תפילה לראש חודש טבת ותקופת החורף על חנוכּה | Prayer for the new moon of Tevet on Ḥanukkah occurring on the winter solstice, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg and neohasid.org

Shared on:

22 December 2014 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Ḥanukkah, Rosh Ḥodesh Tevet (טֵבֵת)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., ecoḥasid, Northampton, eco-conscious, North America, solstice

Here’s a first draft of a brief liturgy for last night, for solstice plus Ḥanukkah. Note that this is a kind of eco-liturgy, but it also stands on its own without imposing an ecological overlay. Since it’s still solstice all day, you may want to use this prayer now, or at dusk tonight:

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Contribute a translation	English
	Return again, return again Return to the land of your soul (2x) Return to who you are Return to what you are Return to where you are born and reborn again Return again, return again Return to the land of your soul
	In the depths of darkness, the darkness of the new moon of Ḥanukkah, and the darkness of the sun at solstice, we call to You. In the presence of these seeds of light of the sixth night, we turn to You. As You turn the wheel of the sun, as You draw back the darkness of the moon, may You open gates for us, Potei’ach She’arim, so that we may be drawn through these gates into the holy mystery of darkness and the glowing light of wisdom. “Deep is calling unto deep, t’hom el t’hom korei” (Ps 42:8) — may we be listening.
	“The One who set darkness to be Her secret place, yashet ḥoshekh sit’ro” (Ps 18:12) — may You teach us to see the darkness dancing between the flames of the candles, and the darkness dancing within the flame, so that we may cherish the Earth, dancing between the sun and the moon, the womb of all Life, and see the radiance in all creatures, in the passing of life into life, deep into deep, fall into winter into spring.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ הַמַּעֲרִיב עֲרָבִים:‏	At dusk: Barukh atah Adonai, blessed be You hama’ariv aravim, the One who brings in the twilight and composes the evenings.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹֽשֶׁךְ יוֹצֵר הַמְּאֹרֹת׃	During the day: Barukh Atah Adonai blessed be You, yotser or uvorei ḥoshekh, the One who forms light and creates darkness, yotser hame’orot, former of all the heavens lights.

(with thanks to Riqi Kosovske, Tiana Mirapae, Fern Feldman, and Catherine Keller)

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“תפילה לראש חודש טבת ותקופת החורף על חנוכּה | Prayer for the new moon of Tevet on Ḥanukkah occurring on the winter solstice, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

David Seidenberg

Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

neohasid.org

NeoHasid.org was created by Rabbi David Seidenberg to help folks integrate ḥasidic song, learning, and nusaḥ into their davenning and communities and to explore embodied Torah. It evolved to focus on eco-Torah and to share liturgy that honors our relationship with the Earth and/or expresses gender parity.

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Works of related interest:

📄 מִדְרָשִׁים עַל אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן וּתְקוּפַת הַחֹרֶף | Midrashim on the Origin of the Winter Solstice and Kalends Festivals by Primaeval Adam

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הָרַחֲמָן עַל שְׁנַת הַשְׁמִיטָה | A Haraḥaman for the Shmitah Year in the Birkat haMazon, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

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סדר חצוצרות לראש חודש | Seder Ḥatsotsrot l’Rosh Ḥodesh (the Rite of Trumpets for the New Moon)

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סֵדֶר קִדּוּשׁ לְבָנָה ☽ Kiddush Levanah: Sanctification of the Moon (Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org)

Tilt: A Prayer for the Winter Solstice, by Trisha Arlin

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17