Performance at D'var Shirah

Four Children and Five Rabbis

A Blessing For Those Left Behind

Baruch atah Adonai

Brucha at Shechina

Blessed One-ness

Bringing connection when there is separation,

Remembering joy even when we cannot.

One-ness,

We are blessed to be part of this holy wholeness

Even if we understand so little of it.

We are blessed to have received so much love,

Even when it is lost. 

And we pray for the strength to perceive the blessings

Even when it hurts so much.

Amen. 

The Afflicted Matzoh

There are three matzot in this pile,

One on top of the other on top of the other.

The top matza and the bottom Matza are,
perhaps,

A Pesach reminder

Of the two loaves of challah we would eat on Shabbat

(But not tonight!)

Which are themselves perhaps a reminder

Of the two portions of manna

The former slaves received  in the desert

From God

Every Friday before Shabbat.

That's the top and the bottom

But the middle matza?
Ah

That's the Afflicted Matza.

The reminder of the unleavened bread

We ate as we fled slavery.

This Afflicted Matza,

We break it in half

To separate ourselves,

First from joy

So we don't forget our pain

So we don't forget the pain of others.

All this pain

Lives in this first half of the Afflicted Matza

And we will eat this first half now

So that we do not forget that we were slaves,

So that we do not enslave others.

And we are obligated to share those memories.

But--
With the second half of the Afflicted Matza,

Called, the Afikomen,

We break away from the pain

So that we don't forget the what can follow the sorrow:

The times we enjoyed our lives

The moments when we changed things for the better.

And we are obligated to share those memories, too.

Then, after we have told our stories

And after we have eaten our meal

We search for that happiness.
And we always find it,

Every year,

The Afikomen,

And everyone has a taste

So we don't forget how good it is to be alive

And free.

TZAV - A Guided Meditation

Close your eyes and listen to your breath.



You are walking on a path in a beautiful meadow.

You see, in the middle of a field, that there is a small windowless building

You slowly walk around this building.  

Feel the wall as you walk around the building.  It pulses with energy.

When you come to the fourth side of the building, you find the door.  Open the door into an empty room.

There is no obvious source of light, but it is a bright room.

Go in.  You see a table

There is something on the table

It is a gift.

A gift of love from God.

What is it?  

You will try to come up with the perfect idea, but what was the first thing you thought of when you heard the words, a gift of love from God.  That's the gift.

Pick up the object, this thing or being, this gift of love.

The object has something written on it.

There is a message for you.

Read the message. 

The object turns into something else.  What does it turn into?  Your first thought.

If you had to explain this object to someone else, what would you say?

Throw the transformed object into the air.  It disappears.

You don’t know what to do next.

Walk around the empty room.   Perhaps it stays empty.

Perhaps there are other objects in the room.  Make note of them but leave them alone.  They are other kinds of gifts.  They are for some other time. 

Find the door, go outside back to the meadow.

Arthur Green writes in his interpretation of the Se-fat Emet's commentary on Tzav,

We long for a perfect act of worship, one in which there is no distraction, no doubt, no holding back, no wandering of the mind, nothing but the pure gift of love.  But we miss the point.  Our worship is all about struggle, an ongoing inner process of transformation

And when you are ready, open your eyes.

A Shabbat Amidah Kavannah

I speak praise, hope and thanks.

I open my mouth, I open my heart.

I feel the Ancient Prayer:

Bless our inventive ancestors
Who have given us the
Jealous God of the Torah;
And the clever God of the Talmud;
And the Kingly God of our Siddur.
To this God we pray.

Bless our inventive ancestors
Who have given us the
The Unknowable God of the mystics;
And the rational God of the philosophers;
The haimish God of our grandparents.
To this God we pray

Bless our inventive ancestors
Who have given us the
The Daddy God of our childhood faith; 
And the nonexistent God of our young skepticism;

And now the complicated doubt-filled God-ness of our adult searching.

To this God, we pray.

Bless our inventive ancestors

Who have given us

God, the Everything;

God, the Everywhere;

God, the One-ness.

To this God, we pray.

With all our histories and memories, 
And with gratitude to all who came before us, 

Praising God, 
However we approach God
And even if we don’t,  
We pray.

What is God's Power?

Rambam says, 

If you can’t imagine God then you don’t exist.

There is nothing that is not God.

Bless Elohim, the Creator; the Created, Creating.

Sanctify God's Name:

How can a name be holy?

Why exalt a name?  

how do we name the Un-nameable?

And yet we’ve come up with so many, because we’re human and we need names.

It has made us so creative. 



Let us look from side to side, to see all these possibilities,

Perhaps then we will be able to comprehend

That which cannot be comprehended.

Or not.

All division is false, 

All superiority is delusion, 

All separation is temporary. 

Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh

We are blessed with many minds with which to imagine God

And many mouths to describe what we see.

Let us step into holiness.

Kadosh Baruch Hu, Blessed be the ONE-ness,

The Day is Holy

The world is filled with the Divine, we are surrounded!

Hear us, know us.

Love us, enjoy us.

Remember us, rouse us.

Forgive us, inspire us.

It is written:

The Seventh Day is holy

It is the day of the Great Rest.

Bless the Profundity of Shabbat, commanding us to take a nice afternoon nap.

We give service.

God of our strengths and our weaknesses,

God of our current understanding and our lack thereof,

We are in this glorious and troubled place

And we take responsibility for how it turns out.

And we are watchful for our opportunities to serve and build.

We’re listening. 

And who or what listens to us?



Blessed Fierce Mystery,  hear our voices.

We are so thankful. 

We give thanks for whatever love and kindness we have received

And even more for the love and kindness we have given.

We give thanks  for those who have forgiven us

And to those who have asked us for our forgiveness.

We give thanks  for the deep rest of Shabbat

And the exciting hope for the coming week

May we never take this for granted.

Blessed  HaMakom,  this place is so amazing.

We pray for Peace and Wholeness.

Let us make peace.


There is no other option.

Adonai Echad, with compassion for all who are in pain or who cause pain, bless us with the peace of wholeness that we may lead decent and ethical and happy lives and help others to do the same.

Open my heart:

Existing.

Creating.

Uniting.

Giving.

Learning.

Forgiving.

Building.

Thanking.

Enjoying.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be joyful truth.  

May the good things I pray for happen and, if not, 

May I never forget to hope.  

AMEN