All posts by Alia Meira

Chants

The Place of Comfort: HaMakom

HaMakom yinachem etchem
Place of Comfort Hebrew text
The Place will comfort you.

The Place of Comfort/The Comfort of Place

The ancient and traditional way to greet mourners is, “The Place (i.e., The Omnipresent One) will comfort you (pl.) among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”

The Place of Comfort is where I know that I am held, supported and encouraged, even in my mourning, even through the passage of my darkest grief. The Comfort of Place in in knowing God’s omnipresence; knowing and feeling that God is here, wherever I travel. That presence will manifest differently and uniquely in each and every place.

This is a blessing that we can give to each other and receive for ourselves as we travel through all the high and low places of our lives.

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

To download the musical notation as a PDF file, click The Place of Comfort Music.

Chants, Psalms

The Cornerstone: Evven ma’asu

Evven ma’asu habonim ha’y’tah l’rosh pinah
Cornerstone Hebrew text
The Stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. (Psalm 118:22)

The people who have been marginalized by our society seem to carry the voice of prophesy for us all. The part of my own psyche that has been rejected, likewise holds the key to my nascent power.

This is a practice of identifying that “stone” — the part of us that has been pushed aside, devalued, maligned or rejected — and then raising that part up as the gift that I might reclaim and refine.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click The Cornerstone PDF. For the musical notation, click The Cornerstone Music.

Chants, Psalms

You Are My God: Eli Atah

Eli Atah v’odeka Elohai arom’meka
You Are My God Hebrew text
You are my God and I will thank You; Oh my God, I will exalt You! (Psalm 118:28)

This is a practice that has the power to raise your vibrational frequency, allowing a greater flow of life-force through your body and mind. Turning to God in gratefulness allows us to then raise up the Divine spark in our world. When we raise up that Divine spark, we can move to an even more refined level of gratefulness. With this practice, we can spiral into new places of joy, ease, peace and harmony, while staying grounded in an immediate experience of this moment’s grace.

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a part, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click You Are My God PDF. For the musical notation, click You Are My God Music.

Chants, Liturgy

Gratitude and Hope: Modim anachnu Lach

Modim anachnu Lach… Me’olam kivinu Lach.
Gratitude and Hope Hebrew text
We Thank You… We hope for You always. (Amida)

In the 17th blessing of the Daily Amida (and the 6th blessing of the Shabbat Amida) there is a paragraph that begins with a prayer of thanks and ends with a prayer of hope. I wondered about the relationship between gratitude and hope.

There have been times in my life when I have struggled with a sense of hopelessness, and I knew that re-establishing my hope was absolutely essential to being able to take the next step on my spiritual path. But, where to begin? Perhaps gratitude might be a doorway. At other times I can’t find my gratitude, but there is a glimmer of hope within me. Might I follow that glimmer and walk through the doorway of hope into my gratefulness?

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Gratitude and Hope PDF. For the musical notation, click Gratitude and Hope Music.

Chants, Scripture

Fire on the Altar: Aish tamid

Aish tamid tukad al hamizbayach; lo tichbeh
Fire on the Altar Hebrew text
Fire always shall be kept burning on the altar; it shall not go out. (Leviticus 6:6)

Inside our hearts is a flame that must be kept burning. That fire is our passion for Life, our yearning for God, our curiosity about the mysteries, our sparkle of humor, our enthusiasm for the Work. We keep that fire burning by engaging in spiritual practice, by surrounding ourselves with beauty, by giving and receiving love and support, and by fully connecting with what (and whom) we love.
It is crucial to bring attention to that flame on the altar of the heart – to feed that fire and to guard it with loving vigilance.

(I composed this chant during the last days of Chanukah as I lit the candles and took their flames inside me.)

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a part, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Fire on the Altar PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 265.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.