May my thoughts seek truth and integrity, the humility that is commensurate with my ignorance, the compassion that arises from the depths of awareness, as depths speak to depths… . . . → Read More: Teḥinnah for Honest Journal Reflections
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Here’s a kavannah for tonight’s search for ḥametz or for burning ḥametz tomorrow (with added words), from neohasid.org. It would be great if you could share it with your networks. Ḥag sameaḥ! . . . → Read More: Kavanah for Returning Our Ḥametz to the Earth 
Shabbat happens, If I let it. . . . → Read More: If I Let It: A Kavanah for Kabbalat Shabbat This piyut (liturgical poem) arose after a very meaningful performance of mine in the summer of 2000. It was such a powerful experience that I was moved to say a prayer of thanks to G-d for the opportunity to perform my songs for audiences – but found no such prayer in existence. So I wrote this one. It took about a year to complete and I’ve been saying it backstage right before my performances, and sometimes before recording sessions, since then. . . . → Read More: החונן לדויד מזמור – Performing Musician’s Piyut 
Last year around this time, I was sitting with Ya’qub ibn Yusuf in his bookstore, Olam Qatan (54 Emek Refaim in South Jerusalem), asking if he might share some useful practice that I might share through the Open Siddur Project. He offered this thought which he had heard from someone else: I have difficulty with the idea of thanking G!d for “returning my soul to me” sheheḥezarta bi nishmati while I’m still endeavoring to remain in touch with my dreams. So I much prefer what someone else suggested, that instead of saying nishmati (my soul), to say instead han’shamati (the embodiment of my soul). I thank G!d for returning me to my body — my soul was never missing. . . . → Read More: Returning the body to the soul: an adaptation of Moshe ibn Makhir’s Modeh Ani 
This is an intention that I composed for the conclusion of a performance piece, Inner Fire, created and performed by my Mistabra Institute for Jewish Textual Activism at Brandeis University in 2002. It is as relevant today as ever. Please use it for inspiration when you light Ḥanuka candles. . . . → Read More: Kavvanah for Ḥanukah Candle-Lighting 
Join The Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders, The Jerusalem Peacemakers, Birth 2012, UNIFY, The Shift Network & Peace Day LIVE for this unprecedented weekend of activities, live-streamed on Friday afternoon and Saturday evening from sacred sites throughout the Old City of Jerusalem. Hundreds of international events happening that weekend are being integrated into a 33-hour live Birth 2012 online broadcast. Locations include Byron Bay, Dublin, New York City, Los Angeles, Giza, Chitzen Itza, Guatemala, Peru, Chiang Mai, and more. UNIFY, the global prayer/meditation for peace, will broadcast Muslim, Jewish and Christian religious leaders conducting prayers at the central holy places of their faiths in Jerusalem’s Old City at 1pm IST (GMT+2) on Friday afternoon, synchronized with thousands of prayer events worldwide. . . . → Read More: Message of Hope Prayer Booklet from the Elijah Interfaith Institute 
A booklet for the Birkhot haShachar liturgy, with adaptations to the Hebrew text (including a new brachot formulation), English translations, and original poetry. . . . → Read More: ברכות השחר | The Morning Blessings, a new formulation 
Every Jewish holy day, even Shabbat and the highest ones, we call forth all the 22 Hebrew Letters to join us in celebration. For those of us who study Kabbalah from within the realm of the Alef-Bet, Ḥanukah is unique in that we are given a magical tool with which to activate these signs and wonders. . . . → Read More: A Blessing for Dreidel Spinning לְשֵׁם יִחוּד קֻדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא וּשְׁכִינְתֵּהּ, בִּדְחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ וּרְחִימוּ וּדְחִילוּ, לְיַחֵד שֵׁם י״ה בְּו״ה בְּיִחוּדָא שְׁלִים בְּשֵׁם כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל. הִנְנִי מְכַוֵּן בְּהַדְלָקַת נֵר חֲנוּכָּה לְקַיֵם מִצְוַת בּוֹרְאִי כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוּוּנִי חֲכָמֵינוּ ז”ל לְתַקֵן אֶת שׁוֹרְשָׁה בְּמָקוֹם עֶלְיוֹן: וּבְכֵן יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְפָנֶיךָ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁתְּהֵא חֲשׁוּבָה וּמְקֻבֶּלֶת וּמְרֻצָּה לְפָנֶיךָ מִצְוַת הַדְלָקַת נֵר . . . → Read More: Kavvanah for the Mitzvah of Kindling the Ḥanukah Lights by Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov
A midrashic translation/ interpretation of the second paragraph of the Sh’ma. . . . → Read More: A Prayer in a Time of Planetary Danger God, may my work feel redemptive even when an ocean of need feels like it will pull me down. May I feel the supported when I feel alone in my work. O God, remind me when I fail that I can learn, and that my life is more than my work. O God, remind me . . . → Read More: A Prayer for Health 
The essential idea of the liturgy of Ushpizin is to invoke the energies of the seven lower Sefirot in the proper order, so that Shefa, blessing and sustenance, can be drawn down into the world. This is the essence of Kabbalistic liturgy, and a liturgy of the imahot would only make sense if it were to follow that pattern. That means we have the playfully serious task of finding a stable order for the imahot where no clear order exists. . . . → Read More: אושפיזין | Ushpizin and Ushpizata: Inviting the Avot and Imahot into your Sukkah 
In Avignon, France, in 1767, Eliyahu Karmi (Elijah Crémieux) compiled a siddur preserving the nusaḥ of the Comtat Venaissin titled the סדר התמיד (Seder HaTamid). Just after the section for תפלת שחרית (the morning prayers), Karmi provides the following advice for how to organize one’s workday: . . . → Read More: After Shaḥarit: Abiding Advice for Daily Living by Eliyahu Carmi (1767) translated by Abe Katz 
Lauren Deutsch designed a High Holy Days greeting card that is a yad (pointer) for all readers to use in their siddurim during services. It also functions as a place holder when one wishes to take a rest from following along. . . . → Read More: Hineni 5773 ☞ find your place during the Days of Awe with this bookmark by Lieba B. Ruth 
This is Effron Esseiva’s morning Amidah (standing prayer) for weekdays. Effron writes, “It’s called Shmonei Esrei (18) because it used to have eighteen brakhot (blessings). However, it has an additional brakha to bring it to nineteen. This is my interpretation of the Teissa Esrei (19) with abridged kavvanot (intentions).” . . . → Read More: My Weekday Amidah 
The time we are in now is a time to ask: are we so determined to undo God’s rainbow covenant? Will we truly burn the sea, chemically and literally, with the oil we unleash from inside the Earth? Will we flood the sea with death as the land was flooded according to the Noah story of so long ago? As the cleanup continues and the effects will continue for decades, what new floods will we unleash in the coming years? . . . → Read More: יום קשת מ״ב בעומר | The 42nd Day of the Omer is Rainbow Day 
Psalm 67 is a priestly blessing for all the peoples of the earth to be sustained by the earth’s harvest (yevulah), and it is a petition that all humanity recognize the divine nature (Elohim) illuminating the world. Composed of seven verses, the psalm is often visually depicted as a seven branched menorah. There are 49 words in the entire psalm, and in the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l there is one word for each day of the Sefirat haOmer. Similarly, the fifth verse has 49 letters and each letter can be used as a focal point for meditating on the meaning of the day in its week in the journey to Shavuot, the festival of weeks (the culmination of the barley harvest), and the festival of oaths (shevuot) in celebration of receiving the Torah. Many of the themes of Psalm 67 are repeated in the prayer Ana b’Koaḥ, which also has 49 words, and which are also used to focus on the meaning of each day on the cyclical and labyrinthine journey towards Shavuot. . . . → Read More: Scaling the Walls of the Labyrinth: Psalms 67 and Ana b’Koaḥ 
We lift Miriam’s cup, Dancing prophet celebrating the world that is now. And we tell God we are grateful For the water from the earth that was Miriam’s gift, Welcome necessity, On God’s behalf. Miriam announces joy! And teaches us to save ourselves. Miriam, the bringer of mercy, There’s no prayer for her in the haggadah– So make one up! . . . → Read More: Two Cups: Elijah and Miriam 
The Tu Bishvat seder is a metaphor. But usually we use metaphor in our daily lives to accomplish, persuade, inspire or explain. There is something we’re bending metaphor to accomplish. This meditation is an exercise in free-thinking. Here, just play with metaphor for the sake of expressing and exploring your emotional state, history, anticipations and apprehensions. Each of the quotations from the Torah or rabbinical writings below represents an emotion. After we say the blessing over the olives, read the quotations, pick one (or more) that resonate, and play with the metaphor to reach a deeper understanding of yourself and others. . . . → Read More: A Tu Bishvat Seder Meditation on the World of Yetzira by Ben Murane 
The following is a meditation I wrote (with the help of my friend Shira Gura, who teaches meditation and Yoga) to be used on Friday before Shabbat at the mikveh. It is based on midrashim related to Shabbat (for example, the notion that we receive an additional soul on Shabbat), as well as meanings behind mikveh in general (for example, the connection between the waters of Creation and the mikveh waters), and on some kavanot (sacred intentions) that came out of the Kabbalah and Ḥassidut movements. There is a strong tradition to write kavanot to use before immersing in the mikveh, since, as Maimonides writes in his Mishneh Torah 11:15, “If a person immerses but without buttressing him or herself [with sacred intention], it is as though he or she has not immersed at all.” . . . → Read More: Mikveh Meditation for Erev Shabbat by Rabbi Haviva Ner-David and Shira Gura 
Please God Let me light More than flame tonight. More than wax and wick and sliver stick of wood. More than shallow stream of words recited from a pocket book. . . . → Read More: A Prayer for Candle-lighting by Chaya Kaplan-Lester 
An original liturgical poem inspired by the Modah|Modeh Ani prayer. . . . → Read More: A Kavanah for Waking Up by Andrew Shaw ‘Life Sentence’ is a poetic exploration of solitary authorship — interpreting the old-world literary tradition and archetypes for the ‘ADD’ generation. This is a boundary and genre-crossing work that exists at the intersection of Radical Jewish, Indy and Hip-Hop culture. . . . → Read More: Life Sentence by Eprhyme Hashem, as I open my Siddur, let me pray with proper kavanah. Let me pray with sincerity, paying careful attention to every word I utter. Hashem, let me concentrate with my whole being on the meaning of each and every word, sentence and prayer. Keep my mind from wandering to other subjects, and keep me . . . → Read More: A Prayer For Kavanah 
Aware of the willow [aravah], we awaken our “mouths,” our ability to communicate by voice, hand or type; we acknowledge the precious gift of communications from others, the 99% and the 1%, about their circumstances, their needs, offerings and hopes. Aware of the palm branch [lulav], we awaken our “spines,” our central strength; we acknowledge fellow citizens who take a stand, whether we agree with their stand or not, toward a vision of common good. Aware of the myrtle [hadas], we awaken our “eyes,” our ability to receive through whichever channels are available to us; we acknowledge our responsibility to remain open to others’ thoughts and experiences while also exercising discernment. Aware of the citron [etrog], we awaken our “hearts,” our source of connection; we acknowledge our inter-dependence and the importance of standing, expressing ourselves and learning from others. . . . → Read More: Occupy the Lulav by Virginia Avniel Spatz 
Thank you to Nili Simchai and Yosh Schulman for sharing the Farsi (Persian) Nusaḥ of this profound minhag — the order of reciting kavvanot (intentions) for the New Year. Please help the Open Siddur Project by helping to translate and transcribe all of the Hebrew and Farsi in this seder. Sol’e nu Mobarak! سال نو مبارک — L’shanah Tova! . . . → Read More: The Seder of Kavanot for the Feast of Rosh Hashanah according to a Farsi Nusaḥ 
السلام عليكم اننى يهودي أعيش في أسرائيل هذه الاغنية أهديها لجيراني العرب انها أغنية حب لكل جيراني العرب الذين يحبون الحياة و التعايش معا في سلم و سلام , و الاوقات السعيدة , و الاكل الطعم , و الصداقات الجميلة , و العلاقات الجيدة , و الأمن و الأمان نتعلم في التوراة أن اللهّ \ الخالق خلق الناس أجمعين و هذا يتضمننا كلنا هذه أغنية حب لكم…
. . . → Read More: A Love Song to Arabs from a Jew 
In 2010 while beginning to prepare resources for Tu Bishvat, I stumbled across a fascinating project over on Wikisource — the Open Breslov Project — a project for creating free digital translations into English of the work of Rebbe Naḥman of Breslov, the work of his student, Reb Natan of Nemirov, and a few others. Closely related to the Open Siddur Project is an effort at Hebrew Wikisource to create free digital editions of all the texts of Breslov Ḥasidut in Hebrew. . . . → Read More: Likutei Tefillot and The Open Breslov Project 
Stunden Der Andacht, Fanny Neuda (nèe Schmiedl)’s popular collection of prayers written in German and published in Prague in 1855 was already in its fifth printing a decade later when Rabbi Moritz Mayer published his English translation, Hours of Devotion (1866) in New York. Neuda’s collection of Jewish prayers is unique by virtue of its being possibly the first to authored by a Jewish woman. . . . → Read More: Hours of Devotion: Fanny Neuda’s Stunden Der Andacht (abridged trans. Moritz Mayer, 1866) |
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