Category Archives: Chants

Chants, Psalms

The Song of the Loon: V’laila

V’laila kayom ya-ir kachashaycha ka-orah
The Song of the Loon Hebrew text
Night shines like day, darkness is as light. (Psalm 139:12)

Perek Shira is an ancient midrashic text that assigns a verse to each creature and hears the particular call of each aspect of Creation praising its Creator in song. One day, after vacationing on a lake in upstate New York, my beloved students, Wendy and Susan called me to ask, “Does the loon have a song in Perek Shira?” When I said, “no,” they suggested a text. I went immediately to the internet to listen to a recording of the loon’s call. Wendy described that call as mournful yearning. Susan said that although that was true, the mournful, yearning call of the loon led her to joy. Not many birds sing in the dark, but loons call to each other all through the night. The loons teach us to know the radiance of night, and to let even our darkness shine.

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 Song of the Loon PDF.

Chants, Isaiah

Come for Water: Hoy!

Hoy! Kol Tzamay l’chu lamayim
Come for Water Hebrew text
All who are thirsty, come for water! (Isaiah 55:1)

Our spiritual challenge is to first acknowledge our thirst for Love, wisdom, comfort, nurturance and pleasure…. And then to “come for water.” Isaiah tells us that even if you feel that you have no money or worth… still you can come and buy this wine and this milk. The wine represents the power of transformation and the milk is that which nurtures our deepest yearnings. He warns us not to waste our life’s energy trying to buy something that in the end won’t nurture us. We chant these words to acknowledge our thirst and then to move us towards the true “water” which is as intoxicating as wine and as nurturing as breast-milk.

This chant is a two-part round. To hear the chant, use the audio player. To download the chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 307.

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

Chants, Shir HaShirim

Heart-Seal: Simayni

Simayni chachotam al libecha
Heart-Seal HebrewText
Set me as a seal upon your heart. (Song of Songs 8:6)

When God, my Beloved instructs me to place the sign of Divinity on my heart, I take it as an opportunity to lay my heart bare and surrender to the truth of my inner identity. With this practice I receive the imprint of God’s love, and I surrender to that love.

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

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 Heart-Seal PDF. For the musical notation, click Heart-Seal Music.

Chants, Scripture

The Divine Mikveh: Mikvay

Mikvay Yisroayl Havayah
Divine Mikveh Hebrew Text
God is a Mikveh for Israel. (Jeremiah 17:13)

I spent my 60th birthday soaking in some lovely hot springs in New Mexico, with the intention of being purified of the past and reborn into a new time, a new decade, a new era in my life. In the springs I sang these words from Jeremiah. I surrendered to the Divine waters, letting them wash away regrets and worries, letting them open me to the miracle of this moment and a clear, clean, expansive hopeful way forward.

And I remembered that we are always immersed in God, which means that we can relax and be floated, held… and ultimately dissolved in God. (…sigh!)

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 The Divine Mikveh PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Building the Holy Place: Vaasu

Va’asu li mikdash, v’shochanti b’tocham
Vaasu Hebrew Text
Make for Me a Holy Place so that I may dwell within, among, between them. (Exodus 25:8)

For me this is a central commandment of Torah. It is my life’s purpose. I know that when I make my heart, my body, my energy field, my relationships, my communities, my world into a Mishkan: a dwelling place for the Divine Mystery. Then God will indeed be invited to dwell within. My heart becomes a holy place when I bring attention, care and healing to its unending capacity for love and connection. My body becomes a holy place when I honor its rhythms, listen and respond to its messages, and know its perfection. My energy field becomes a holy place when I attend to its integrity, transparency and resilience. My relationships become holy places when I meet others with compassion, curiosity, openness and truth. My communities become holy places when we connect with each other in service, humility, joy and friendship. My world becomes a holy place when I open my eyes to beauty and my heart to meaning and purpose.

When I chant I am building a holy place so that in the silence after the chant, Shechina (God’s indwelling Presence) can enter. Each chant becomes a model for how I might build and strengthen the Mishkan of heart, body, energy field, relationship, community and world.

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 Building the Holy Place PDF. For the musical notation, click Vaasu Li Mikdash Music.