Category Archives: Chants

Sim Shalom Blessing

09/05/2021 Alia Meira

Sim Shalom, tovah u’vracha, chayn, vachesed, v’rachamim

Grant us peace, goodness, grace, love and compassion! (Liturgy)

This prayer was the ancient response of the congregation to the Priestly Blessing during the time of the Second Temple when the Kohanim did not pause between each of the three parts, as in synagogue worship.

At the end of the Amida (the standing silent prayer), we receive the blessing of our prayerful state, take those blessings in deeply, and begin to send them out to the world, sharing the bounty with all who are in need. We thus become channels for peace, goodness, grace, love and compassion.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Sim Shalom PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 237.

Chants, Scripture

Lament

08/09/2021 Alia Meira

Eicha yashva vadad

How she sits alone! (Lamentations 1:1)

How my heart has been broken by the cruelty of this world
How my heart has been broken by the beauty of this world
Eicha yashva vadad

On the 9th of Av, the day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple, we let our hearts break, and journey through that fissure into love. The Holy Ari teaches that on the afternoon of Tishab’Av, the Messiah is born. Out of the ashes of our grief, Messianic consciousness emerges to inspire us onward to wholeness.

I composed this chant for a Tishab’Av ritual. Between every repetition, each one in the sacred circle cried out a lament. We named our heartbreaks, both personal and communal: Suffering, inequality, cynicism, meanness, violence, poverty, injustice, abuse, apathy, hatred…

And then as the High Priest I dedicated it all, saying,
“And yet…. ALL OF THIS sends me
To kindness
To connection
To Compassion
and to the knowing of the preciousness of ALL LIFE.”

To hear 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 Lament PDF. For the musical notation, click Lament notation PDF.

Chants, Shir HaShirim

Come, My Beloved: L’cha Dodi

07/05/2021 Alia Meira

L’cha dodi, naytzeh HaSadeh

Come, my beloved, let us go out to the field. (Song of Songs 7:12)

These are words that invite us into Shabbat Consciousness, a place of spacious, relaxed receptive presence. It is only in that wide open field, that love can reveal herself, express her full beauty , flourish, thrive and blossom into her mature and powerful form.

In responding to this invitation, I find my purpose, because finally, I am in a place where my love can be received. There I will give you my love; there I will give you my all.

By stepping into Shabbat Consciousness, I am letting go of my attachments to judgment, opinions, control, fixed identity and all the rigid complications of my struggle. I am stepping into trust, unknowing and endless possibility.

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

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

Come, My Beloved

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Come, My Beloved PDF.

Chants, Shir HaShirim

Timing: Mah Ta’iru

06/30/2021 Alia Meira

Mah ta’iru u’mah t’or’ru et-ha’ahavah ad she’techpatz

(Daughters of Jerusalem swear to me)
That you will not awaken love until it is ripe. (Song of Songs 8:4)

Love is a mysterious and powerful force of transformation. To really understand this power is to be humbled and sent to our keenest discernments. We turn to our companions (the Daughters of Jerusalem) to join us in this process of sensitive discernment. In that process, I meet my impatience, and my attachments. I am challenged to let go of my desire for security, affection and control. I am challenged to trust the process of love unfolding, ripening in its time.

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

To hear 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 Timing PDF. For the musical notation, click Timing notation PDF.

Chants, Shir HaShirim

A City of Peace: Az hayiti

06/22/2021 Alia Meira

Az hayiti v’aynav k’motzayt shalom

But for my lover, I will be
A city of Peace. (Song of Songs 8:10)

Literally, “Then I will be in his eyes, one who has found peace.” Through our practice and by steadfastly walking the path of love, I become a refuge for others, a place of calm in the storm. For the sake of Love, I dismantle the fortifications of ego, and welcome the Beloved into my center, which then becomes a radiant core. In shining the light of the Beloved, I will manifest a kind of strength, radiance and integrity that no longer requires defenses.

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

To hear 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 A City of Peace PDF. For the musical notation, click City of Peace notation PDF.