Yahrzeit 2021

Glorious and holy are the possibilities of God. 

We’re getting used to the losses

But that’s not the same

As being okay.   



Things are different now.  

We want to go back to normal 

But normal is gone. 

Many died,

We sat shiva  

And now it’s time for yahrzeit. 

So pour a shot of whiskey 

For each member of the minyan. 

L’chaim!

And let us say, amen. 

It’s almost simple:

Democracy is threatened,

The planet is in danger. 

Mourning must end,

We can’t stay in grief

We must act now. 

We are afraid that

There is not enough goodness,

There is not enough hope. 

Blessed One-ness. 

Now is the time for teshuvah, 

returning 

to our true and brave selves.

Now is the time for  tefillah,

imagining 

the future through holy conversations.

Now is the time for tzedukah, 

fighting 

for the survival of all our communities.

Holy Wholeness,

For all the living and in memory of the dead,

For all the possibilities of God,

Let us say Amen

Elul , Rosh Hodesh And High Holyday Writing Workshops

Holy Wholeness

Breath of the universe, 

In holy conversation.  

And every breath is a prayer.

 

Chevre!

Hello!  How are you?  I mean it, really, are you okay?  It has been a powerful and emotional year, with lots of feelings of grief, anger, craziness, relief and elation for all of us to sort through.  I sort through it by writing prayers and kavannot and I’m thinking you might want to do that, too.

For the last 15 months, I sat home and got a lot of writing done, (including a handwashing prayer that went, you should excuse the expression, viral). You can see a collection of that work here.  And I’ve been writing since last summer for every Jewish holiday as part of the ongoing Bayit Liturgical Artists Working Group.  

I did readings for Ritualwell and Haggadot.com, and taught via zoom at those sites and at synagogues in Brooklyn, New Jersey, upstate New York, Long Island, Vermont and Florida, worked with a Rosh Chodesh group in Cleveland to write and design their own Women’s Seder and ran workshops that included students from all over the world.

AND NOW I’m offering new workshops (see below) and hoping to interest you in those, or in workshops of your own design for your synagogues or organizations (email me!), as well as individual tutoring in the Kavannah of the Shabbat Liturgy. (DATES TBA, depending on participants).

Upcoming Writing Workshops - Prayers and Kavannot (Intentions)!

JULY - EARLY AUGUST, FOR THE MONTH OF ELUL

the month before the High Holydays, when you ask forgiveness for pain you have caused to people.

Using writing prompts, guided meditation and discussion, you’ll create your own holy conversations for Elul:

1) Prayers and kavannot about asking for forgiveness

2) Prayers and kavannot about forgiving

3) Rosh Hashana La Beheimot! Prayers and kavannot about pets, meat and domesticated animals for Rosh Chodesh Elul, which is the New Year for Domesticated Beasts. (If you are a member of Kolot Chayeinu, this session is free and if you want, your work will be shared by you during Shabbat services on the day.)

Take all three workshops for $100 (one class, $40, two workshops $75.)  

If you are are a Kolot member, you can take all three for $65.

All classes are half off if you are one of my Patreon patrons!

AUGUST - ROSH HASHANAH/YOM KIPPUR 

when you consider the pain and disruption you may have caused to God, whether you understand that as a Divine Being, as Holy Wholeness, as the divine within, as a nice intellectual construct or something you don’t understand at all.

• What does it mean to sin against God?
• Write your own versions of the prayers and prepare yourself for the days:
• Hineni (here I am), 
• Avinu Malkeinu (what is your name for God?), 
• Unataneh Tokef (contemplate your mortality), 
• Ashamnu (take responsibility for your actions)
• the Shofar Service (make a loud noise to your community). 

DESIGN YOUR OWN PRAYER WRITING WORKSHOP

Organize a session around an upcoming holiday, or different kinds of personal prayer writing, or work with a sad or happy event in your community.  References available upon request.

THE KAVANNAH OF THE SHABBAT LITURGY - One on One 

You and I will meet on zoom or in person and work our way through the entire service together.   This is especially useful for students who enjoy the music and traditions of the Shabbat morning service but want to understand the meaning of the prayers, somewhat traditionally but more what it can mean for them personally.  There’s recommended reading if you want it.  Mostly, we talk. References available upon request.

For me, the Jewish prayer service, and each rubric and prayer within it, is a story, in that the protagonist (the individuals or congregation praying) is or should be somewhat transformed at the service or prayer.  The service, if done with understanding, intention and kavannah, is an exploration of one’s body, soul, relationship to the community, understanding of and relationship with God (however you understand or don’t understand God), relationship with the Divine, understanding of oneself as a Jew and as a person with obligations to the world, the Jewish community, the family and to oneself, and all this as experienced in a series of holy conversations with the Divine.  

 

READINGS, RESIDENCIES

Zoom is easy and fun, but if you want me there in person, let’s talk!

Trisha Arlin

trisha.arlin@gmail.com

trishaarlin.com

https://www.facebook.com/trishaarlinwordsofprayer

@trishaarlin

PLACE YOURSELF: Words of Prayer and Intention

On Re-entering Our Sacred Space After the Quarantine

 

Berucha at HaShleimut

Blessed Wholeness,

Our eyes are open wide

As we walk into our familiar sacred space

For the first time in over a year. 

Colors are brighter,

The sanctuary is larger

And the sounds of our voices, together, are luscious.  

We swim in our profound appreciation for what we once took for granted 

And we can’t stop smiling at our friends  

And marveling at how good they look to us. 

It’s so excitingl! 

And at last

We can pray and we will be heard

We can mourn and we will be seen.

We are not alone.

Blessed Holy Wholeness

We give thanks and pray that we will remember how this felt

Next week

And next year

When we are bored.

Look at us, 

Here we are.

It is good.

Amen

This Year

 

Okay God,

This year, did we really need to count the Omer?

Between the election numbers

The corruption and graft

The kidnappings

The tax cuts for the rich

The funding cuts for the poor

The children dead from measles,

The free speeches suppressed.

Haven’t we had enough counting?

 

This year, do we really need to remember the Covenant?

It’s always been here

Even when we couldn’t see it.

Though it is up to us to look:

If we take care of the earth

It will take care of us, yes?

We know what our obligations are,

The good thing is always right there for us to do.

So how many of us tried?

 

This year, do we really need to “receive” the Torah?

Haven’t we been passive for too long?

Don’t we already know what to learn?

Yeah, it feels like it is enough just to survive, 

But shouldn’t we be doing more?

Can we heal our inner spirit

Without healing the suffering of the world?

Do we really want to go back to normal,

Didn’t normal suck?

 

This year let’s make some Torah.

C’mon, let’s do something new.

This year, change the world.

Amen

A Shavuot Blessing For Essential and Sacred Workers

 

Bless those who got us to Sinai:

The ones who fed us,

The ones who kept us safe,

The ones who healed us,

The ones who sustained us,

The ones who listened to us,

The ones who prayed with us,

The ones who did the dirty work for us

And the ones who put themselves in danger, 

whether out of choice or out of necessity.

 

Bless these workers:

May they be paid fairly for their labor,

May they find pleasure in their work,

May they be appreciated for their sacrifices,

May they have room to recover themselves,

May they not be sickened or injured in their jobs,

May they organize themselves successfully in unions,

May they have time for spiritual exploration

And may they all get enough of what they need, 

whatever that looks like for each one of them.  

Amen.

 

Spring 2021

 

Sitting at the top of the stoop,

Re-reading Patrick O’Brian. 

Wearing sandals, no jacket,

Enjoying a lovely faux summer afternoon in April.

A Fed Ex truck parks a couple of houses down. 

No packages for me but as he drives away

The Fed Ex man waves and smiles.  

I wave and smile back, that’s our guy. 

In this moment, he and I are not alone

And life is good.

What I Know About Lag B’Omer

 

I don’t know anything about Lag B’Omer

Except what I read on Wikipedia

Which tells me a few different things it’s supposed to celebrate,

One of which is the end of a plague that killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students.

Oy, plagues. Enough already.

 

I like to think about Akiva though,

Because I had a crush on him when I was a kid. 

Still do, sort of.

If you’re old enough, you might remember in Hebrew School they used up class time with slide shows

That had pre-recorded narrations. 

You know, that went DING whenever you were supposed to go to the next slide?

The one about Rabbi Akiva made a real impression.

For one thing,

He was quite handsome in his working man robes,

And romantic, the way he loved his wife

And how he worked so hard to win her.

 

And I loved the way he studied with children when he decided he wanted to learn.

There was a slide of Akiva sitting in the classroom at a child’s desk.

(Though I think I may be making that up.)

I thought of Akiva when I went back to school in my fifties.

So anyway, I’m glad the plague stopped killing his students.

 

The last picture of the Rabbi Akiva slide show was of him, old, with a long beard,

No longer cute, tied to a stake, 

Wrapped in what I remember as barbed wire,

Bleeding and looking up, presumably to God,

Whom he could see because he was saying the Sh’ma.

Ever since 9/11, I say the Sh’ma

When the F Train goes under the East River.

If the subway tunnel collapses

I want to see God.

Oh, also bonfires and haircuts. 

Happy Lag B’Omer!

Seventh Night: Before And After The Sea

 

Before The Sea

 

What I’m willing to leave behind in the narrow place:

 

Bricks, Whips, Forced labor

Blood, Packing, Yeast

Slavery, Racism, Masters

Danger, Weakness, Servitude

Plagues, Lies, Jew Haters

 

Netflix, My Room, Two-dimensions

Distance, Masks, Chapped Hands

Racism, Conspiracies, Death

Worry, Fear, Loneliness 

Plagues, Lies, Jew Haters

I put it all in my backpack

And put the pack down on the beach

Before I step into the Sea.

 

 

After The Sea   Now what? We’ve stepped into the water, We’ve crossed the Sea of Reeds. We said we would go and we went We’re here in the desert Now what?   What are we supposed to do now? Go out into the world, Talk to people? You want us to talk to people? In person?! Do we have to touch them? Are we supposed to touch them? Do we want to touch them? And ewww, they’re all so…three dimensional.   And in the new world of freedom there is Body odor And decisions.  We need to do stuff.  We didn’t want to leave our rooms.   We miss our pajamas.  We miss knowing that nothing was going to happen.   We miss the cucumbers of Egypt.  We will need to think about this, It could take years.

My Seder Plate

This year I don’t need symbols on my Seder plate.

This year I am very literal.

An egg is just an egg,

A bone represents only bones.

This year I’m all pshat.

Hate, Lies, Anger, Fear, Pain, Isolation, 

Death

Only an empty Seder plate can hold all that truth.