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Praised are you, Source of Life Who has created the skies and the universe, The magic of darkness and light Blessed are the cycles that guide us Day and night, month and season Never missing their cue Blessed are the moon and stars The crowns of our earth Moving in splendid constellations May we accept the planetary wisdom To welcome time’s rhythm Of change and return May we shine with the stars And spread light to all beings Born from the...

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Gratefulness connects us up to the great flow of receptivity and generosity. When we begin the day in gratefulness, we step on to the path of love. מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ רוח חַי וְקַיָּם שֶהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְחֶמְלָה, רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ Modeh ah-nee lifanecha, Ru-ach chai v’kayam, she-hechezarta bee nishma-tee b’chemlah rabbah emunatecha!  I give thanks before you, living and eternal Spirit, for You have returned within me my soul with compassion; how great is Your faith in me!

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No matter what temper tantrum or adolescent rebellion marked the week that is past, we take a moment to place our hands on our children’s heads and to offer them words of pure love. The blessing for boys derives from Jacob’s blessing to his grandsons, Ephraim and Menashe, who are the first pair of siblings in the Bible who love each other rather than fight each other. The blessing for girls invokes the memory of our four matriarchs — Sarah, Rebekah,...

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Recite when seeing large-scale wonders of nature such as high mountains, vast deserts, seas, major rivers, shooting stars and the sunrise:   Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, oseh maasei v'reishit. We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, who makes the works of creation.

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The author, Howard Steiermann, explains why he will be reciting Hallel (psalms which are said as a unit, on joyous occasions, when the praise of G-d is particularly appropriate) for Pride. Will you be chanting Hallel this Shabbos? Why recite Hallel? The Orthodox Union website describes Hallel as “six Psalms (113-118), which are said as a unit, on joyous occasions, when the praise of G-d is particularly appropriate.” It goes on to explain that these occasions include the three major festivals...

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Tefillat Ha’Derekh from Montgomery Alabama  Written by Rabbi Nina H. Mandel during the T’ruah delegation to the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, January 26-28, 2020 Bo Bo el Par’oh Come after the oppressor Join the trouble Muster your strength Gird your loins Mobilize your anger Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt Watch for bias Cry out for truth Soften your hardened heart Embrace your neighbor Persist, persist, persist Ad matai? Until when? Until there is no longer...

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Food that is eaten daily can be taken for granted. One of the ways Judaism helps us to keep our sense of appreciation alive is by instituting blessings to be said before and after eating. Wonder or radical amazement is the chief characteristic of the religious man’s attitude toward history and nature. One attitude is alien to his spirit: taking things for granted, regarding events as a natural course of things. To the prophets, wonder is a form of thinking. It...

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When I Am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in...

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Elul (Hebrew: אֱלוּל) is the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days. Elul usually occurs in August–September on the Gregorian calendar. The name of the month, like the names of the rest of the Hebrew calendar months, was brought from the Babylonian Exile, and originated from the Akkadian word for "Harvest".  In the Jewish tradition, the month of Elul is a...

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In two paragraphs, the Aleinu concentrates a basic tension in Judaism: the tension between the particular ─ Israel’s special relationship with God ─ and the universal, the faith that all of humanity will someday fully recognize the one God. In its final form, the Aleinu dates back to the third century, but has an older history perhaps as far back as the Babylonian and Persian exiles of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE. An earlier form was probably recited during the...