Loving ‘This’: Zeh Dodi | Rabbi Shefa Gold

Zeh Dodi v’zeh ray-ee

This is my Beloved; this is my Friend. (Song of Songs 5:16)

Meditation is the practice of opening to “this” — this very moment, this very place. Ordinarily I may have my judgements — things about this that I like or not. But in meditation I just say yes to whatever is before me. I accept it fully. I may not like it, but I surrender to “this” whatever it is. I fall in love, each moment, again and again. I make this moment my friend.

My friend and teacher Sylvia Boorstein has taught me a phrase of intention, “I greet this moment in friendship with an undefended heart.”

This phrase from the Song of Songs helps me to enter into meditation with a clear and vital intention of making each moment my Beloved.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Beha’alotekha).

To hear the chant, use the audio player. To download the chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

Loving ‘This’

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 258.