Category Archives: Scripture

Chants, Scripture

Turn, Return, and Be Turned: Hashiveynu

Hashiveynu Yah elecha v’nashuva
Turn_Hebrew
Now let us turn, return and be turned (3X)
To the One! (Lamentations 5:21)

With this practice, we explore three aspects of T’shuvah. How do we turn away from that which is draining us of Life-force, and turn towards that which Life-giving? How do we return to a sense of belonging, authenticity and connection to the whole of Creation? How do we surrender to the Great Mystery that is holding us, transforming us and loving us unconditionally?

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 Turn, Return, and BeTurned PDF.

Chants, Liturgy, Scripture

Keep the Faith: Raba Emunatecha

Raba Emunatecha
Raba Emunatech Hebrew
How great is Your Faithfulness. (Morning liturgy, Lamentations 3:23)

This practice came to me during a time of turmoil in the world. I was searching for a practice that might acknowledge my grief yet keep me from despair. I needed a practice that would connect me to resources of strength and resilience as I walked through the shadows of fear, rage and devastation. The Book of Lamentations describes a time like this, and one particular phrase from that painful text found its way into the light of our morning liturgy.

God’s faithfulness comes to me as a glimpse of the widest, longest perspective. In that glimpse I am calmed; I relax my frantic grip; I stop trying to figure it out; I begin to trust the flow of inexorable change. As God sees me, I surrender to that faithful gaze. This Divine faith in me, is what grows my own fragile faith. When I am known, seen and loved completely through this Divine faith, I can risk and dare to rise to the challenge of loving this world with all that I am and everything I’ve got.

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 Keep the Faith PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Rise Up, Oh Well: Ali v’er

Ali v’er ehnu-lah
Hebrew: Rise Up, Oh Well
Rise up, Oh Well,
Chant Her up. (Bamidbar 21:17)

After the prophet Miriam dies, the people are thirsty. She represents our connection to the deep source of Divine Feminine Flow. When we are cut off from that flow, we become profoundly irritable. Our thirst for Shechinah manifests as bitter complaint, negativity and the death of joy. And then we call to the well, the well of living waters that is hidden within.

This is a practice of calling, chanting up the flow of living waters that has been stopped up, and is now ready to rise up and nurture the 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 Rise Up, Oh Well PDF.

Chants, Liturgy, Scripture

Entering in to the Larger Goodness: Mah Tovu

Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, mish’k’notecha Yisra’eyl.
Va’ani b’rov chas’d’cha, avo betecha.
Mah Tovu Hebrew
How good are your tents, Jacob;
your Divine dwelling places, Israel. (Numbers 24:5)
By your grace, I will enter your house. (Psalm 5:8)

There is a larger Goodness that holds all of the good and the bad, a Unity that holds within it all of the duality. When we enter into that larger Goodness, we can get enough perspective to be able to bless the process of transformation that is in play at this very moment. We are in the process of transforming our Jacob (the heel who is always trying to make a deal with Reality) into Israel (the one who encounters Reality directly). And we are in the process of transforming our plain old tent (body and material existence) into a Mishkan (a place where the Divine Spirit is invited to dwell). Trusting in this process of transformation, we can enter fully into God-consciousness, which can only be attained through Grace.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro teaches that “Grace is God’s unlimited, unconditional, unconditioned, and all-inclusive love for all Creation.” And yes, that’s exactly what opens the door to The Larger Goodness.

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 Entering in to the Larger Goodness PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Promise of Connection: V’hit’halachti

V’hit’halachti b’tochachem, v’hayiti lachem Lelohim
PromiseOfConnection_Hebrew
And then, I will walk within/among you, and I will be your God
(… and you will be my people). (Leviticus 26:12)

The Book of Leviticus tells us that when we walk in connection, listen well and act in accordance with that interconnection, then the Divine Spirit moves within and between us. We come into relationship not just with the parts, but with the Whole of Creation. This is the promise of connection.

By doing this practice, we are receiving that promise and opening ourselves up to the web of Creation.

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 Promise of Connection PDF. For the musical notation, click Promise of Connection Music.