Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Contributor(s):

Shared on:

כ״ה באדר ה׳תש״פ (2020-03-20) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan (נִיסָן)

Tags:

תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

A tender poem about hope and liberation, as we move day by day towards the full moon that marks the beginning of Passover.

A blessing for announcing the new moon of Nisan, for Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan, and for the whole month.

[Financial contributions are most welcome, and support further creation and sharing of Ilana’s creative work. Venmo to @Ilana-Streit.]

Shine on us, shine into us,
Sliver of moonlight
Teardrop of a slave

Shine down on us, shine on over to us,
chaff of wheat tired of hearing the cries
of people whose hearts have
been pounded down like matza

Shine towards us:
this is how much light we can hold
this is how much light we can digest
and no more

O Moon of Nisan
be gentle with us
we have never known you before

we have been waiting for you for
all of our lives
for so many generations

give us time
and when you grow into a whole matza
we will be ready

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit” is shared by the contributors with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Ilana Streit

Weaver of Blessings: poet, liturgist, singer-songwriter. Interpretive, radical, earthy, feminist. Based in Greater Boston, MA.

Stable Link:

https://opensiddur.org/?p=30585

Associated Image:

new moon of Nissan to full moon of Nissan (credit: Aharon Varady, license: CC BY-SA)

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in category lists and in shared links on social media.)

Please reciprocate for any adaptation or redistribution of this work by (1) properly attributing the work to Ilana Streit, (2) clearly indicating the date you accessed the resource and whether any changes have been made (and if so, please be in touch with us and leave a comment below so that we might note your adaptation or improvement), (3) providing a link back to this source, and (4) specifying the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license under which this work was shared.

Support this work:

The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libré Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

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