Posts Tagged ‘Vayeira’

 

Vayeira: Fire Within

Posted on: November 7th, 2014 by Alden

1-heart-on-fireBound to an altar, saved at the last minute, neither blade nor sacrificial fire touched Isaac. Not physically, but he comes off the altar a different man and never speaks to his father again. This prayer is about the wounds we carry inside, the wounds no one else can see. This piece appears in This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer from CCAR Press.

Fire Within
My burns
Cannot be seen on my flesh.
They are in my lungs
And in my eyes.
What medicine will halt the smoldering,
The smoke that suffocates from within?

My cuts
Cannot be seen on my skin.
They are in my heart
And in my throat.
What medicine will heal the bleeding,
The tide that floods from within?

Ancient One,
Release me from the fire and the knife:
The flame that consumes hope and joy,
The blade that destroys time and seasons.

Holy One,
Rock and Shelter,
Your medicine is love.
Your salve is holiness.
Your balm is life.

,בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי
אֵל רְפוּאָה וּמַרְפֵּא
.מְקוֹר חַיִּים וְאַהֲבָה

Baruch atah, Adonai,
El r’fuah umarpei
M’kor chayim v’ahavah.

Blessed are You, Adonai,
God of health and healing,
Source of life and love.

© 2021 CCAR Press from This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer

Postscript: I originally conceived this as a prayer for men. Many men experience our internal struggles – fears, losses, shames, angers – as fire and knife. Although I don’t know if the metaphor holds for women, this piece seems more universally a prayer for healing than my other prayers for men. It first appeared on this site on Nov. 12, 2012.

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: zoeyryanthoughts.com

Vayeira: Messengers

Posted on: November 1st, 2012 by tobendlight

“And Adonai appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he (Avraham) was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day; and he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing beside him, and he saw and he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and he bowed down to the earth.” – Genesis 18:1-2

Are you ready to receive the messengers of G-d? To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

Messengers
G-d of awe and wonder,
Your messengers are all around,
Leading us on Your path,
Guiding us to joy and love.
Open my eyes to the teachers in our midst,
Leading us to Torah and chesed,
Righteousness and charity,
With their kindness and their gentle deeds.
Open my heart to know and to understand their ways,
Their joy in service to You,
Through their service to others,
So that I may become
A source of Your blessings.

Holy One,
Well of Mercy,
Praise to You in heaven and on earth.
Praise for Your messengers among us.
Praise for the Sabbath of our days.
Praise for the Sabbath of our hearts.

Blessed are You, Rock of generations,
Source of All Being,
You plant the seeds
Of holiness among us.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: This prayer echoes the themes of kindness from strangers and service to others found in several of my prayers, poems and meditations. Here are two of them: “On the Road” and “For Service.” This prayer was first posted on February 17, 2012.

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: The Bedouin Tent

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