Preparing for the Shema, a responsive reading by Rabbi Cantor Eva Robbins (2015)

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15 March 2024 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, כוונות kavvanot, Opening Prayers, שמע shemaŋ

Source (Hebrew)	Source (English)
שמע	Reader SH’MA – Our ears can hear, but our beings must listen. Close out, if for only a moment, everything that pulls, distracts and keeps us away from truly paying attention. Congregation In this moment I open every pore of my being. I listen with deep intention to what my faith proclaims.
ישראל	Reader YISRAEL – One who strives with El, the Holy One and like Jacob is transformed for eternity. Congregation I know I have fears but I must embrace the angel of challenge, so I can grow and be a better person.
יהוה	Reader ADONAI – The Lord and Master of each one of us – each individual Belongs to you. Congregation You are my Lord, the Master of all good and evil, I must always choose to walk in your ways.
אלהינו	Reader ELOHEYNU – You are God to many, yet you are the One. Congregation You are our God. I share your presence and your goodness with others. We are your family— You are the great mother and father. We are your children.
יהוה	Reader ADONAI – You are Yud Hey Vav Hey— the spiritual skeleton that supports, every single human being. Congregation As I walk through life, I am supported by your name. My bones are strengthened by the marrow of your essence.
אחד	Reader EḤAD – You are ONE – You are a single strand that began before time, a multiplicity of possibilities – the One, the only – the first, the last. Congregation I am unified by your being, ensouled by your presence, attached and never alone!

Originally composed by Rabbi/Cantor Eva Robbins for her ordination at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, in 2015, this responsive reading is intended to prepare oneself for a deeper connection before chanting the Shema. It can be used alone or in community.

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“Preparing for the Shema, a responsive reading by Rabbi Cantor Eva Robbins (2015)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Eva Robbins

Rabbi and cantor Eva Robbins is co-founder of N'vay Shalom with her husband Rabbi Stephen Robbins, on the Faculty of the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and officiant of lifecycle ceremonies in Los Angeles. She is the author of Spiritual Surgery: A Journey of Healing Mind, Body, and Spirit (about the Mishkan) and is a visiting columnist for the Jewish Journal of Southern California. She is on the Board of the Sandra Caplan Community Beit Din as well as participating in conversion ceremonies and a teacher of Torah and Jewish meditation.

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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

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