Mah ta’iru u’mah t’or’ru et-ha’ahavah ad she’techpatz

(Daughters of Jerusalem swear to me)
That you will not awaken love until it is ripe. (Song of Songs 8:4)

Love is a mysterious and powerful force of transformation. To really understand this power is to be humbled and sent to our keenest discernments. We turn to our companions (the Daughters of Jerusalem) to join us in this process of sensitive discernment. In that process, I meet my impatience, and my attachments. I am challenged to let go of my desire for security, affection and control. I am challenged to trust the process of love unfolding, ripening in its time.

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

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

• Timing (melody)  
• Timing (harmony)  
• Timing (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Timing PDF. For the musical notation, click Timing notation PDF.

Az hayiti v’aynav k’motzayt shalom

But for my lover, I will be
A city of Peace. (Song of Songs 8:10)

Literally, “Then I will be in his eyes, one who has found peace.” Through our practice and by steadfastly walking the path of love, I become a refuge for others, a place of calm in the storm. For the sake of Love, I dismantle the fortifications of ego, and welcome the Beloved into my center, which then becomes a radiant core. In shining the light of the Beloved, I will manifest a kind of strength, radiance and integrity that no longer requires defenses.

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

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

• A City of Peace  
• A City of Peace (round)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click A City of Peace PDF. For the musical notation, click City of Peace notation PDF.

Emtza’acha vachutz esha’k’cha gam lo yavuzu li

I would kiss you in the streets
And no one would scorn me. (Song of Songs 8:1)

The last chapter of the Song begins with a fantasy. What If I could be completely open in expressing my love? What if I could come out of hiding and show my most innocent and passionate intentions for love? The mystic poet, Rumi, says, “Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah… it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.” In releasing self-consciousness, I am rewarded with the ease to fully step onto the Path of Love. In the Presence of Shechina, my pomegranate wine fills me with both the sober taste of my unique complexity and the wild abandon of my full potential, set free.

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

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

• Shameless Kisses (melody)  
• Shameless Kisses (harmony)  
• Shameless Kisses (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Shameless Kisses PDF. For the musical notation, click Shameless Kisses notation PDF.

Ani l’dodi v’alai t’shukato

I am my beloved’s, and his longing is for me,
Only for me. (Song of Songs 7:11)

When I fully and whole-heartedly give myself to Life as my Beloved, God as my life responds with “his longing for me”. God’s longing for me manifests as an evolutionary force calling me into my full potential. Knowing that I am fully seen, treasured for who I really am and could be, and loved unconditionally, allows me to relax and open to the adventure of my life in its uniqueness. God wants me to become self-realized.

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

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

• His Longing for Me (melody)  
• His Longing for Me (harmony)  
• His Longing for Me (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click His Longing for Me PDF. For the musical notation, click His Longing for Me notation PDF.

Mah-yafit u’mah-na’amt ahavah batanugim

How beautiful and how sweet is Love
In all its pleasures! (Song of Songs 7:7)

In a Birkat HaMazon I composed many years ago, I wrote, “Pleasure is a doorway to expanded reality.” Allowing pleasure to be a doorway means that we must commit to walking through… which is very different than the usual patterns of grabbing on to pleasure and pushing away pain. The Songs of Songs knows love as the highest and most profound pleasure. Its profundity is rooted in the fact that it is indeed a doorway and a force of beckoning. We are called through that doorway of pleasure into an expanded reality, where we can know ourselves as part of the greater whole. Called by beauty, we walk through, tasting each sensation, and letting go, opening into the greater mystery.

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

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

• Pleasure as a Doorway (melody)  
• Pleasure as a Doorway (harmony)  
• Pleasure as a Doorway (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Pleasure as a Doorway PDF. For the musical notation, click Pleasure as a Doorway notation PDF.