Rabbi Shefa Gold

Category: Psalms

  • Balancing Will and Surrender: Ozi v’Zimrat Yah

    Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah
    Ozi v'Zimrat Yah Hebrew text
    My Strength (balanced) with the Song of God will be my salvation (Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2)
    [Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 118 or Exodus 15 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

    In this practice I find and express my strength, my will, my effort and desire when I chant “Ozi.” When I chant “v’zimrat Yah,” I open and surrender to the God-song and let it be sung through me. Then in the last phrase, “Vayahi li lishuah,” I balance those two aspects of my practice.

    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 Balancing Will and Surrender PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 245.

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


  • Preparation for Healing: Atah Ozi

    Atah Ozi
    Atah Chayai
    Atah Ori
    Atah L’fanai
    Preparation for Healing Hebrew text
    You are my Strength
    You are my Life
    You are my Light
    Ever before me. (inspired by Psalm 27)
    [Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 27 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

    In the practice of healing we leave the “small-mind” place of fear and separation, and enter into the “big mind” place of infinite possibility, and gratefulness for the blessing that is already flowing. We take the journey from “small-mind” to “big mind” by addressing God as YOU. We must become calm enough and spacious enough to receive God’s presence in response to our invocation. When we are filled with that presence, then we can open to the healing power that flows through us.

    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 Preparation for Healing PDF. For the musical notation, click Preparation for Healing notation PDF.

    The musical notation is also on page 282 of The Magic of Hebrew Chant, which is available from the Books page.
    The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.


  • Aging and Saging: Od y’nuvun

    Od y’nuvun b’sayva
    D’shaynim v’rananim y’hi’yu
    Od Y'nuvun Hebrew text
    They will be fruitful, even in old age
    They will be juicy and luxuriant. (Psalm 92:15)
    [Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 92 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

    I wrote this double-round chant in honor of Reb Zalman Shachter-Shalomi z”l and in honor of his 80th birthday. The intention that I bring to this double-round chant is to get in touch with the kind of fruitfulness, luxuriance and juiciness that emerges from my depths after many years of experience. This is a fruitfulness of wisdom and subtlety and it’s not always obvious if you’re only attuned to the surface of things. Even as our outer skin dries and wrinkles, there is an inner softness that can be cultivated from years of rubbing up against the Mystery. Even as outer sight dims and hearing falters, there are inner senses that can become fine-tuned as we age.

    As I chant these words, I bless the elders who have been models of aging and saging for me as they continue to blossom, burgeon and flourish in full-hearted glory.

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

    NOTE: Re-recorded in November, 2024.

    To download the PDF file for this chant, click Aging and Saging PDF. For the musical notation, click Aging and Saging notation PDF.

  • Preparation for Re-connecting: Chaneyni Yah

    Chaneyni Yah ki oomlal ani
    Preparation for Re-connecting Hebrew text
    Grace me, Yah, for I am withered [disconnected]. (Psalm 6:3)
    [Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 6 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

    In order to connect with God, our Source, we have to acknowledge how disconnected we sometimes get. That disconnection manifests as weariness, irritability, loneliness, emptiness, or a feeling of being scattered or lost.

    Reconnecting requires that we acknowledge the price of that disconnection and then open in yearning and hopefulness to the mystery of God’s Grace.

    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 Preparation for Re-connecting PDF. For the musical notation, click Preparation for Reconnecting notation PDF.

    The musical notation is also on page 267 of The Magic of Hebrew Chant, which is available from the Books page.
    The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.


  • Singing God’s Love: Chasdei Adonai

    Chasdei Adonai olam ashira
    Singing God's Love Hebrew text
    I will sing forth from the hidden infinite, the loving-kindnesses of God. (Psalm 89:2)
    [Click (or tap) to see the entire Psalm 89 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985).]

    Chant is the practice of calling forth hidden truths and bringing them into awareness and manifestation through voice and intention. I don’t sing about those truths… I sing those truths into being. With the power of my voice and the wholeheartedness of my intention, I call forth the beauty that is hidden within existence. As that beauty sings itself through me, I open myself as a channel, as a vessel, as a vehicle for the awareness of God’s presence in the world.

    The word Olam means the infinite both in Time and Space. And it also means the Hidden or Concealed. The power of our Song reaches through the cracks of Time and Space and calls forth the hidden dimension of the Infinite, which has been waiting all along. The Song opens our eyes to the manifestations of God’s Love that surround us — evidence of the Infinite pouring itself into and throughout our finite world.

    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 Singing God’s Love PDF. For the musical notation, click Singing God’s Love notation PDF.

    The musical notation is also on page 281 of The Magic of Hebrew Chant, which is available from the Books page.
    The Magic of Hebrew Chant ©2013 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.