A Birkat HaMazon - Grace After A Meal

All who sit around these tables,

Friends and strangers,

In peaceful conversation

And pleasant disagreement,

We take this moment to acknowledge

Whenever we eat together

That we are blessed

And, in our turn,

We bless.

Blessed be the creator and the created,

Blessed be the sustainers and the sustained.

Blessed be the eaters and the eaten,

Blessed be the feeders and the fed.

Blessed be the cooks and the meal,

Blessed be the drinkers and the water.

Blessed be the farmers and the produce,

Blessed be the baker and the bread.

Blessed be them all.

Blessed be the doers and the done upon,

Blessed be the freers and the freed.

Blessed be the leaders and the led,

Blessed be the sellers and the sold. 

Blessed be the prayers and the prayed for,

Blessed be the servers and the served.

Blessed be the teachers and the taught,

Blessed be the tellers and the told.

Blessed be them all.

Blessing us, One-ness,

With the biggest and the smallest of blessings:

We do not lack.

Blessing us, One-ness,

With a history, ancient and current,

That is never boring.

We give thanks

Blessing us, One-ness,

With boundless compassion 

For all people.

We pray for even a fraction of that empathy

That we may feel the joy and the suffering of all who surround us

And so that they may also feel ours

So that we all may act accordingly and save the world. 

Blessed One-ness

Making peace

Sustaining wholeness

For each other

And everyone else, too. 

Amen

God's Voice? Ten Suggestions: A drash on Yitro

© Trisha Arlin

We may not be prophets.
We may not be able to hear God's voice,

But when we open up our books, our Torah, and read

Then the One-ness speaks to us:

1. Know your history.  Know that you are all connected in the One-ness.  Know that it is possible to live in community in love and kindness.
2. Don't worship false idols.
3. Learn that you can disagree about deeply held beliefs without being flippant or disrespectful.
4. Rest at least one day a week and make sure that everyone around you gets to rest as well.  Know that this rest is deep and holy.
5. Honor the elderly. 
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not cheat on your loved ones.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not let the desire for material things rule your life.

Rules to live by, plain common sense...

We know these things, everyone knows these.
But if we know this through Torah

Then perhaps we are in connection

With the holy

(Whatever that means
To us

On any given day)

And perhaps then

We hear God's voice,
And we are heard as well,
In holy conversation.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה
אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶך-הָעולָם
אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו
וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסק  בְּדִבְרֵי-תורָה.

Blessed One-ness, who makes us holy with mitzvot, blessing us with the ability to know ourselves with the words of Torah.