Category Archives: Scripture

Surrendering the Small Self: Kach-na

10/07/2017 Alia Meira

Kach-na et-nafshi mimeni

Take my soul (nefesh) from me. (Jonah 4:3)

On the afternoon of Yom Kippur, we read the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet who ran from his calling because he didn’t want the people of Nineva to repent and be forgiven. When, after a tumultuous storm and a forced retreat inside the belly of a whale, he finally prophesied to the people of Nineva; they did indeed repent and God forgave them. Jonah was quite unhappy about all this and his suffering that was caused by attachment to small mind/small self, was unbearable. Jonah says “take my soul from me because I would rather die than live.”

The word for “soul” that he uses is “nefesh,” which, in our tradition refers to the lowest level of soul, the part of us that is completely attached to our separate identity, and immersed in the dualism of materiality.

This is a powerful and potentially dangerous practice of surrender of the small self. When we say to God, “Take my soul from me,” we want to be very clear just what we are surrendering. Before you begin chanting, identify your pettiness, the small-minded habits, the old un-conscious reactive and repetitive patterns that you are ready to release. Lay them on the altar of the chant. Offer up the small self. Open to the Big Self.

(Don’t chant this while driving or using heavy machinery or spacing out. It is powerful!)

To hear the chant, 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 Surrendering the Small Self PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Turn, Return, and Be Turned: Hashiveynu

08/04/2017 Alia Meira

Hashiveynu Yah elecha v’nashuva

Now let us turn, return and be turned (3X)
To the One! (Lamentations 5:21)

With this practice, we explore three aspects of T’shuvah. How do we turn away from that which is draining us of Life-force, and turn towards that which Life-giving? How do we return to a sense of belonging, authenticity and connection to the whole of Creation? How do we surrender to the Great Mystery that is holding us, transforming us and loving us unconditionally?

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

Turn, Return, and Be Turned

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Turn, Return, and BeTurned PDF.

Chants, Liturgy, Scripture

Keep the Faith: Raba Emunatecha

11/17/2016 Alia Meira

Raba Emunatecha

How great is Your Faithfulness. (Morning liturgy, Lamentations 3:23)

This practice came to me during a time of turmoil in the world. I was searching for a practice that might acknowledge my grief yet keep me from despair. I needed a practice that would connect me to resources of strength and resilience as I walked through the shadows of fear, rage and devastation. The Book of Lamentations describes a time like this, and one particular phrase from that painful text found its way into the light of our morning liturgy.

God’s faithfulness comes to me as a glimpse of the widest, longest perspective. In that glimpse I am calmed; I relax my frantic grip; I stop trying to figure it out; I begin to trust the flow of inexorable change. As God sees me, I surrender to that faithful gaze. This Divine faith in me, is what grows my own fragile faith. When I am known, seen and loved completely through this Divine faith, I can risk and dare to rise to the challenge of loving this world with all that I am and everything I’ve got.

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

Keep the Faith

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Keep the Faith PDF.

Chants, Scripture

Rise Up, Oh Well: Ali v’er

07/20/2016 Alia Meira

Ali v’er ehnu-lah

Rise up, Oh Well,
Chant Her up. (Bamidbar 21:17)

After the prophet Miriam dies, the people are thirsty. She represents our connection to the deep source of Divine Feminine Flow. When we are cut off from that flow, we become profoundly irritable. Our thirst for Shechinah manifests as bitter complaint, negativity and the death of joy. And then we call to the well, the well of living waters that is hidden within.

This is a practice of calling, chanting up the flow of living waters that has been stopped up, and is now ready to rise up and nurture the world.

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.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Rise Up, Oh Well PDF.

Chants, Liturgy, Scripture

Entering in to the Larger Goodness: Mah Tovu

05/15/2016 Alia Meira

Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, mish’k’notecha Yisra’eyl.
Va’ani b’rov chas’d’cha, avo betecha.
Mah Tovu Hebrew
How good are your tents, Jacob;
your Divine dwelling places, Israel. (Numbers 24:5)
By your grace, I will enter your house. (Psalm 5:8)

There is a larger Goodness that holds all of the good and the bad, a Unity that holds within it all of the duality. When we enter into that larger Goodness, we can get enough perspective to be able to bless the process of transformation that is in play at this very moment. We are in the process of transforming our Jacob (the heel who is always trying to make a deal with Reality) into Israel (the one who encounters Reality directly). And we are in the process of transforming our plain old tent (body and material existence) into a Mishkan (a place where the Divine Spirit is invited to dwell). Trusting in this process of transformation, we can enter fully into God-consciousness, which can only be attained through Grace.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro teaches that “Grace is God’s unlimited, unconditional, unconditioned, and all-inclusive love for all Creation.” And yes, that’s exactly what opens the door to The Larger Goodness.

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.