Chants, Psalms

Your Support

Va’ani b’tumi tamachta bi
Graphic: Your Support in Hebrew
Whenever I am in my integrity, I feel Your support. (Psalm 41:13)

No matter what difficulties or challenges I face, my commitment is to learn from everything, and to use all of it as a catalyst for awakening. And if I stay in my integrity, I know that I will be supported. Being in my integrity means always aligning and re-aligning myself with my highest soul-purpose. When I am living in authentic, whole-hearted alignment with my soul-purpose, I can lean into the Divine embrace that is forever holding me steady. In that embrace, I relax and enjoy the wild ride of being human.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Your Support PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Smicha Chant

Baati b’megilat sefer katuv alai, la’asot r’tzoncha Elohai
Chafatzti b’toratcha b’toch may’ai
Graphic: Smicha Chant in Hebrew
I have come, with my whole life written upon me,
To do your pleasure, my God
My own desire and your Torah and mingled within me. (Psalm 40:8-9)

Back in 1996 I was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. All through those 8 years of study, I also studied with Reb Zalman, and so I asked him if he would give me smicha after I graduated from RRC. He graciously and enthusiastically said yes. That long awaited moment happened at Elat Chayyim that summer. He asked me to come to the door of where he was staying at sunset. I knocked on his door; he opened it but wouldn’t let me in. He asked me to stay up all night in prayer, and at dawn, he promised to give me smicha. And then he scribbled something on a scrap of paper and handed it to me, and quickly closed the door.

It was this line from Psalm 40. I spent all night in the hot tub, crying and contemplating these words and singing them. At dawn I was still crying, but I felt washed clean and ready…. to step onto a path of wholeness and integration.

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

NOTE: This recording is from the Chanscendence CD.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Smicha Chant PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Help!

Chushah l’ezrati, Adonai t’shu’ati
Graphic: Help in Hebrew
Hasten to my aid,
O Lord, my deliverance. (Psalm 38:23)

When our burdens seem too heavy; when our thoughts are tangled; when we feel surrounded by enemies; when we’re at the end of our rope … it’s time to ask for help. When we surrender and realize that we’re going round in circles of futility, it is possible to step out of the trap of our complaint. Then we can stop, come to stillness and call out to the larger Mystery to save us from our smallness. Our deliverance comes not in anything being “fixed” but in opening to the widest perspective and getting out of our own way to allow for the unfolding of grace in its time.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Help! PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Sing Out!

Ran’nu Tzadikim B’Adonai, La’y’sharim navah t’hlilah
Hodu La’adonai, Hodu La’Shechina
Graphic: Sing Out in Hebrew
Sing out, Oh you righteous ones, to God.
It is so lovely when the upright celebrate the Divine.
Praise God. (Psalm 33:1-2)

We are instructed to express our awe, joy and wonderment; to do it without shame or embarrassment; to not hide our holy example but rather to sing it out, putting that beauty into the world. Our celebration of the Divine can inspire others to acknowledge the mystery all around us. Our praise can balance all the negativity in the world and encourage others towards hope, unveiling the miracle before us.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Sing Out! PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Almost Divine

Va’t’chas’ray’hu m’at may’elohim, v’chavod v’hadar t’at’ray’hu
Graphic: Almost Divine in Hebrew
You have made us almost Divine,
and crowned us with glory and splendor. (Psalm 8:6)

When we look into the Heavens, at the great expanse of stars, we might feel so very small and insignificant, and yet… God has hidden within us a Divine spark, that connects us with the infinite. That spark can serve as a kind of homing device, showing us the way back to the truth of our limitless soul.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Almost Divine PDF.