My Breath Is A Prayer

I am of the Breath of the Universe

And each breath is a prayer.

I breathe in oxygen

I breathe out carbon dioxide.

The earth breathes in the carbon dioxide

And breathes out oxygen.

The earth and I breathe

And pray

Together

In One-ness.

My breath is a prayer with the One-ness that breathes the universe

And so is yours.

Every moment we take in what we need

Every moment we send out what someone else needs.

When we are in balance we flourish.

Out of balance, we choke and die.

I think of those whose callous cruelty is everywhere these days

And I wonder their throats don't close up,

Honestly, I don't know how they live

When their every breath is a strangling curse.

So I invite you to breathe with me and the planet.

A prayer of acknowledgement and connection.

Breathe in ourselves, 

We are the immigrants

The homeless and the poor

The refugees who have no where else to go

The waters that sustain all life

The animals and their shrinking habitats

The sick or poor who need assistance

The children who are hungry or abused

The creatives shouting to be heard

Those of us who are paid too little, ignored too often, 

Those of us whose hearts are hurting

Those of us who are alone

Those of us who resist 

Those of us who are free.

We are those who need help.

We are those that can help.

This is our home.

Breathe out and we are home.

Let us nurture ourselves

Let us protect ourselves

Let us need ourselves.

We are one in the One-ness.

We are the Breath of the Universe.

And every breath is a prayer.

Amen

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Standing At Sinai

Look at us

Standing at Sinai

Gathered together at the foot of a mountain to meet God.

Seriously?

It's too much to take in

Too big to describe

Like this mountain.

Maybe it's just a useful metaphor:

A mountain of the needy and the suffering

that we ignore every day?

Or a mountain of guilt, a mountain of debt?

Or maybe it's all of the knowledge we've yet to learn?

Or a mountain of fear, 
a mountain of the unknown, 
a mountain of uncertainty and procrastination and failure.

A mountain to roll a stone up, a mountain of opposition, 
Oy vey iz mere.

God is in the Law, in the right and the wrong of our choices,

This mountain is huge!

Or maybe it's just a regular old mountain, 

A very large pile of dirt and vegetation,

merely geology.

With trails to climb and

Rocks to stand on to take in the view.

Animals and bugs living in hidden places

Forming their own perfect worlds with no reference to us whatsoever, 
As long as we leave them alone.

Maybe this mountain is our earth, our world, 

To cherish and take care of or 

To abuse and ignore.

God is everywhere in nature and

We are only one small speck on the mountain.

Maybe this mountain is Mount Sinai

And we are waiting for revelation

Because God, the actual God of Torah and Talmud and Tikkun Olam

Is getting ready to show God's self to us.

Maybe all the truth and love in the world is actually making itself available to us,

We who have done nothing but cry and complain.

Poor hungry, scared us!

And this is more special and holy than we can take in.

So we look away and cover our ears

And God is in the marvelous silence.

So let us step up to the metaphors!

Step up to the dirt and the mysteries!

We are standing at Sinai

And it is all for us

However we experience it.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Ruach Ha Olam

Blessed One-ness, Breath of the Universe

We are humble in your presence

However you manifest.

And let us say,

Amen.

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Rosh Hodesh Adar

Blessed One-ness 
Eternal

Blessed HaMavdil,
Dividing time into years and months and days:

We imagine that long ago

We might have been afraid

When the moon disappeared.

It was so dark at night

Like the end of the world.

We howled at the empty sky

And then, like a miracle,

A sliver appeared.

Whatever arrives, leaves,
Whatever is gone, returns.

We gave thanks for the returning moon then,

We give thanks for the returning moon today.
We give thanks for the regularity of nature.

Adar is the month to schedule a court case, say the sages,

And it’s the month to have an operation.

Why?

It was on the first day of Adar that Moses and God brought upon the stubborn Egyptians

The ninth plague,

Darkness

And this month that begins in sorrow and blindness

Ends, says the Talmud, in joy.

Purim!

What an auspicious month,

Full of escapes from certain doom!

Blessed One-ness 
Eternal

Blessed HaMavdil,
Dividing time into years and months and days,

Pushing back the darkness with the light of the full moon,
For that and so much more, we give thanks.

Hodesh Tov!

Four Days: a drash for Parshat Bo

In a small village of destitute slaves

Watched over by nasty Egyptians

The kind who worship animals,

Like lambs,

And who will kill you if they find you with one of their sacred beasts.

And Moses says,

"You shall take a lamb to a family"

"You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month."

okay.

Easy for him to say.

You ever keep a lamb?  

'Specially a lamb without its mama?

You know what lambs do when they're looking for their mamas?

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

So four days,

Four days with this lonely lamb

Waiting for the Egyptian soldiers to come crashing in

And if they do

It ain't the lamb they're gonna slaughter for breakfast.

In a large gathering of destitute slaves

Oppressed by nasty Egyptians,

The kind who take pleasure in causing pain

To innocent slaves
Like you and me,

And said Egyptians only want an excuse to hurt you
Bad

And Moses says,

Use these four days

To prove your commitment!

If you can live through this tension

You can live through anything.

Trust in God

Trust in goodness

Trust in the future

And you will be protected

And you will be free.

Baaaaaa.

Long story short,

We waited four days.

Lemme tell you

It was very stressful.

Four days felt like four years.

It took ten years off my life, easy.

But the time finally passed

And we killed that monster

And we ate him up,

Every baa and bleat of him.

He was delicious.

And we put his blood on the wall

And the Angel of Death passed over.

You know the rest.

For Those Who Resist

For those who plan and strategize,
For those who gather at a moment's notice,
For those who serve as witnesses,
For those who are civil and disobedient,
For those who speak up at local meetings,
For those who march with millions,

For those who  contribute in bursts,
For those who  make it their life's work,
For those who make trouble from home,
For those who resist with non-violence,

For those who create new rituals,
For those who  refuse to budge,

For those who flee when necessary,
For those who organize votes,
For those who hearts may be breaking,
For those whose anger overwhelms,
For those who gather with friends and allies,
For those who stand alone,
For all those who resist,

We give thanks. 

May you be safe. 

May you be heard. 

Amen

A Blessing For the Women's March 1/21/17

Blessed Holy Wholeness
We march together
Hoping to be heard,
Hoping to be seen.

And even if our opposition cannot do so,
We  hear ourselves
We see ourselves
And gather courage from our numbers.

May this march be a first step
On the long road of resistance
And when we go home
May the hard work continue

Blessed Holy Wholeness
We March together.
May we be safe,
May we connect,
May we be effective.
And let us say,
Amen