Category Archives: Chants

Let Us Run Together: Moshkayni

08/12/2020 Alia Meira

Moshkayni acharecha narutzah

Take me with you, let us run together! (Song of Songs 1:4)

Sometimes I think of myself as someone who has an idea… and then I want to “run with it.” My enthusiasm for life and for the creative process just kicks in. With this practice, I am saying to God, “Let’s run together!” Be with me as my joy, as my spacious awareness. Let me know You as the mystery that draws me into this next adventure, and accompanies me through every danger.

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

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Let Us Run Together.

Chants, Shir HaShirim

True Face: Harini

06/30/2020 Alia Meira

Harini et marayich; Hashmi-ini et kolaych
Ki kolaych arayv u-maraych naveh
True Face in Hebrew
Let me see who you really are; let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet and your face is radiant. (Song of Songs 2:14)

The normal way of being is to live inside our thoughts about the world. We see what we expect to see. We’re busy trying to figure out how to use the world or protect ourselves from it. We are identifying threats or allies. We are comparing and categorizing. We are planning our next step. When those thoughts quiet down or cease being the focus of our attention, suddenly the world appears.

Surprisingly, it is more bright and beautiful and radiant than anything we could have imagined. Colors delight. Our curiosity is kindled. We can engage with what is before us and receive its gift, enjoying both the blessing and the challenge of this world. When we are paying attention and can become receptive, God’s true face appears as this world. In a moment of inner stillness, we can relax, enjoy and open as the sounds of this world become music.

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

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click True Face PDF. For the musical notation, see True Face Notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Taking Refuge in You: Chanayni

05/10/2020 Alia Meira

Chanayni Elohim, Chanayni
Ki v’cha chasayah nafshi
Hebrew for Taking Refuge in You
You pour out your grace to me, Oh God,
When my soul takes refuge in You. (Psalm 57:2)

There are many names for God. When I invoke the name Elohim, I am sometimes startled to remember that this name is grammatically in the plural; I must explore that great Multiplicity if I am to find my way to Unity. On some days I call God “My Beloved”; on some days I call God “My Friend”; on some days I call to God as “The Great Mystery”; on some days I know God as the “Infinite Invisible”. Today as I face a world that is reeling in flux, I take refuge in God, and I call Her, “Spacious, Loving Awareness.”

Taking refuge in Spacious, Loving Awareness allows me to re-contextualize my own troubles, lean into a larger perspective, and surrender into this expanded moment. This act of taking refuge beneath the wide wings of Shechina, is what opens the apertures of my heart, allowing Grace (the Divine flow) to pour in. God is always flowing. It is only I who sometime closes in response to trauma, fear, doubt or wounding. Our spiritual practice is to open to that flow by taking refuge, giving ourselves over to God’s loving embrace.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Taking Refuge in You PDF. To download the chant’s notation, click Taking Refuge in You notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Trust in You: Yom Ira

04/30/2020 Alia Meira

Yom Ira Ani aylecha evtach

In the (very) day that I fear,
I will put my trust in You. (Psalm 56:4)

My practice is to notice, really notice when fear arises, so that in that very moment I can turn and surrender to the Great Mystery. It’s tricky because fear often wears a disguise. The disguise might look like anger or cynicism or irritability or numbness or anxiety or tension in my body. When I can catch myself, I can interrupt the pattern of fear hiding behind one of these masks. Then, I notice the fear, take care of myself with tender self-compassion, and open in trust to the Great Mystery, relaxing into the Divine embrace, which, in truth. has been holding me all along.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Trust in You PDF. To download the chant’s notation, click Trust in You notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Sowing Our Tears: HaZorim

04/13/2020 Alia Meira

HaZorim b’dimah b’rinah yik’tzoru

Those who sow in tears will reap in joyous song. (Psalm 126:5)

Some tears lie fallow. They dissolve into dust or splatter on pavement, and are not planted. These tears leave us bitter and exhausted. Yet, when we know our tears as precious, they can be carefully and tenderly planted. We can do this planting for one another by giving each other the kind of attention that creates the fertile ground for tears. By acknowledging the value of grief as tears flow through us, we can plant each tear as a seed of joy. Our grieving can wash us clean, open the ground of our hearts, and clear the way for new life, new song, and surprising joy.

With this practice I reach into the stored memories of grief. I re-encounter my own tears, shed and unshed, and know my tears as precious seeds that can grow into greater love and compassion for myself and others. As I chant these sacred words, I let the power of my grief pour through my voice and presence. Memories fuel my intention – the intention to surrender to the power of transformation.

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

Sowing Our Tears

There’s no PDF file for this chant, but it appears on page 17 in The Magic of Hebrew Chant.