L’yerushalayim Ircha B’rachamim Tashuv

To Jerusalem Your city with compassion You will return.
(from the Daily Amida)

I composed this chant in preparation for a trip to Israel. I use this sacred phrase to open me to the call of Pilgrimage.

Richard Niebuhr (quoted in The Art Of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau p.14) says, “Pilgrims are persons in motion, passing through territories not their own, seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit’s compass points the way.”

Every pilgrimage is a journey inward, even if we travel clear across the world. We can use this chant, which is a “double round,” to prepare ourselves for pilgrimage, for journeying inward towards the Center of Awareness.

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

• Pilgrimage Practice 1  
• Pilgrimage Practice 2  
• Pilgrimage Practice Mix  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Pilgrimage Practice PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 242.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

Let the flame be kindled within me,
Let Your Love burn bright,
I hunger for Your Light,
I hunger for Your Light.

When I light the menorah, I chant these words into the flames and then visualize the fire being kindled in my Inner Temple. There I do the work of clearing and cleaning and acknowledging whatever desecration has occurred within my energy-body, my Temple. I visualize the flame growing bright inside my Temple to re-dedicate my energy towards Holiness.

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

• Chanukah Chant  

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 241.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

Ana b’choach gedulat y’mincha Tatir Tz’rurah

Please, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles.
(Siddur)

This is the first line of a magical prayer ascribed to Rabbi Nechuniah ben Hakanah. The whole prayer contains 42 words, the initials of which comprise the secret unpronounceable 42 letter name of God.

With this practice we call on that aspect of God that moves through obstacles, dissolves resistance and opens the way forward for us.

Begin by asking, “What is the obstacle (inner or outer) that is getting in my way?” Lay that obstacle lovingly on the altar of the chant. As you chant, allow the power of God’s right hand to move through you forcefully opening the way ahead and delicately untying the tangles within you.

I composed this melody while a dear friend was undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery, praying that the tangles in his heart be cleared.

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

• Clearing The Way  

For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 231.

The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.