All posts by Alia Meira

Chants, Psalms

Happy Refuge

Ashray Kol-chosay vo

Happy are those that take refuge in Him (God). (Psalm 2:12)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 2 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

This Psalm tells about the dangers of the world and reassures us that all attempts at the ultimate destruction of goodness are doomed to fail. In the end, the key to our ultimate safety is in the gesture of taking refuge in God. It is only when we turn towards the Eternal and lean into the Divine embrace, that we will know ultimate joy, prosperity and success.

To hear the chants, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Happy Refuge PDF. For the musical notation, click Happy Refuge notation PDF.

Chants, Psalms

Like a Tree

V’haya k’aytz, v’hayita k’aytz,
v’hayinu k’aytz shatul al-palgay-mayim

He shall be like a tree; she shall be like a tree;
We shall be like a tree planted by flowing waters. (Psalm 1:3)
[Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 1 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

To plant ourselves by flowing waters, we need to find a place of nourishment, encouragement and support. There we can root ourselves in eternity, absorbing the flow from Eden, staying supple and open to blessing. That will be the secret to fruitfulness and success.

To hear the chants, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Like a Tree PDF. For the musical notation, click Like a Tree notation PDF.

Chants, Liturgy

Ahava Rabah

Ahavah Rabah Ahavtanu
Ahava Rabah in Hebrew
With such a great love You have loved us (Liturgy)

I open to your blessing
I open to your love,
I open to your blessing
I open to your love,
I receive your firm support
and lean into your wide embrace,
When I walk through your open door
I know the whole world as your face.
Ahavah Rabah Ahavtanu

I composed this at a moment when I was feeling very tired, sad, needy and constricted. I saw clearly, an old pattern of trying to get love, reassurance and validation from others when I felt this way…. But it never really worked. In some corner of my heart I knew that there was a great love—flowing, but I would need to open to it. So, I began to sing these words as a magical incantation to open. After a while, something in me shifted, and I knew that I had located and opened a door within that would always be available to me.

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Ahavah Rabah PDF. For the musical notation, click Ahavah Rabah notation PDF.

Chants, Scripture, Shir HaShirim

Love/Death

Ki aza kamavet ahavah
Love/Death in Hebrew
For Love is as strong as Death. (Song of Songs 8:6)

Death is both the greatest challenge to Love and her greatest teacher.

In the face of Death, it is possible to close our hearts, constrict the contours of identity and defend the small self, out of that terror of not-being. And yet, death teaches us to treasure each moment, value each breath and come into a heightened awareness of the preciousness of this moment of love.

In the awareness of Death, the fullness of love blossoms. We surrender all that we are. It is a kind of ego-death. We are consumed by the passion of loving. We die to the past, invite in the unknowable Mystery of Love, open to the possibility of ego-annihilation, knowing that Love is as strong or stronger than any ambition, idea, conception or self-image.

To view context from Shir HaShirim through the Love at the Center project, click Shir HaShirm (Nitzavim).

To hear the chant, use the audio player. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Love/Death PDF.

Chants, Scripture

After the Fire

V’achar ha’aysh, Kol D’mama Dakah
Hebrew for After the fire
And after the fire, a soft murmuring sound (1st Kings 19:12)

With the prophet Elijah we enter the storm. Through the wind, and the earthquake and the fire, we journey and are awakened to full aliveness. We are broken open. And then, in the silence we listen.

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click After the Fire PDF. For the musical notation, click After the Fire notation PDF.