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Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu Ruach ha’Olam, borei p’ri ha’eitz. Blessed are You, oh Divine Spirit of the Universe who creates the fruit of the tree.

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Blessing for the First Time You Experience Something (Shehechiyanu) You may want to say this before any fruit you are tasting for the first time this season. בָּרוּך אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וקְִיְמָּנוּ והְִגִיּעָנוּ לַזְמַן הַזֶה Barukh ata adonai elohenu melekh ha-olam, she-hechiyanu, v’kiy'manu, v’higi'anu la-z’man ha-zeh Blessed be You, the One who has kept us alive and sustained us so that we could reach this moment. Blessing After Eating Various Fruit ברוך אתה‭ ‬ה‮’‬ א‑להינו מלך‭ ‬העולם, בורא‭...

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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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Fruit By Rachel Kann Know this: you are wonderful-wild. Do not deny it, contort akimbo, reach your glorious limbs skyward.  No more mourning your exclusion from the orchard— you were never meant to be regimented, thank heaven. The predatory parasites who hijacked the canopy, clawing toward your inner sugar, have all been evicted.  They could never truly penetrate; never rip to the center of you.  They tried to prune your shine, you bloomed through it. Their attempts to graft you proved...

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Each year, the first time we eat a fruit that only grows at a certain time of year, we say a special blessing, the shehecheyanu, on this new fruit.  בָּרוּך אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וקְִיְמָּנוּ והְִגִיּעָנוּ לַזְמַן הַזֶה Barukh ata adonai elohenu melekh ha-olam, she-hechiyanu, v’kiy'manu, v’higi'anu la-z’man ha-zeh Blessed are You, the One who has kept us alive and sustained us so that we could reach this moment.

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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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The shehechiyanu blessing thanks the creator for giving us life, sustaining us, and allowing us to reach this day. This blessing is said at momentous occasions, and tonight counts because it is the night when we can finally look back on the whole previous year. We made it! Whether bitter or sweet, difficult or fun, tonight we celebrate and feel grateful for making it to today, and to this table to reflect with people we care about. בָּרוּך אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ...

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To Say Over Candles:   The lighting of the Sabbath candles is one of the most familiar customs connected to Shabbes and one that is part of our collective memory. According to tradition, candles are lit on Friday just before sunset, usually by the mother and daughters of the household, though they may be lit by any Jew.  The lighting of the candles signifies the spiritual essence of the Sabbath.  Candlelight flickers, spreading its light and its warmth.  It envelops us 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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We all have thoughts and feelings from the past year that we’d like to get rid of or forget. During tashlich, we take some breadcrumbs and sprinkle them into a body of water, symbolically ridding ourselves of the sins and bad feelings that have been weighing us down. Now we can go into the new year with a clean slate.

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יְיָמָלָךְיִרְגְּזוּ עַמִּים,ישֵׁב כְּרוּבִים תָּנוּט הָאָרֶץ:יְיָ בְּצִיּוֹן גָּדוֹל,וְרָם הוּא עַל כָּל הָעַמִּים:יוֹדוּ שִׁמְךָ גָּדוֹל וְנוֹרָא,קָדוֹשׁ הוּא:וְעֹז מֶלֶךְ מִשְׁפָּט אָהֵב,אַתָּה כּוֹנַנְתָּ מֵישָׁרִים,מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה בְּיַעֲקֹב אַתָּה עָשִֹיתָ:רוֹמְמוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַהֲדֹם רַגְלָיו,קָדוֹשׁ הוּא:משֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן בְּכֹהֲנָיו וּשְׁמוּאֵל בְּקֹרְאֵי שְׁמוֹ,קֹרִאים אֶל יְיָ וְהוּא יַעֲנֵם:בְּעַמּוּד עָנָן יְדַבֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם,שָׁמְרוּ עֵדֹתָיו וְחֹק נָתַן לָמוֹ:יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ אַתָּה עֲנִיתָם,אֵל נֹשֵׁא הָיִיתָ לָהֶם וְנֹקֵם עַל עֲלִילוֹתָם:רוֹמְמוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְהַר קָדְשׁוֹ,כִּי קָדוֹשׁ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ: The Lord reigneth; let the peoples tremble: he sitteth above the cherubim; let the earth be moved. The...