English poetry

הבדלה | Distinctions (Havdalah) for the end of Shabbat, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

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Shared on 2013-06-21 – 14 Tammuz 5773.
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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. . . .

Saturday Afternoon Request by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

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Shared on 2013-06-21 – 14 Tammuz 5773.
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Help me to silence
my mind’s aggravation alarm,
to quiet the voice which says
the to-do list matters,
to temporarily eschew
continuous partial attention. . . .

נשמת כל חי | Nishmat Kol Ḥai: The Breath of All Life, a paraliturgical poem for Shabbat morning by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

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Shared on 2013-06-21 – 14 Tammuz 5773.
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…if we could discard differences: human,
animal, fire, stone, seed, snow

even that cry of togetherness
would not be enough to thank You. . . .

Sandalphon, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1858)

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Shared on 2013-06-05 – 28 Sivan 5773.
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Have you read in the Talmud of old,
In the Legends the Rabbins have told
    Of the limitless realms of the air,–
Have you read it,–the marvellous story
Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Glory,
    Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer? . . .

רפא אותי | Heal Me by Trisha Arlin

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Shared on 2012-03-03 – 9 Adar 5772.
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I have been asked to write a healing prayer So I tried But I can’t do it I don’t have the soothing words I’m in pain Right now And it’s been going on for a while And it looks like it’s going to last longer than it takes to write this prayer

So instead I offer to you A pain prayer . . .

In Search of Seraḥ: A Prayer to Seraḥ by Chaya Kaplan-Lester

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Shared on 2012-01-13 – 18 Tevet 5772.
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[In Parshat Vayigash] we read of the members of Jacob’s family who went down to Egypt. There were 53 grandsons listed, but only a single granddaughter – Seraḥ, the daughter of Asher. The commentators wonder, what was so exceptional about this girl that her name was recorded? The Midrash spills forth with stories portraying an image of a unique and endearing Biblical heroine. Seraḥ stands as a trusted, beloved sage of the people. She possessed an uncommon gift of healing through poetry and music. Somewhat as Orpheus is to Greek myth, so is Seraḥ to the Biblical myth – the archetypal poet and bard. . . .

A Prayer before Candle-lighting, by Chaya Kaplan-Lester

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Shared on 2012-01-05 – 11 Tevet 5772.
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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. . . .


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