Category Archives: Chants

With My Life: Kayn avarech’cha

12/26/2007 Alia Meira

Kayn avarech’cha v’chayai
b’shimcha esa chapai

I will bless You with my very life;
through Your Name I will raise my hands. (Psalm 63:5)

This practice asks, “What are you withholding? What more can you give to this present moment?” In accessing the fullness of my presence, I can lift myself up into holiness. I can raise my level of vibration, so that whatever my hand touches is blessed by my holy intentions. As I chant these words, the word shimcha (Your Name) changes into Simcha (Joy)… so that I am singing the Truth that Joy will lift my hands; with Joy I will raise my actions to the level of my abundant Blessing.

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 With My Life PDF.

Chants, Liturgy

Unifying the Heart: V’yachayd l’vavaynu

12/26/2007 Alia Meira

V’yachayd l’vavaynu l’ahavah u’l’yirah et sh’mecha.

Unify our hearts to love and to be in awe of Your Name/Essence. (From the Liturgy)

These words are part of the prayer that comes in the paragraph just before the Sh’ma. The Sh’ma opens in us the perception of Unity, but before we go there, we must do the work of unification inside our own hearts. This practice guides me to identify with both the love and the awe for the essence that is hidden behind all form. When I chant, v’yachayd l’vavaynu, I journey into my heart. When I chant, l’ahavah, I find my love. When I chant, u’l’yirah, I find my awe. And when I chant et sh’mecha, I call on the wholeness of my heart to perceive/receive the essence of That-Which-Is.

Note: Psalm 86:11 says:

Unify my heart to be in awe of Your Name.

The liturgist obviously knew this psalm and decided that Love was also needed.

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 Unifying the Heart PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 239.

Chants, Liturgy, Psalms

Surrender: B’yad’cha

11/28/2007 Alia Meira

B’yad’cha Afkid Ruchi

Into Your hand I entrust my spirit. (Psalm 31:6)

I created this practice in preparation for knee surgery. For the couple months leading up to surgery, I was limping around somewhat nonchalantly mostly pre-occupied with getting a lot done. Then as the time approached, I experienced the first stages of panic realizing exactly what kind of power-tool, screws, cadaver-parts, and strange manipulations that were waiting for me. The message that my soul whispered so very clearly was that I was required to surrender now. I had done all the work of setting up care for myself, learning what I needed, renting and buying the right devices for rehab, listening to the message that my knee was communicating to me so articulately. Now I could almost see the smoking trail of my good witch’s broomstick in the sky: “Surrender, Shefa.”

So, as a chanter, I looked for a sacred phrase that might help me and chose Psalm 31:6. (Into Your hand I entrust my spirit.) As the chant/practice developed, I began to become aware of God’s hands manifesting in and through the world, through those who love me, through my doctors and devices, and through breath and color. With each repetition of the chant I could release control and trust the Great Hand that held me. I could also become aware of just how much I had been holding on to control and see how much work was still before me.

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

Surrender

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Surrender PDF.

Chants, Isaiah

The Miracle: Vayasem midbarah k’eden

05/28/2007 Alia Meira

Vayasem midbarah k’eden, v’arvatah k’gan Adonai
The Miracle Hebrew text
He transforms her wilderness into Delight,
her wasteland into a Divine Garden. (Isaiah 51:3)

With this practice, I acknowledge and celebrate the miracle of transformation. Each time I have experienced devastation, it feels as if even the possibility of Redemption is a cruel illusion. And then I find myself in Eden, surrounded by beauty, held in God’s loving embrace.

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.

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 305.

Chants, Psalms

Satisfaction and Its Fruits: Sab’enu

05/24/2007 Alia Meira

Sab’enu vaboqer chasdekha;
Un’ran’nah v’nism’chah b’chol yameynu.

May Your Loving-kindness satisfy us in the morning;
and we will sing out and we will rejoice for all our days. (Psalm 90:14)

Satisfaction is a daily practice of opening to the flow of God’s love and receiving that flow in gratefulness. Then we can let our lives be an expression of the wonder, surprise, appreciation, awe and delight that comes from receiving the gift of our lives each day. The practice of satisfaction requires that I suspend my habitual complaint, create a space of inner stillness and receptivity, and then open my senses to the subtle flows of loving-kindness that are always flowing into our world. That flow may come through the color of the sky or the song of a bird or the touch of silk against my skin. That flow may come through the rhythm of my breath, through a sudden inspiration, or through the kindness of a friend. Our practice is to become attentive to that flow, be filled by it and then let our lives become a response to this divine generosity.

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.

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 285.