Chants, Liturgy

Clearing the Way: Ana b’choach

Ana b’choach gedulat y’mincha Tatir Tz’rurah
Ana b'choach in Hebrew
Please, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles.
(Siddur)

This is the first line of a magical prayer ascribed to Rabbi Nechuniah ben Hakanah. The whole prayer contains 42 words, the initials of which comprise the secret unpronounceable 42 letter name of God.

With this practice we call on that aspect of God that moves through obstacles, dissolves resistance and opens the way forward for us.

Begin by asking, “What is the obstacle (inner or outer) that is getting in my way?” Lay that obstacle lovingly on the altar of the chant. As you chant, allow the power of God’s right hand to move through you forcefully opening the way ahead and delicately untying the tangles within you.

I composed this melody while a dear friend was undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery, praying that the tangles in his heart be cleared.

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

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 231.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

Chants, Scripture

An Appetite for Holiness: U-va-a-a

U-va-a-a b’chol avat nafsho eyl-HaMakom
Appetite For Holiness Hebrew text
And he (the Levite) shall come with all the desire of his soul to the Place. (Deuteronomy 18:6)

With this practice, we invite the Levite, the part of ourselves that is the artist for God, to come to the Center of Holiness and partake of the bounty that is rightly his. We welcome and respond to the hunger of that expressive aspect, by feeding her a fair and generous share of our attention and honor.

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

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 258.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

Chants, Psalms

The Holy Longing: Tzama l’cha

Tzama l’cha nafshi, Kama l’cha v’sari
The Holy Longing Hebrew text
My Soul thirsts for You,
My flesh longs for You. (Psalm 63:2)

Our spiritual energy depends on cultivating a longing for the Divine. Through the power of this longing we free ourselves from the limitations of “small self”, open to the vastness of Being, and begin to treasure those precious glimpses of the Whole.

This chant is a two-part round designed to build the power of that Holy Longing.

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 was re-recorded on 5/26/2024.

Chants, Liturgy, Scripture

Betrothal: V’Erestich-Li Olam

V’Erestich-Li L’Olam
V’Erestich-Li B’Tzedek
Uv’mishpat, Uv’chesed, Uv’Rachamim
V’Erestich-Li B’Emunah
V’yadaat et Yah
Betrothal (Tefillin) Hebrew text
I will betroth you to Me forever,
I will betroth you to Me with justice,
and with impeccability, and with love, and with compassion.
I will betroth you to Me in faith.
And then you will know God. (Hosea 2:21-22, liturgy)

Tefillin Practice: The Seven Channels of Commitment

When I put my tefillin on each morning, I am connecting myself to the whole of life, to the Source of All, and to God as Beloved. I can get so caught up in the details of my life that I am in danger of losing my wide perspective, forgetting myconnection to the Whole of the Cosmos. This binding of vows that I give and receive is meant to set me on a path of Remembrance. My commitment has within it the requirement to stay open to the flow of blessing so that it flows through me into the world. That flow happens through seven distinct channels. As I wrap the tefillin I am checking to see if each of those channels are open. It is a diagnostic practice that will allow me to know where the spiritual work of the day might be focused. If I find a channel that is blocked or a channel of flow that is weak, then I might focus my loving attention on that aspect of my life and see how I might repair the channel. As I sing the words of betrothal and wrap the tefillin, I am checking in to each of these seven channels, and connecting up to the Great Source of Blessing.

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

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 232.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

Chants, Psalms

Expanding Inner Space: Elecha Yah Ekra

Elecha Yah Ekra
Expanding Inner Space Hebrew text
To You, God, I call. (Psalm 30:9)

Methods: Concentration on reaching vast inner distances from an anchored depth. Projecting consciousness beyond the farthest horizon. Focusing and directing emotional energy. Absorbing and then radiating divine energy.

Goals: The expansion of inner space determines the power of the voice.

Phase 1: Chanting and visualization

  1. Elecha Yah Ekra – Reaching deep inside on the first note, grounding, then moving out, projecting your “call” wide and far past the farthest horizon you can imagine. Crescendo in emotion and volume.
  2. Elecha Yah Ekra – Feel the voice returning to you from beyond the horizon, coming a great distance, the words come to rest gently and deeply within you. Decrescendo in emotion and volume.
  3. Same as 1.
  4. Same as 2.
  5. Elecha – Focus your “call” on a point in the far distance. This call is refined and directed, like a laser beam from the third eye.
  6. Yah – Letting your call extend even further and dissolve into the “beyond-the-beyond.”
  7. Ekra – as if you have seeded the clouds with your longing and are now opening to the gentle rain and receiving the divine flow into you.

Phase 2: Chanting and movement

  1. Elecha Yah Ekra – Bowing to left side and returning to center, generating energy, intensifying commitment.
  2. Elecha Yah Ekra – Bowing to right side and returning to center, generating energy, intensifying commitment.
  3. Elecha Yah Ekra – Bowing to left side and returning to center, generating energy, intensifying commitment.
  4. Elecha Yah Ekra – Bowing to right side and returning to center, generating energy, intensifying commitment.
  5. Elecha – From center, longing, lifting, reaching, with both hands, palms up.
  6. Yah – Deep bow to center, surrendering to the vastness of God.
  7. Ekra – Coming back to center with palms at the heart.

Phase 3: Silent Chanting on the Breath

  1. Elecha Yah Ekra – exhale toward the place beyond the wide horizon.
  2. Elecha Yah Ekra – inhale receiving the call back from a great distance.
  3. Elecha Yah Ekra – exhale toward the place beyond the wide horizon.
  4. Elecha Yah Ekra – inhale receiving the call back from a great distance.
  5. Elecha – exhale focusing on a distant point with refined breath.
  6. Yah ­ inhale simultaneously through the crown and the root into the heart.
  7. Ekra – exhale, radiating divine light in all directions like the sun.
  8. Inhale in preparation, realignment, and setting your intention.

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

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 274.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.