Tag Archive for "light" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘light’

We Wait, על הניסים, תשפ”ה, For the Miracles, 5785

Posted on: December 21st, 2024 by Alden

We traditionally say al hanisim on Hanukkah and Purim, an insertion into the Amidah and the birkat hamazon remembering and thanking God for the miracles that occurred in each season. Last Hanukkah, with war raging and hostages held by the hand of terror, unable to fully embrace this prayer, I worked with my friend Avital Ordan to adapt the Hebrew to include future miracles, adding my own text to create על הניסים, תשפ”ד, “For the Miracles, 5784”. A year later, I have rewritten the English text. Hard to believe a year has passed. And here we are…

We Wait, על הניסים, תשפ”ה, For the Miracles, 5785
O heart of yearning,
With gratitude for miracles
In the days of old,
We pray and wait
For new signs and wonders,
Miracles in our day,
As we defend our people and our land,
As we fight to free our hostages.

For all the miracles,
Seen and unseen,
Done and yet to be done,
We thank You.

O, that we might thank You once again,
That we might rejoice
With whole hearts,
With the captives freed,
With all wars, everywhere, ended.

,על הניסים ועל הפרקן ועל הגבורות ועל התשועות ועל המלחמות
הנסתרות והנגלות, שנעשו, שנעשות, שיעשו איתנו
.בכל עת ועת, בימים האלה ובזמן הזה

We thank You for the miracles, the redemption, the heroics, the blessings, and the victories,
Hidden and revealed, that You did, are doing, and will do for us,
In every age, in these days and at this season.

Al hanissim v’al hapurkan v’al hagvurot v’al hat’shuot v’al hamilhamot, hanistarot v’haniglot, she’nasu, she’naasot she’yi’asu eitanu b’col et va’et bayamim ha’eleh u’vazman hazeh.

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Postscript: Thank you to Avital Ordan for her collaboration in adapting the traditional Hebrew.

Please check out Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe and 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.”

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

Light from Beyond

Posted on: December 12th, 2023 by Alden

A Hanukkah poem about light, seeking hope in the darkness of war, terror, and hostages in captivity. The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies — where I am the Liturgist in Residence — invited me to write a prayer poem for Hanukkah as part of its series “Illuminating Chanukah: Artistic Reflections on Jewish Texts.” Each artist was asked to interpret a Hanukkah text. This poem is an interpretation of a teaching of the Sefat Emet “that each Hannukah candle draws from the or haganuz, the hidden light of creation.” For the full text, go to Sefaria.

Light from Beyond
When you look
With all of your heart
Into the flames
Dedicated to miracles,
You may glimpse
That special light
God created
On the first day of existence.

How comforting to know
That God’s holiness
And majesty
Still reach this world
Of war and terror.

How wonderful to feel
That God’s love
And blessings
Still shine
To warm our souls.

How glorious to see
That mysteries from heaven
Still wait in secret
To bring joy and light
To all of creation.

When you look
With all of your heart
Into the Hanukkah lights,
You will see
That miracles
Beyond our sight
Will one day bring joy and peace
Beyond our deepest yearning.

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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.”

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

Photo Source: NOAA

Coaxing Miracles

Posted on: December 5th, 2021 by Alden

For the last night of Hanukkah, a meditation on small miracles.

Coaxing Miracles
Miracles
Can start out as
Tiny things.
Specks of G-d’s love
Floating all around us,
Shimmering at a frequency
Just beyond human sight.
But when –
Like a dew drop catching sunshine –
A miracle enters light from heaven,
It shines briefly like a firefly
To remind you
That you’re not alone.
Follow the light,
For the specks of the divine
Can be coaxed into your heart,
Where they will shine
Brilliant, radiant, and forever.

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Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul , This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” 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.

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

Meditation for the End of Hanukkah

Posted on: December 17th, 2020 by Alden

After the eight days — after the Eternal Lamp stayed alight for eight days on one day of oil — the rededicated Temple was back in service to the Israelite nation. The miracle of the oil led to a renewed ability to serve G-d. For today, that echo make Hanukkah a call to rededicate of our lives to serving the Most High. See also “The Season of Dedication.” The idea for a post-Hanukkah meditation came from my friend Cantor Evan Kent.

Meditation for the End of Hanukkah
The miracle didn’t end
After eight days.
The miracle was about hearts,
The miracle was about hands,
Rededicated to the service
Of G-d and humanity,
Rededicated to Torah and mitzvot,
Rededicated to the Soul of the Universe.

The miracle didn’t end
After eight days of consecrated oil ran out,
Eight days of consecrated oil
Burning radiant in holy testimony
To G-d’s saving power.
The miracles of love and hope
Still shine luminous
In your heart.

We are surrounded by light.
We are sources of light.
We are mirrors of G-d’s light.

And so, we are called to serve the Most High,
With prayer and song,
With chesed and g’milut chasadim,
With tikkun and tikkun olam,
With ahava and ahavat chinam.
The miracle is ours now.
We will carry it into the world.
We will be the light itself.
The light of justice,
The light of peace.

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Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings 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: My Jewish Learning

Before the Beginning

Posted on: January 12th, 2020 by Alden

A brief meditation inspired by the opening five lines of Torah, Gen. 1:1-5, the first day of creation, and, perhaps, the moments in which G-d alone imagined the world before the beginning. This appears in my new book, This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer

Before the Beginning
From eternity,
From the place beyond the highest heavens,
Where stillness is motion
And motion is stillness,
Where nothing and everything meet,
Where time and timelessness are one,
G-d imagined a universe
In which existence
Could only begin
By first
Creating light.

.ויהי-ערב ויהי-בקר, יום אחד
Viyhi erev, vivhi voker, yom echad.
And there was
Evening and there was
Morning.
A first day.

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Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Light, Overflowing

Posted on: August 16th, 2018 by Alden

A meditation about the seeing God’s light inside of us all. See also, “Sowing Light” and “Light of God.” This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

Light, Overflowing
The light in me
Sees the light in you,
Is the light of God.

Oh brilliance!
Sparkling from your eyes.
Radiating from your chest.

Oh wonder!
Shining around us.
Shimmering with amazement.

Oh glory!
Overflowing my heart.
Touching your soul.

The light of God
Sees the light in you,
Is the light in me.

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Postscript: And one more called “Secret Light.”

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul , This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. 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.”

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

Photo Source: USFWS National Digital Library

Seeking the One

Posted on: March 6th, 2018 by Alden

A meditation on seeking G-d and the flow of love, a song of the Spiritual Traveler. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

Seeking the One
Somewhere, in the middle of the ocean,
Unseen, unheard,
A white-capped wave breaks into one thousand seagulls soaring toward the sun, to become a ray of warmth sent back to earth.

Somewhere, inside your heart,
Unseen, unheard,
A golden prayer breaks into one thousand sparks soaring toward the Soul, to become a radiance of blessing sent back to earth.

You are the catalyst of holiness,
The alchemy of the divine,
The wisdom that flows from G-d’s river of light,
The hand that shares healing,
The heart that radiates love,
The seagull soaring toward the sun,
The spark soaring toward the Soul,
The one seeking the One,
Seeking the One,
Seeking the One.

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Postscript: See also: “Prayer with Wings,” “Rise on Wings: A Prayer of Borrowing” and “Give Love Wings.”

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: Alden Solovy

Posts Tagged ‘light’

We Wait, על הניסים, תשפ”ה, For the Miracles, 5785

Light from Beyond

Coaxing Miracles

Meditation for the End of Hanukkah

Before the Beginning

Light, Overflowing

Seeking the One

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