers and mothers,
Daughters and sons.
You remind us to honor and cherish cousins of cousins of cousins,
And to live together, in harmony,
By G-d’s holy word.

G-d of motherly wisdom and grace,
Bless our family with health
And our matriarch with vision, endurance and hope.
May her devotion inspire us to live by our highest ideals,
Guided by Torah.
Bless our lives with laughter
And our days with purpose,
So that we bring radiance and splendor to our family
And to the world.

Blessed are You, G-d of our mothers,
Who provides just and righteous women
In every generation.

Postscript: The photo is my mom. She was an actress. I welcome ideas for more topics in this series of family prayers. Others include: “For the Patriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters”and “For the Family Historian.” This prayer was first posted on May 9, 2010.

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. If you use or like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Mom

For New Love

Posted on: April 24th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer is to be recited by an individual after recognizing the beginning of romantic love. It recognizes the strength and fragility of a new relationship. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For New Love
G-d of mystery and majesty,
Creator of redemption and hope,
I give thanks for the gift of new love.
Grant me the gentleness and courage,
The bravery and patience,
To let this love unfold like a flower,
A source of wonder and beauty
To be nurtured, blessed, praised and cherished
For what it is in this moment:
A seed with tiny imperceptible roots
And the beginning of a fragile stem hidden within.
It may take hold – and this would be beautiful –
Or it may wash away, which is the nature of some things.
This seed has so much energy,
So much G-d given yearning for life,
Yearning to hold fast in the cradle of earth,
Yearning to reach for warmth and light,
That it may yield a meadow,
A sea of wild flowers,
Perhaps fragile,
Perhaps sturdy,
Always seeking light and air and earth.
Or it may disappear in the wind.

Heavenly source of radiance and splendor,
Let this new love be a blessing.
Give it strong roots to stay planted firmly against the elements
And a hearty stalk to bend gracefully with the seasons.
You who know the deepest mysteries of the heart,
May our moments together yield blessings for us
And for everyone we meet.

Blessed are You,
Source of blessing and love.

Postscript: In case you were wondering, there’s no particular significance to my posting this prayer now. One day I’ll use it. Not today. My other prayers about love include: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “To Seek Your Love” and “A Heart of Love.”

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. If you like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

This Bounty

Posted on: April 14th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer celebrates G-d’s bounty and grace, making it a lovely prayer for both Sukkot and Thanksgiving. It will appear in This Grateful Heart, my forthcoming from CCAR Press.

This Bounty
G-d of abundance,
You have blessed me
With Your bounty
Your love,
Your grace,
The treasures of Your creation.

In gratitude for these gifts,
Holy One,
Bless me with wisdom
To use them with skill,
In service to Your holy name.

Bless me with humility
To use them with joy
In service to Your creation.

Bless me with a generous heart
And a forgiving hand
In service to Your commandments.

Bless me with a strong arm
And a curious mind
In the name of tikkun olam.

Bless me with gentle speech
And joyous laughter,
So that all my works
Summon holiness into Your world.

Then, Rock of Israel,
I will honor Your glorious gifts
With all my being.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
Your bounty calls us to service.

Postscript: Here are a few prayers with a similar theme: “Life as A Banquet,” “These Blessings” and “Giving Thanks.” And If you would, please put in a quick prayer for Dana, Marty and me. Thanks.

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.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

Posts Tagged ‘joy’

Halfway Point

A Prayer for Dad

Each Day

For Service

Obediah: A Short Story

For the Joy of Learning

Hershal Dovid: A Torah Reading Story

A Prayer for Mom

For New Love

This Bounty

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