https://opensiddur.org/?p=7053Distinctions (Havdalah) for the end of Shabbat, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat2013-06-21 07:42:24A prayer-poem inspired by the ritual Havdallah, preparing a separation between Shabbat and weekday time.Textthe Open Siddur ProjectRachel BarenblatRachel Barenblathttps://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/Rachel Barenblathttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/Motsei Shabbatparaliturgical havdalahהבדלות havdalotתחינות teḥinot21st century C.E.58th century A.M.paraliturgical teḥinotEnglish poetryPrayers as poemsEnglish vernacular prayer
☞ Need to adjust a column of text to the right or left? Click on the header row and drag the column where you want. Here's an animated GIF showing the process. ☞ Need to copy a column or column(s) of text? We recommend the CopyTables extension.
In the end we’re like children:
we thrive on distinctions
between me and you, us and them.
Made in Your image
we separate light from darkness,
family from stranger, weekday
from that fleeting taste of Paradise.
Wax drips from the braided candle.
Cinnamon tingles the nose
to keep us from fainting
as the extra soul departs.
Stop now. Notice this hinge
between Shabbat
and what’s next.
Plunge the candle into the wine
but don’t cry: even without a flame
our light still shines. This
is our inheritance, better than rubies.
And now it’s Saturday night, the cusp
of a new beginning, another day.
This week, may our hearts be whole.
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (a/k/a Velveteen Rabbi) serves Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, MA. She holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is author of five volumes of poetry, among them 70 faces: Torah poems (Phoenicia, 2011) and Texts to the Holy (Ben Yehuda, 2018). A leader in Jewish Renewal (former co-chair of ALEPH, now a senior builder at Bayit: Your Jewish Home) she resides in western Massachusetts. She has blogged as the Velveteen Rabbi since 2003.
Comments, Corrections, and Queries