Tefillat Geshem, a paraliturgical prayer for rain on Shemini Atseret by Rabbi Louis Polisson
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=33886
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Date: 2020-10-09
Last Updated: 2024-06-01
Categories: Shemini Atseret (and Simḥat Torah), the Wet Season (Fall & Winter)
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, interpretive translation, paraliturgical tefilat geshem, Prayers for Precipitation, Rain, rainfall, water cycle, water is life, גשם geshem
Excerpt: A paraliturgical prayer for rain on Shemini Atseret. . . .
Content:
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Our Beloved Earth and the Earth of our Ancestors,
Remember
The parents drawn to your riverbanks,
overflowing with water.
One was blessed with thirst quenched
like a tree planted by streams of water.
Your downpour relieved another
from the fiery heat with water.
They and you sought each other’s well-being,
as they sowed seeds by your water.
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Recall
The once-barren woman
who had mercy on those who longed
for just a sip of water.
She lived with integrity
on land nourished by water.
She led countless women
to stand with her in solidarity –
Taking shade under trees
rooted in soil and water.
Thanks to her careful planting and stewardship,
She suckled thousands with the natural milk
that we call water.
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Commemorate
The prophetesses and prophets
who invited us to partner with the water;
Who shepherded us and lifted us up,
to free ourselves through falls of water;
Who taught us rituals
to mark the ebbs and flows of seasons and water;
The ones who taught us how to build fires
and watch the clouds that hydrated us with water.
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Return
To your sacred nature,
the spirit within your body
of stardust and water.
Renew yourself with days of feasting
and become pure with one day
of abstaining from water.
Prepare by witnessing the cleansing,
life-giving power of water.
Know before whom you stand
and remember that we can repair the world,
if we learn to accept and to change like water.
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May we reveal the Divine within and outside, above and below,
That which causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall.
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May we return to water
as a blessing and not a curse –
Amen.
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May we return to water
for life and not for death –
Amen.
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May we return to water
as abundant and not as scarce –
Amen.
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Rabbi Louis Polisson’s “Prayer for Rain – An Interpretive Translation and New Stanza of Tefillat Geshem (The Prayer for Rain) Recited on Shemini Atseret,” was inspired by the Alternative Ashkenazic Prayer for Rain with Matriarchs in Siddur Lev Shalem. It was written for Rabbi Katy Allen’s Earth Etudes for Elul 5779.
[If you’d like to support my work, you may donate via PayPal at louis.polisson@gmail.com. Thank you.]
Contributor: Louis Polisson
Co-authors:
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Name: Louis Polisson
Bio: Louis Polisson is a musician, poet, and rabbi, ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, where he also earned an MA in Jewish Thought focusing on Kabbalah and Ḥasidut. He currently serves as the Associate Rabbi and Music Director at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck, New Jersey. He previously served for five years as the solo clergy of Congregation Or Atid in Wayland, Massachusetts. Louis and his wife Gabriella Feingold released an album of original Jewish and nature-based spiritual folk music in November 2018 - listen here.
Website: https://www.congregationoratid.org/rabbi-polisson
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/louis-polisson
Featured Image:
Title: storm-4736178_1280
Caption: Storm Rain Desert (credit: Designtek, license: CC0)