Tag Archive for "spirit" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘spirit’

Yaakov Shraga: A Short, Short Story

Posted on: May 20th, 2010 by tobendlight

Yaakov Shraga dances his prayer, his faith and his love of Hashem.

I wrote this in a hotel room one morning while on business travel, watching myself making dancing movements in a mirror so that the description would match the motion. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Yaakov Shraga
Each day, Yaakov Shraga goes to dance in the woods in secret. He stands perfectly still, his arms at his sides. He listens to the birds chirp and the wind rustle the trees. He watches the rays of morning light filter through the branches and leaves. And as he takes a deep breath of cool, fresh air, Yaakov slowly lifts his arms from the wrists. When his wrists reach his shoulders he begins to sway. First left, then right, left, then right, his arms gently flowing back and forth.

Yaakov begins a nigun. As he stretches his fingers toward heaven, his hands and wrists, elbows and shoulders lilt with the tune. And his feet, compelled by the joy of the song and the rhythm of the dance and the glory of creation, carry Yaakov step-step left then step-step right. He twirls and sways, his body becoming a prayer. And the birds listen. And the wind cools him. And the morning light bends toward Yaakov Shraga to see. He dances and sings until he falls asleep. In his dream, Yaakov continues to dance and sing and spin and pray with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might.

Each day Yaakov Shraga the Cripple goes to dance in the woods in his mind, where only G-d can see him.

Postscript: My dad’s Yiddish name was Yaakov Shraga, z”l. He lived with chronic pain and crippling rheumatoid arthritis first diagnosed when he was a boy. The story came, in part, from witnessing the power of his mind over pain. I’ve struggled with calling this character “the Cripple;” it flies in the face of social conscience — and my own — against using negative terms to describe the handicapped. As a writer, however, it’s clear that this usage drives the story’s impact. Here’s a link to my other short, short stories.

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Photo credit: Save Our Woods

For the Matriarch

Posted on: May 9th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is part of a series of prayers celebrating family. Each begins with a psalm-like introduction and end with a blessing. The photo is one of my mother’s publicity shots from her career as an actress. Among her credits, she was a cast member of America’s first theater in the round, Circle Players, and was an early television star, including the show Mixed Doubles. This prayer 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: If you like this prayer, you may also like: “For the Patriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters”and “For the Family Historian.”

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 Courtesy of Adrian Solovy

For the Gift of Dance

Posted on: April 28th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is another in a series of prayers celebrating the gifts of creativity and honoring artistic expression, this one focused on dance. The introduction to “For the Gift of Song”describes the common framework that I’ve used in this series. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Gift of Dance
G-d, we give thanks for the gift of dance,
For the gift of rhythm and movement,
For the gift of power, awe, wonder and thanksgiving
Expressed through our bodies
In celebration of Your Divine creation.
Hear this prayer for those who dance for love and healing,
For prayer and repentance,
Seeking wholeness and light.
Make their bodies your vessel.
Let heaven pour grace and beauty through them
So that they overflow with Your spirit,
Drawing others to Your mysteries.
So that when we see this dance
Our souls turn back to You in celebration.
Together, we offer our spirits 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 Art,” “For the Gift of Music,” “For the Gift of Laughter,” “For the Gift of Torah Scholarship” and “For the Joy of Learning.”

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On Making a Mistake

Posted on: April 25th, 2010 by tobendlight

Like the Jewish prayers said upon eating bread or lighting Sabbath candles, this is to be said upon making a mistake. This isn’t just about forgiveness. It’s about finding the holiness, the healing and the beauty in the moments after making a mistake. It’s about elevating a mistake into an act of wisdom, charity and love. This prayer can be used as a meditation during the Hebrew month of Elul. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

On Making a Mistake
G-d of realms above and realms below,
Of justice and mercy,
Grant me the understanding that my mistakes
Are teachers and guides,
Pointing me in the direction of my best self,
Leading me toward a path of righteousness,
A path of charity,
A path of love.

Redeemer of Israel,
Bless my mistakes with the power to teach.
Remove the potential for harm.
Give me the strength and wisdom to amend my ways,
To seek forgiveness and live by my ideals
Guided by Your word.

Blessed are You, who reveals the path of righteousness.

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Photo Source: Daily Positive Quotes

My Work Remains

Posted on: April 20th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is profoundly intimate. And it is one of my favorite prayers written for myself and for other men. It came out of my work at the January 2010 New Warrior Training Adventure of the ManKind Project. It is dedicated to all who participated: the new men, the staff, the leaders and everyone who made the weekend possible. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

My Work Remains
I am not done with me.
I am beautiful.
A work of art.
A Divine gift.

My joy is this:
The canvass is not complete,
So many colors and shades,
Tones and hues,
So much bright light and
Deep shadow,
Have not yet risen to the surface.
Now, the paintbrush is mine,
As it always was,
The secret I kept from myself.

How many more
Wonderful secrets
Are inside of me?
Waiting. Ready.
Praying for me to
Paint and paint and paint,
With broad amazing strokes
And fine fancy details.

I am not done with me.
I am beautiful.
Glorious and holy,
Joyous and powerful,
Willing and able.

Brothers of this earth!
Walk with me.
Take my hand,
Feel this power,
Share this prayer.
For you too are beautiful.
A work of art.
A man.

My work remains.

Postscript: This piece could become more inclusive by swapping the words ‘brother’ and ‘man’ with ‘sister’ and ‘woman.’ That’s not the intent of this prayer. The intent is to develop, as part of my prayer writing mission, a body of prayers for and about men. Check out these prayers for men: “For the Lost” and “My Heart Knows What It Needs,” as well as a list of other prayers for and about men.

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.

Regarding Old Wounds

Posted on: April 18th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is about the spiritual path, recognizing that it requires a sense of purpose and joy, of love and humility. Why? Because healing can be painful. Much like surgery, it’s often necessary for me to receive my wounds in order to grow. Then I have a profound choice, to live wounded or to let these wounds heal and live from a place of wonder and awe. I use this prayer in week four of Counting the Omer, chesed b’netzach.

Regarding Old Wounds
Daughter of man,
Son of woman,
Children of compassion and sacred secrets:
Your wounds are deep,
Your losses crushing,
Knife on flesh,
Hammer on bone,
Burning your heart and searing your eyes.
Why do you invite them back
To chastise your days
And torture your nights?
Why do you love these old wounds,
Holding them so dear?

Son of celebration,
Daughter of ecstasy:
Cast off your doubts,
Banish your fears,
Exile the pain of time beyond your reach.
There is beauty in your past,
Wonder in your future,
And holiness in each new moment of life.

Come you children of G-d,
You witnesses of suffering and grace,
Lift your heads from your hands,
Raise your voices in song,
Lift your lives in service,
And rekindle the light of compassion and love.
Then, your lives will become a blessing,
A well of hope,
A river of consolation,
A fountain of peace.

Blessed are You, G-d of forgiveness,
You renew our lives with purpose.

Postscript: This piece was part of a collaboration with Lin Batsheva Kahn of the Tikvah Company of Artists and Desiree Miller of the Chicago Civic Orchestra called “Three Prayers,” using my words, original choreography and dance by Lin and original cello music by Desiree. “Three Prayers” premiered in Jerusalem in June 2014 as part of an evening of dance and poetry by Miriam Engel’s Angela Dance Company. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Photo Credit: Neshama נשמה Nicole Raisin Stern

Tears of Crystal, Tears of Broken Glass

Posted on: April 7th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is about the power of tears, both to hurt and to heal, and is appropriate for use commemorating Kristallnacht, Yom HaShoah and Tisha b’Av. Click here for a six-prayer Yom HaShoah liturgy.

To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Tears of Crystal, Tears of Broken Glass
My tears are crystal and broken glass.
They sparkle, they cut.
They heal, they wound.
They are daybreak and midnight,
Hymn and dirge,
Joyous celebration and lonely mourning.
My tears catch Your Divine Light,
Prisms casting colors across my days
And on my hands.
I pray to hold them gently,
With dignity,
With honor.

I am one of Your children,
One of those You love,
Comforted knowing that I, too,
Am one for whom You cry
Tears of crystal,
Tears of broken glass.

Postscript: Please see the related prayer, “After the Horror.”

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Photo Credit: Highland Park Conservative Temple

To Hear Your Voice

Posted on: April 1st, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer starts with yearning hear G-d’s message, the desire to understand G-d’s will and the humility to seek G-d’s counsel. It ends with the affirmation that G-d’s voice is available to all who listen. This prayer is from a series of prayers that includes: “To Seek Your Glory” and “To Know Your Word.” I use this prayer on the 31st day of the counting of the Omer, Compassion in Humility. This prayer poem appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

To Hear Your Voice
Divine Voice of reason and love,
Of compassion and understanding:
Speak gently and clearly so that I may know Your will.
Give me the patience to listen and the desire to seek
Your counsel and instruction.
Grant me the understanding to hear Your teachings in every voice,
From all people,
In every moment of need.
Open my heart to others,
To their suffering,
To their call for help.
Open my heart to love and laughter,
Song and dance,
Beauty and grace,
So that I remember to celebrate Your gifts day by day.

Divine Creator of spirit and light,
Teach me to hold my joys and sorrows gently in my hands
And to honor them both.
Teach me to be present to all that I see and all that I feel,
In truth, without fear.
Teach me to be present for others,
In humble service.

Blessed are You,
Teacher and Guide,
You make Your wisdom known to those who ask
And those who listen, willingly and patiently,
To the voices of Your creation.

Blessed are You, Your Voice resounds throughout creation.

Postscript: Here are three related prayers: “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” Please check out my book, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings.

Photo Credit: Nemoy Fine Arts

For Healing the Spirit

Posted on: March 22nd, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer opens by summoning the prophetic voice, asking that we examine our lives, that we examine why we waste our days in grief and despair. Then the prayer turns to the power we have to make our lives holy, asking us to walk toward holiness. This is one of a set of three related prayers, including “Regarding Old Wounds” and “For Sharing Divine Gifts.” All three appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Healing the Spirit
Daughter of man,
Son of woman,
Children of love and divine union:
Why do you stay buried in your losses,
Crushed by your burdens,
Drowned by your fears?
Why do you look down to the dust
When the morning sky
Bursts with daybreak?
When the night
Shimmers with starlight?
Why do you shuffle your feet
When the earth calls out
To feel your dance?

Daughter of majestic gifts,
Son of glorious secrets:
Cast off your sorrows.
Banish your pain.
Exile your grief.
There is joy in every breath,
Mystery in every sky.

Come you children of G-d,
You witnesses of life and loss:
Walk with dignity toward holiness
And with grace toward healing.
Walk with confidence into each moment
And with passion into each new day.
Then your lives will become a blessing,
A divine teacher,
An instrument of heaven,
A messenger of hope.

Blessed are You, Creator of life,
You heal the broken spirit with love.

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Postscript: Although all three of the prayers in this series have particular relevance during the Hebrew month of Elul. I’ve selected this prayer for using during week four of Counting the Omer. Here are more prayers for healing: “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For Surgery” and “Upon Recovery from Surgery.”

Photo Credit: Neshama Life

Posts Tagged ‘spirit’

Yaakov Shraga: A Short, Short Story

For the Matriarch

For the Gift of Dance

On Making a Mistake

My Work Remains

Regarding Old Wounds

Tears of Crystal, Tears of Broken Glass

To Hear Your Voice

For Healing the Spirit

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