Kamti ani liftoach l’dodi

I will open to you my beloved; will you open, open to me?
I rose to open to my love. (Song of Songs 5:5)

The moment has come. We rise in order to open to the blessings and challenges of this moment. The inner gesture of rising to this moment is absolutely necessary if we are to open to what life is offering.

The English part that I added to this verse, expresses both my commitment and a sense of vulnerability. I ask for a Divine reciprocity in this opening. With each repetition of the chant I strengthen my commitment to open, and also become more receptive to the Divine response (through the world) that is opening to me.

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

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

• Rising To Open: Kamti  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Rising To Open PDF.

Chanscendence ©1997 Rabbi Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

Ichlu ray’im sh’tu v’shichru dodim

Feast, friends, and drink till you are drunk with love! (Song of Songs 5:1)

We open to the abundance and the pleasure that is laid out before us as the banquet of our lives. This is a practice of diving in to the riches before us with gusto. Those riches are not just sense pleasures; there are also soul pleasures to be enjoyed. Can we really take in the simple pleasures of breath, sound, light, connection, imagination, humor… and delight in this moment as a gift to be unwrapped with our enjoyment, passion and enthusiasm? Then we can pause and savor and be nurtured and intoxicated with the possibilities that open up before us in each moment.

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

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

• Feast, Friends  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Feast, Friends PDF.

Hikuni f’tza’uni nasu
et r’didi me’alai shomray hachomot

They beat me, they bruised me
The watchmen of the walls
tore the shawl from my shoulders. (Song of Songs 5:7)

On this path of love, we become more and more vulnerable, which means that we have made a commitment to feel our pain rather than numb ourselves or erect defenses. Those “watchmen of the walls,” are the forces that stand between us and the pain we have tried to avoid. They strip us of our artifice, take away our well-built strategies of fortifications. We stand beaten and bruised by the vicissitudes of Life: by sorrows (named and unnamable), by losses, by suffering that feels both personal and universal.

This practice allows us to feel bruised, beaten and exposed. We do this practice when we are ready, layer by layer for our egoic defenses to be stripped away. When we are ready to feel in the places that have gone numb, then love can find us. And then love emerges from the depths of our being, to permeate, heal and transform the places of trauma and pain we have carried.

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

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

• Beaten and Bruised (melody)  
• Beaten and Bruised (harmony)  
• Beaten and Bruised (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Beaten and Bruised PDF.  For the musical notation, click Beaten and Bruised notation PDF.

K’chut hashani siftotayich u’midbaraych naveh

Your voice in the wilderness calls out to me;
your beauty and power are my mystery.

Your lips like a scarlet ribbon
And your voice so sweet. (Song of Songs 4:3)

These words direct our attention to the lips and to the voice that emerges through that lovely outlet. That voice brings wisdom and inspiration to us.

In creating this practice I couldn’t help but be reminded that the word, midbaraych, that is translated as your voice, or your speech, or your mouth… is a homonym for your “wilderness.” I added the English words of this chant so that the images of the Song might lead us to inquire, “Can we allow the Divine voice to emerge from the deep silence of the wilderness? Can we listen and receive the beauty, majesty and wide perspective that the wilderness offers?”

When I step into the wilderness, the noise of the “civilized” world recedes and I can begin to hear another voice — more subtle, more profound, wider in its scope. It is that voice which asks for a response that is sourced in my depths.

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

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

• Your Voice in the Wilderness (melody)  
• Your Voice in the Wilderness (harmony)  
• Your Voice in the Wilderness (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Your Voice in the Wilderness PDF.  For the musical notation, click Your Voice in the Wilderness notation PDF.

Uri tzafon u’vo’I tayman, hafichi gani yizlu v’samav

Awake north wind! Oh South wind, come!
Blow upon my garden and let its spices stream out. (Song of Songs 4:16)

There is a natural tendency to resist change, in order to maintain the illusion of control and the fantasy of security. Yet life moves on, bringing with it upheavals, losses, transformations and shifts in perception. What if instead of resisting the winds of change, we surrendered to those powerful forces, as the messengers of expanded consciousness? In the spirit of welcome, those changes that we might resist can become opportunities for adventure, growth, surprise and awakening. The spices of our garden represent the hidden inner strength and beauty that is unlocked through times of tumult and change.

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

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

• Awake North Wind!: Uri Tzafon  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Awake North Wind PDF.

Shir Delight: A Journey Through the Song of Songs ©2004 Rabbi Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.