Category Archives: Scripture

Chants, Scripture, Shir HaShirim

Love/Death

Ki aza kamavet ahavah
Love/Death in Hebrew
For Love is as strong as Death. (Song of Songs 8:6)

Death is both the greatest challenge to Love and her greatest teacher.

In the face of Death, it is possible to close our hearts, constrict the contours of identity and defend the small self, out of that terror of not-being. And yet, death teaches us to treasure each moment, value each breath and come into a heightened awareness of the preciousness of this moment of love.

In the awareness of Death, the fullness of love blossoms. We surrender all that we are. It is a kind of ego-death. We are consumed by the passion of loving. We die to the past, invite in the unknowable Mystery of Love, open to the possibility of ego-annihilation, knowing that Love is as strong or stronger than any ambition, idea, conception or self-image.

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

To hear the chant, use the audio player. 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 Love/Death PDF.

Chants, Scripture

After the Fire

V’achar ha’aysh, Kol D’mama Dakah
Hebrew for After the fire
And after the fire, a soft murmuring sound (1st Kings 19:12)

With the prophet Elijah we enter the storm. Through the wind, and the earthquake and the fire, we journey and are awakened to full aliveness. We are broken open. And then, in the silence we listen.

To hear the various parts of 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 After the Fire PDF. For the musical notation, click After the Fire notation PDF.

Chants, Scripture

The Place

Hinay Makom iti
The Place in Hebrew
Right Here! There is a Place with Me. (Exodus 33:21)

When Moses asks to see God’s Glory, God answers with these words, directing Moses to a Place from which to see and know the Divine Presence. That place is here. In fact the word Makom (place) became a name of God. I hear God saying, “stand still upon the rock, the foundation of existence, and you will know Me. For that Place is with Me; I am there with you in the place of your stillness, your longing, your love.”

To hear the various parts of 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 The Place PDF. For the musical notation, click The Place notation PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Lament

Eicha yashva vadad
Lament in Hebrew
How she sits alone! (Lamentations 1:1)

How my heart has been broken by the cruelty of this world
How my heart has been broken by the beauty of this world
Eicha yashva vadad

On the 9th of Av, the day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple, we let our hearts break, and journey through that fissure into love. The Holy Ari teaches that on the afternoon of Tishab’Av, the Messiah is born. Out of the ashes of our grief, Messianic consciousness emerges to inspire us onward to wholeness.

I composed this chant for a Tishab’Av ritual. Between every repetition, each one in the sacred circle cried out a lament. We named our heartbreaks, both personal and communal: Suffering, inequality, cynicism, meanness, violence, poverty, injustice, abuse, apathy, hatred…

And then as the High Priest I dedicated it all, saying,
“And yet…. ALL OF THIS sends me
To kindness
To connection
To Compassion
and to the knowing of the preciousness of ALL LIFE.”

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 Lament PDF. For the musical notation, click Lament notation PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Wise Heart

Hinay natati lach lev chacham v’navon

Behold, I give you a wise and understanding heart. (1st Kings 3:12)

In Father Leo O’Donovan’s benediction at President Biden’s inauguration, he refers to this verse, and I was inspired to bring it to life and light within me in honor of this historic moment. As I chant this, I am asking for the blessing of a wise and understanding heart for our leaders and also, I am opening to the possibility of receiving a wise and understanding heart for myself, as the power of The Mystery flows through me.

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 Wise Heart PDF. For the musical notation, click Wise Heart notation PDF.