Standing Before the Mystery: Da Lifnay

12/02/2011 Alia Meira

Da Lifnay mi atah omayd

Know before whom you stand! (adapted from Talmud, Brachot 28b)

These words are inscribed on many synagogue walls and are meant to remind the congregants of the seriousness of prayer. In the past I’ve dismissed this phrase as being too stern, too much like “Big Brother” watching and judging. Yet now, when I chant this phrase, an entirely new meaning emerges. The verb yada to “know” also means to “be intimate with” (to know someone in the Biblical sense).

As I chant, I am called into intimacy with The Great Mystery who stands before me. That Mystery is disguised as this world, as my life. As I stand before that Mystery I am called into my power, in order to fully engage. The veil between me and the world-as-God drops away, and I can experience the intimate knowing that I am not a separate observer, but rather an integral part of The Mystery of existence.

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

Standing Before the Mystery

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Standing Before the Mystery PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 247.

Chants, Liturgy

Ushpizin

10/11/2011 Alia Meira

Tivu Tivu Ushpizin ila-een, Tivu Tivu Ushpizin Kadishin
Ushpizin Hebrew text
Sit down, sit down, Exalted guests; Sit down sit down holy guests!

A Practice for Sukkot

At the beginning of the High Holy Days, the Days of Awe and T’shuva, I do a practice of asking myself, “Who Don’t you want in your Sukkah?” Who have you thrown out of your heart? Who would you rather avoid? For whom do you hold a grudge?… Then I know what my work will be for those days of Forgiving. By the time Sukkot comes, I want to be able to invite the whole world into my Sukkah, and into my heart.

It is the custom on Sukkot that besides inviting our neighbors and friends, we invite our ancestors and the archetypes they represent, into our Sukkah, and into our hearts. With this chant I extend that invitation and open to the energies of my ancestors, who come to sit beside “all my relations,” who have been re-united by our loving and persistent spiritual work.

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

Ushpizin

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Ushpizin PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 244.

Chants, Psalms

Min HaMetzar

09/28/2011 Alia Meira

Min HaMetzar karati Yah,
Anani vamerchavYah

From the Narrow place I called out to God
who answered me with the Divine Expanse. (Psalm 118:5)

A High Holy Days Practice

With this chant, we can dedicate our own narrow places — the places of struggle, difficulty, suffering or challenge in our lives… . We can know and accept those narrow places as that which will make our “Call” beautiful and compelling. When we can allow the force of our call to move through our narrow places, through what makes us all-too-human, then our call will be answered by God’s Divine Expanse — a sense of spaciousness in which transformation can happen.

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 Min Hametzar PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 280.

Chants, Psalms

Blessing of My Soul: Borchi

09/28/2011 Alia Meira

Borchi nafshi et Adonay, HallaluYah
Borchi Hebrew text
Bless the place of Sovereignty, Oh my soul!
(Psalm 104:1)

A High Holy Days Practice

I call on the force of my soul to bless the God-spark within me, to call it forth, to let it shine though all the layers of Self so that that part of me can be re-enthroned.

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 Borchi PDF file. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 249.

Chants, Liturgy

All Is One: Atah Echad

09/09/2011 Alia Meira

(A Shabbat Mincha Practice)
All Is One Hebrew text
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 All Is One PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 243.