Shema. Listen. Listen to your body as it breathes. So I did one day. More carefully than usual. First, I did some early morning Hatha Yoga. Sun salutations, triangle side bends, spinal twists. Pranayama, the breath of life. Then, I sat down right where I was and whispered the morning Shema (Deut 6:4-9). In rhythm with my…
Category: Prayer
Offering Worship: Did Moses Make It All Up?
Offering as a form of worship. Take a look at Leviticus. God offers some weird instructions for worship! Like a precise system of offerings. Specifically, butchering and cooking. Such rituals seem out of place in our modern urban society. They probably weren’t relevant to the earliest human beings either. Torah itself says they were vegetarian. Offering at the…
Psalm 148: Nature's Rap
Psalm 148: what a beautiful vision of creation! Spiritual beings sing God’s praise. Sun, moon, and clouds sing. So do animals and plants. Along with people of all ages, genders, and social classes. Why? Because God created them. God loves them. And God praises them, too. Psalm 148: what a great way to start the…
Yah Ribon: The Mystical Prayer that Isn't
Yah Ribon Alam: Ineffable Breath of Life, Master of Time and Space. So begins a most famous Aramaic piyyut (liturgical poem). Author Israel Najara studied Kabbalah in 16th century Safed. Aramaic words recall famous phrases from the Zohar, book of Jewish mysticism. Tradition assigns the song to Shabbat, day of spiritual elevation. But is Yah Ribon…
Psalm 16: When existential questions disturb your sleep
Psalm 16. A psalm about questions and answers. Nightmares disturbed my sleep yesterday. I peeked into a closet and said: I want to die. My child went missing. A friend gave me a bicycle, but I couldn’t ride it home. I woke to questions. How do I learn what I’m supposed to do? Become my own person? Face…
A Rosh Hashanah Ritual Riddle: How are dessert and liturgy alike?
Your Rosh Hashanah ritual riddle: how are sweet fruit crumble and the liturgy of Unetaneh Tokef alike? I’m asking for a friend. For two academic friends, really. Lawrence Hoffman and Catherine Bell, who write about ritual. Lawrence Hoffman says that rituals structure time. Without rituals, life would be a series of moments. Mostly flat, but…
Does the Ana Bekoach prayer reveal the secret 42-letter name of God?
The secret 42-letter name of God is hidden in plain sight. Clues are everywhere. Pay attention. Even to Google ads. Especially the insistent ones. Like the ad for the Ana Bekoach Spinning Ring. Ana Bekoach is a Hebrew prayer for protection. Economical in language. Please. Bless. Purify. Empathize. Redeem with righteousness. Always. Deliberate in structure.…
Praise to the Living God! What kind of Jewish prayer is Yigdal Elohim Chai?
Yigdal Elohim Chai (Praise to the Living God) has a special role in Jewish prayer. It’s one of a very few medieval hymns (piyyut) in the daily morning liturgy. Its author may be Daniel Ben Yehuda Dayan (c. 1400). Yigdal is one of many poems based on Maimonides‘ list of core principles of Jewish faith (c. 1168). Synagogue…
We Went Down to the River to Pray
A day off. Wow. Did I even dare to pray for it? It’s a rare treat in the religion business! What to do? Where to go? My beloved and I chose Mt. Seymour, a provincial park just 30 minutes outside our city. Mountains, woods, rushing rivers. No cell phone service. No internet access. A different…
Ladder of Prayer
Jewish communal prayer is both liturgy and experience. The liturgy expresses a theology — a theory about God. The experience stimulates inner spirituality — an encounter with God. The liturgy is structured and traditional; my experience is unique and changing. Still, the two interact regularly. Here is an introduction to a Shabbat morning prayer service that includes a…