I'M OVER THE MACCABEES, A Hanukkah Prayer

Baruch Atah Adonai,

Brucha At Shechina,

Ruach HaOlam:

I'm over the Maccabees.

I'm done with fanatics.

I'm done with extremists who demand purity.

I'm done with fundamentalists who shut women up.

I'm done with religions that kill.

I'm over the Seleucids.

I'm done with invaders.

I'm done with outsiders telling anyone how to live in their own country.

I'm done with people telling me how to worship my God.

I'm done with liars and rapists and powerful men.

I'm over the Hellenists.

I'm done with accomodation.

I'm done with rich suck-ups.
I'm done with living in comfy bubbles.

I'm done with pretending we're one of them.

I'm over Hanukkah.

         I'm done with Hanukkah bushes.

         I'm done with eight days of socks.

         I'm done with parties at the White House. 

         I'm done with cheap chocolate gelt.

I'm okay with light in the darkness. 

And potato latkes.

Oh, and donuts.

Let's start there.

Amen

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Our Broken Hearts: A Prayer For When Life Is A Struggle

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk: “There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.”

Blessed Mystery, 

Our hearts are broken open and everything that was hidden comes pouring out.

First comes our anger and resentment,

Then our fear and anxiety,

Then our hurt and the grief.

And just when we think it's done and we are injured and dying

Out pour our cries for connection,

Then our gifts of atonement,

Then our kindnesses and our hopes.

The feelings are deep and obvious.
We are exposed to the world.
And if we pay attention we will see
That here we are, 

Ready to love and be loved.

Blessed Mystery, Breath of the Universe,

Giving us struggle,
Helping us survive.

So that we may be ready.

Amen

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The Covenant

Blessed Fierce Mystery

We give thanks for the opportunity to live up to our covenant,

To live in Wholeness with the deepest self

And to create a society that embodies that.

We give thanks for the forgiveness that must come

When we fail, as we will.

Together we feel good, because we are stubborn,

because we will keep on trying.

With faith in our doubt

With doubt in our faith

We continue

In covenant.

And let us say, Amen.

I Am So Blessed In My Annoying Friends

I am so blessed in my annoying friends:

Those women and men who will not let me sink,

Who text me every day,

Who insist on knowing if I've made those phone calls,

Written that essay,

Applied for that job,

Asked for much needed help.

I kept thinking it would get better.

This couldn’t be happening to me!

I’m smart,

I’m self-aware,

I take care of myself.

Until one day I had to admit

That I was in trouble, deep trouble.

I cried

And I cried out.

It took me so long to ask for help

I pray it isn’t too late.

And when I asked

I received.

Amazing.

But now that I've got it

I wish it would go away.

Because my annoying friends will not leave me alone

To wallow in my distress and denial,

And I do so like to wallow.

I am so smart

I am so self aware

And I have always taken care of myself

Except I can’t right now

And I am so ashamed.

I am so embarrassed,

To need help.

How can this be me?

Maybe I should just disappear.

But they will not let me go!

It is a revelation

To need help

And get it,

And at the same time

To learn to give the gift

Of receiving gifts.

I hope my annoying friends know

How much strength it requires

To admit that.

I am so blessed in the people who worry about me,

My beloved annoying friends.

A PRAYER AND RITUAL FOR THE CONTRACT BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY AND ITS WORKERS

(can be read in public once contracts have or are being signed)

 Levite:

Blessed be Ruach HaOlam, Breathing Us In and  Breathing Us Out,

Help me with my obligations as a Levite for my congregation.

May I serve my community to the best of my ability with hard work and creative problem solving.

May I remember the larger goals when I am bogged down in the small details.

May I learn to set limits and know when I must ignore or enforce them.

May I never forget that that everyone means well.

May I represent my community to the wider Jewish kahal well and appropriately.

May I always remember to work with my community with respect and diligence so together we may serve and repair our world.

(Employees sign two copies of this contract)

The Congregation:

Blessed be Ruach HaOlam, Breathing Us In and  Breathing Us Out,

Help us with our obligations to our Levites:

May we serve them to the best of our ability with fair wages and benefits.

May we understand that they are professionals and not volunteers.

May we remember that they must have their days of rest.

May we remember that they love what they do and who they do it for and may we not take advantage of that love too often.

May we always remember to employ them with respect and appreciation so that together we may serve and repair our world.

(Board representative signs the two contracts)

Clergy:

Blessed be Ruach HaOlam, Breathing Us In and  Breathing Us Out,

Help us with all of our mutual obligations:
Hard work and fair compensation,
Diversity and safety,
Opportunity and study.

Just as Bezalel built the Mishkan with his labor, and as he also took joy in the beauty of his creation, may we build this community together and take joy when it flourishes so that we may better serve and repair our world.

(Clergy hands one copy of this contract to each party.)

All, Together:

Blessed be Ruach HaOlam, Breathing Us In and  Breathing Us Out,

And bless the community, the work and the workers, that we are one in the One-ness. 

Amen.

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Stars In The Sky: A Kavannah for Sukkot

We can see the stars in the sky

Through the slats covering the roof of the sukkah.

And as metaphors go, that's apt.

But it's Sukkot and

Today we;re celebrating the mysterious vertical God:

The God of Heaven,

The God of the Harvest.

God, all the way from Down here to the mysterious far Up There,

Where the rain comes from.

And it would be presumptuous of us to claim clarity.

This all feels so very ancient, doesn't it?

Maybe thousands of years ago they took a break from the harvest

And shared a nice meal in a temporary shack built for sleeping

So they wouldn't waste time walking home.

Hey, they lived in a desert and they knew it wouldn't rain

So they built it so they could see the stars before falling asleep.

Maybe they thanked their gods for their good harvest.

And when Big Daddy Torah God came on the scene

They folded it all into the calendar.

It would have been foolish of them to give up such a good thing.

On our temporary sukkah walls there are pictures of the ancestors

Invited in to share a meal and a chat.

Some of us invite in the patriarchs, some the matriarchs,

Some invite in the scholars, others hope for the artists

And of course there’s family and friends, and wine.

So let's shake some of that pagan foliage

East West North South, Up and Down.

And have a sniff of a most expensive piece of fruit

And look up at those same stars.

It would arrogant of us to forego the joy or the ritual.