אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה | Elohai Neshamah, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=31380

Date: 2020-05-07

Last Updated: 2024-06-01

Categories: Birkhot haShaḥar

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, paraliturgical elohai neshamah, shame resilience, אלהי נשמה Elohai neshamah

Excerpt: A paraliturgical reflection on the prayer over being animated with life sustaining breath, Elohai Neshamah, for a shame resilience practice. . . .

Content:

Source (Hebrew)	Paraliturgical Reflection (English)
אֱלֹהַי, נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַֽתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא,	God, the soul You gave me is pure. This of all things is hard for me to understand. If it is pure, why do I sometimes feel like I am not enough? If it is pure, why do I need to suffer? If it is pure, why do I need to die?
אַתָּה בְרָאתָהּ, אַתָּה יְצַרְתָּהּ, אַתָּה נְפַחְתָּהּ בִּי, וְאַתָּה מְשַׁמְּרָהּ בְּקִרְבִּי, וְאַתָּה עָתִיד לִטְּלָהּ מִמֶּנִּי, וּלְהַחֲזִירָהּ בִּי לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא.	The soul in me is from You. It is part of You, and it will one day leave my body and join You in total Oneness again. I know I am supposed to be ok with that, but some days I am so scared to die. I love my soft animal body, and the people and things that are familiar. Other days, I am so scared to live.
כָּל זְמַן שֶׁהַנְּשָׁמָה בְּקִרְבִּי מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ יְיָ אֱלֹהַי וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתַי, רִבּוֹן כָּל הַמַּעֲשִׂים, אֲדוֹן כָּל הַנְּשָׁמוֹת. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ הַמַּחֲזִיר נְשָׁמוֹת לִפְגָרִים מֵתִים:	I love perfection, and rest, and total integrity, and these are difficult to come by in Your world. So all the days when my soul is in this body, help me to make the most of it. Help me show up with grace to my life, in all its imperfections. I bless You, Holy One, who has brought forth generations of souls who lived in bodies.

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Rabbi Shoshana Meira’s paraliturgical interpretation of Elohai Neshamah (the blessing over our animating breath of life), was first published in her Siddur v’lo Nevosh (2014). Linear correspondence between the Hebrew source and the English by Aharon Varady.

Source(s)

 

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Contributor: Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

Co-authors:

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  Name: Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman
  Bio: Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman is the Associate Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Brookline, Massachusetts. She feels blessed to serve this vibrant community through building personal relationships, teaching Torah, innovating new engagement initiatives, working for justice, and leading prayer. Rabbi Shoshana is a leader in the interfaith climate justice movement in New England. She and her husband Yotam Schachter co-wrote The Tide Is Rising, an anthem for the climate movement that has been sung in congregations, climate rallies, and gatherings in the US, Brazil, Denmark, and France. In other pursuits, she has released an album of original music called Guesthouse, clowned for hospitalized children, tended a community garden, and written poetry. Her publications include pieces in the Huffington Post and the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and she has written an interpretive translation of the weekday prayer service called Siddur V'lo Nevosh: Jewish Prayer as Shame Resilience Practice. Rabbi Shoshana was ordained at Hebrew College Rabbinical School, and is a graduate of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, JOIN For Justice, and Oberlin College of Arts & Sciences where she was also a Henry David Thoreau Scholar. She grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and lives in Jamaica Plain with Yotam and their dog Lulu. For sermons, publications, music, and activism visit www.rabbishoshana.com.
  Website: http://www.rabbishoshana.com
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/shoshana-friedman

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Title: Tea_bowl_fixed_in_the_Kintsugi_method
Caption: "Tea bowl fixed in the Kintsugi method" (Public Domain). Kintsugi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer resin dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.