Kohenet Shacharit prepared by Kohenet Annie Matan Gilbert

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Tags: chanting, creative davening, Feminine Divine, God / Hashem, Jewish Renewal, Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, modern Judaism, Pardes Center for Jewish Educators (PCJE), Pardes Experiential Educators Program (PEEP), prayer / tefillah / davening, resources, ruach / ruakh, spirituality

Wednesday morning, at our weekly Creative Shacharit, I led a Kohenet style davenning. This means that the liturgy of the service follows the arc of a traditional shacharit service but is often not traditional liturgy. This particular service is compiled from chants and prayers from the Kohenet siddur and from my own writing and repertoire. The language plays with gender of God/Goddess and also with the gender of the community both in the Hebrew and the English. It also includes some earth-based imagery.

This week, we sang together and shared blessings and I did my best to interweave kavanot for each prayer that led us on a journey through shacharit and into our day.

I share this here so others might choose to use this liturgy in their own davenning. I encourage you to choose from these or any other prayers that open your heart and mind to possibilities in your relationship with God and in the way the Jewish community is identified. I like these prayers because they feel like my own language. Maybe you will find some here that feel like yours – or maybe these will inspire you to search elsewhere.

In any language, may we all be blessed to enjoy and be inspired on the journey to the prayers of our hearts.

GRATITUDE

1. Modah Ani

מֹודָה/מֹודֶה אֲנִי לְפָנַיְִך רּוחַ חַיָה וְקַיֶמֶת

Modah/modeh ani lefanayich ruach chai vekayemet

O I am grateful, o I am grateful in the face of the One, in the face of the One

Lyrics and music by Holly Taya Shere

2. Elohai Neshama

Oh Hashem,
Cleanse my body
Cleanse my spirit
Make me whole
Guide my breath
All through my body
I feel your spirit
Deep in my soul

Oh Shechina,
Cleanse my body
cleanse my spirit
Make me whole
Guide my breath
All through my body
I feel your spirit
Deep in my soul

Words and melody by Cara Gevurah Silverberg

PRAISE

3. Birkot HaShachar

Baruch ata adonai eloheinu ruach ha’olam sh’…
Beruchah at Shekhinah, eloheinu ruach ha’olam sh’…

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו רוח העולם ש…
ברוכה את שכינה אלהינו רוח העולם ש…

Blessed are You, Adonai, spirit of the world, who…
Blessed are You, Shekhinah, spirit of the world, who…

…Fill in your own words about something you are grateful for or want to praise God/Goddess for this morning

SHEMA AND HER BLESSINGS

4. Barechu

אני קראתיך כי תענני אל

Ani kratich ki ta’anini El

I call out to you for you will answer me, Gd

Psalms 17:6, Melody by Annie Matan Gilbert

5. Ahavah Rabah

אהבה רבה אהבתנו יי אלהינו

Ahava Raba Ahavtanu Adonai Eloheynu
With an Abounding Love
Ahava Raba Ahavtanu Adonai Eloheyn
With an Astounding Love

We shall lift each other up
As you have lifted us G!d
We shall lift each other up

Holly Taya Shere, adaptation of Ixchele Greentree circle song

6. Shema

שמע ישראל צמצמי אלהינו צמצמי אחת
ברוך שם כבוד מלכותה לעולם ועד

Sh’ma Yisrael Tzimtzemai Eloheinu Tzimtzemai achat
Baruch shem kevod malchutah le’olam va’ed.

Listen those who wrestle with God our God, God is One
Blessed is the honored name, reigning forever

REDEMPTION

7. Mi Chamocha

Mi chamocha ba’elim adonai
Mi kamocha nedar bakodesh
norah tehilot oseh feleh

מי כמכה באלים יי
מי כמכה נאדר בקדש
נורה תהילות עשה פלא

The Spirit is flowing, flowing and growing
The Spirit is flowing, through you and me
HaShem guide me, be faithfully beside me
HaShem guide me, and bless how I be
The Spirit is flowing, flowing and growing
The Spirit is flowing, through you and me
Shechina, reside in me, your wisdom lives inside of me
Shechina, reside in me, oh Holy of Holies!

Holly Taya Shere, adaptation of traditional circle song

CONVERSATION

8. Amidah

Adonai s’fatai tiftakh, ufi yagid t’hilatekha
Adonai s’fatai tiftekhi ufi yagid t’hilataiyikh

אדני שפתי תפתח ופי יגיד תהלתך
אדני שפתי תפתחי ופי יגיד תהלתיך

Open up my lips Oh G!d and I will sing your praise
We are the old people, we are the new people
We are the same people, stronger than before

You bless us Elohei Sarah
You bless us Elohei Rivka
You bless us Elohei Rachel
You bless us Elohei Leah

You bless us Elohei Avraham
You bless us Elohei Yitzhak
You bless us Elohei Yaakov
You bless us Elohei Yisrael

Holly Taya Shere adaptation

REMEMBERING THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE

9. Kaddish Yatom

יתגדל ויתקדש שמה רבא. בעלמה די ברא כרעותיה, וימליך מלכותיה בחייכון וביומיכון ובחיי דכל בית ישראל. בעגלא ובזמן קריב ואמרו אמן:
יהא שמה רבא מברך לעלם ולעלמי עלמיא:
יתברך וישתבח ויתפאר ויתרומם ויתנשא ויתהדר ויתעלה ויתהלל שמה דקדשה בריך הוא לעלא מן כל ברכתא ושירתא תשבחתא ונחמתא, דאמירן בעלמא, ואמרו אמן:
יהא שלמא רבא מן שמיא, וחיים עלינו ועל כל ישראל ישראל ואמרו אמן.
עשה שלום במרומיה היא תעשה שלום עלינו:

Yitgadal veyitkadash shemeh rabbah, be’almah di vra chirutei veyamlich malchutei, bechayeichon uveyomeichon uvechayei dechol veit
yisrael, ba’agalah uvizman kariv ve’imru amein
Yehei shmei rabbah mevorach le’alam ulalmei almaya.
Yitbarach veyishtabach veyitpaar veyitromam veyitnasei veyithadar veyitalei veyithalal, shemei dekudsha brich hu le’eilah min kol
birchata veshirata tushbechata venechemata da’amiran be’alma ve’imru amein
Yehei shlamah rabbah min shemaya vechayyim aleinu ve’al kol yisrael ve’imru amein.

Osah shalom bimromeha hi taaseh shalom aleinu

May She who makes peace shine peace upon all of us

RAISING THE SPARKS

10.Aleinu

Yihiyeh adonai echad, ushemo echad,
ushemo echad, ushemo echad
Tihiyeh havaya achat, verucha achat,
verucha achat, verucha achat

יהיה י-הו-ה אחד ושמו אחד
תהיה הויה אחת ושמה אחד

And we will see Shechinah in the
wind across the land
we are a circle within her circle
And we will be Shechinah in the
work of our hearts and our hands
She is a circle, within our circle