Category Archives: Psalms

Chants, Psalms

For the Sake of Your Love

Kumah ezratah lanu u’f’daynu l’ma’an chasdecha
Graphic: For the Sake of YourL ove in Hebrew
Arise and help us; free us for the sake of Your Love. (Psalm 44:27)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 44 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

Because of our hurts, disappointments, ambitions and fears, we can get caught in cycles of violence, grudges or revenge. It is only the loving presence of the Divine within us that can ultimately free us from those traps. As that Divine love rises up within us and between us, we are liberated from small-minded grievances and sent to an expanded state of profound forgiveness.

To hear the chants, 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 For the Sake of Your Love PDF. For the Sake of Your Love notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Light and Truth

Sh’lach-orcha va’amitcha
Graphic: Light and Truth in Hebrew
Send forth Your light and Your truth. (Psalm 43:3)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 43 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

Each of us is called to shine our own unique light and to find a way to express the truth that may lie buried in us. The world depends on our willingness to become radiant, and to speak our truth. Sometimes, I experience just a glimmer of that truth, and I must follow that glimmer wherever it may lead. It takes courage and faith to live it and to express it in ways that not everyone will understand.

To hear the chants, 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 Light and Truth PDF. For the musical notation, click Light and Truth notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

All of My Bones

Kol atzmotai tomarnah, Yah mi Chamocha!
Graphic: All of My Bones in Hebrew
All of my bones shall say, “Oh God, who is like You!” (Psalm 35:10)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 35 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

Yah Mi chamocha is an exclamation of wonder. Like WOW! The word for my bones also means my essence. So, when my bones are expressing this wow, I am allowing my core essence to communicate its amazement radiating out from my center. When I express this wonder, my bones come into alignment with the whole of life, and I just want to dance. My bones lead the way.

To hear the chants, 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 All of My Bones PDF. For the musical notation, click All of My Bones notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Your Support

Va’ani b’tumi tamachta bi
Graphic: Your Support in Hebrew
Whenever I am in my integrity, I feel Your support. (Psalm 41:13)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 41 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

No matter what difficulties or challenges I face, my commitment is to learn from everything, and to use all of it as a catalyst for awakening. And if I stay in my integrity, I know that I will be supported. Being in my integrity means always aligning and re-aligning myself with my highest soul-purpose. When I am living in authentic, whole-hearted alignment with my soul-purpose, I can lean into the Divine embrace that is forever holding me steady. In that embrace, I relax and enjoy the wild ride of being human.

To hear the chants, 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 Your Support PDF. For the musical notation, click Your Support notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Smicha Chant

Baati b’megilat sefer katuv alai, la’asot r’tzoncha Elohai
Chafatzti b’toratcha b’toch may’ai
Graphic: Smicha Chant in Hebrew
I have come, with my whole life written upon me,
To do your pleasure, my God
My own desire and your Torah and mingled within me. (Psalm 40:8-9)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 40 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

Back in 1996 I was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. All through those 8 years of study, I also studied with Reb Zalman, and so I asked him if he would give me smicha after I graduated from RRC. He graciously and enthusiastically said yes. That long awaited moment happened at Elat Chayyim that summer. He asked me to come to the door of where he was staying at sunset. I knocked on his door; he opened it but wouldn’t let me in. He asked me to stay up all night in prayer, and at dawn, he promised to give me smicha. And then he scribbled something on a scrap of paper and handed it to me, and quickly closed the door.

It was this line from Psalm 40. I spent all night in the hot tub, crying and contemplating these words and singing them. At dawn I was still crying, but I felt washed clean and ready…. to step onto a path of wholeness and integration.

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

NOTE: This recording is from the Chanscendence CD.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Smicha Chant PDF.