Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on March 6, 2013 by Laurie Franklin
Here is the text of today's Creative Davening at Pardes:
In this week’s parsha, we build and furnish the Mishkan and attire the kohanim. When the work is complete, the Holy Presence comes to dwell among the people. Today, in our Shacharit of Healing, we build our own Mishkan of hope and invite the Presence to be with us as we journey towards health, wholeness, and peace. At the conclusion of Sefer Shmot this week, we say, “Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek”. How fitting to wish each other strength when we pray for healing!
Va’ani Tamid Imach
(I am always with You.)
Though my heart is troubled and I’m filled with dread
I turn to face Your Mystery
Though I’ve been lost inside my head
I open to Eternity. (R. Shefa Gold)
We come together this morning to ask for healing, healing within ourselves, or healing for another person, or healing for our community or world.
O Source of All Life, Great Physician,
We stand before you—
We who are suffering
and we who seek to heal suffering.
Imbue us with the courage, confidence, understanding and compassion
to join You in the work of healing.
May we not surrender to despair, uncertainty, or fatigue,
but engage in Your work with wholehearted devotion.
Accompany us throughout our journey,
to speak with us, to listen to us, to be with us
so that together we may strive to bring a complete healing,
a healing of body and a healing of spirit,
soon, speedily, without delay,
and let us say, Amen. (R. Simkha Weintraub)
“Ma tovu ohalecha, Yaakov!” Bilaam spoke these words as he gazed from above over the tents of Israel. Today, our ohel is woven from our hopes for healing. How beautiful are our tents, Oh Israel!
| Atah ozi Atah chayai Atah ori Atah lifanai |
You are my strength You are my life You are my light Ever before me (R. Shefa Gold) |
Ha Rofei Yishvurey Lev (4x)
Healer of the broken, broken, broken hearted.
Healer of the broken, healer of the broken hearted. (Naomi Steinberg)
My soul came to me pure,
Drawn from the reservoir of the Holy.
Praised are You, Adonai,
In whose hand is every living soul and the breath of humankind.
(Mishkan T’filah)
The Rabbis tell us that when the Holy Ark was constructed for the sanctuary, not only the whole second set of tablets was put into the Holy Ark, but the pieces from the first set that Moses shattered as well. Wholeness comes not from ignoring the broken pieces, or hoping to magically glue them back together. The shattered coexists with the whole, and the Divine can be found amid the darkest depths. Every moment has the potential for redemption and wholeness, and our brokenness gives us that vision and the potential to return some of the Divine sparks scattered in the world. (Michael Strassfeld)
Baruch Atah H”, Eloheinu Melech Haolam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvitav, v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל הֶהָרִים מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי
עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יְהוָה עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ
Esa einai, el heharim,
m’ayin, m’ayin, yavo ezri (2x)
Ezri, may’im Adonai,
Oseh, shamayaim va’aretz (2x)
Translation:
I lift my eyes to the mountains. From where does my help come?
My help comes from Hashem, maker of heaven and earth. (Shlomo Carlebach)
Tell G!d
The moment we say
I can’t handle this anymore
God says, I know you can’t.
Let’s talk tomorrow.
The moment we acknowledge what we cannot do
We open the door a little wider,
giving ourselves a bit more strength than we thought we had.
God has a hand in the work that we do.
And just maybe
In the way we cast aside our grudges
In the way we comfort another
In the way we stand in the middle of difficult stories
and are willing to listen and face the pain
we teach God a little something too.
We can never know in a moment of pain
what fortune may arise
We can never know in a given moment that feels fortunate at first
may, in the end, turn out to be otherwise.
Each day belongs to itself.
Every story we tell about ourselves
about one another
has an ending.
With endings come a possibility of new stories
and new strength.
Tell God
what it is that you can’t handle
what burns inside you
what peace you seek
and thereby open a door
to what you can handle
what thrives within you
and what new story may emerge. (R. Miriam Terlinchamp)
We Go Round and Round
Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat…We live in the rhythms of the cycles of life.
Endings and Beginnings always touch. Every life-story adds to our understanding of what it means to be alive.
But no story, no life can be truly understood—comprehended in the fullness of its wisdom—until the end. Then as every life-story closes, born out of its heroism, its striving, its love, a legacy is passed on and a new story is born.
A sliver, a quarter, a half, then full.
This is the cycle, the rhythm of time.
Days turn to weeks into months into years.
A sliver, a quarter, a half, then full.
Earth sleeps in the winter awaking in spring. The warm sun of summer prepares the Earth for the Fall.
And we go round
A sliver, a quarter, a half, and then whole.
On the path to wholeness, there is growth and diminishment. There are miraculous achievements––acts of courage and compassion that change the course of history, moments of such sweet tenderness that even angels weep with joy, and times of loss when the angels weep with us to comfort us.
When we are in need of healing and comfort, Torah teaches us a song, a prayer, that opens the gates of healing. (R. Marcia Prager)
V’al Bamotai Yadricheni
Translation:
He prepares a path for me upon the high places. (R. Shefa Gold)
Barchu et Adonai Hamevorach!
Baruch Adonai Hamevorah l’olam vaed!
(weekday Shacharit nusach, fraygish)
In the darkest parts of our selves, we find the holiest sparks. When we allow them their voice, when we set them free, they begin to tell us their own story, the one we need to hear. Then those darkest voices can lead us back home, can lead us into the light. (Talia Campbell)
V’havienu l’shalom mei arba canfot haaretz.
Translation:
Bring us to peace from the four corners of the land.
Listen to each other, a way to practice for hearing the still small voice within…
Blessing Each Other: A Mishebeirach of Strength
When ending a book of Torah, and before starting the next, we recite, “Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek”, “Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another.” Let us bless each other with these powerful words, as we continue to close and open the many books of our lives.
Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek!
Va’ani Matzayti Menucha Mitchat Canfei Shechinah!
Translation:
Under the wings of Shechinah I have found my rest. (R. Shefa Gold)
