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[A 5th Sabbath in a month is always a bonus and so it is with July 2017. For this liturgy, we borrow prayers from GATES OF REPENTANCE, The New Union Prayerbook for the Days of Awe. This is a book I found in the Burlingame Public Library (Burlingame, CA, USA) discarded in the “used” or “second hand” table. The price? Priceless for a ‘treasure find’ though I paid a measly $2 for it. We occasionally will feature selections from it in our year-round Sinaite’s liturgy.—Admin1.]
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Kindle the Sabbath Lights
We praise You, Eternal God, Ruler of the universe,
who makes light and creates darkness,
who ordains peace and fashions all things.
To You the stars of morning sing,
From You their bright radiance must spring.
And steadfast in their vigils, day and night,
Your angels, flooded with fervor, ring
Your praise; they teach the holy ones to bring
Into Your house the breath of early light.
With compassion You give light to the earth and all who dwell there,
with goodness You renew the work of creation continually, day by day.
How manifold are Your works, O God;
in wisdom You have made them all;
the earth in its fullness is Yours.
Beyond our praise is the work of Your hands;
beyond expression, the wonder of Your light.
Blessed is the Eternal One, the Maker of light.
Great is Your love for us, Eternal God,
and deep Your compassion.
Our Creator and Ruler,
our ancestors trusted in You,
and You taught them the laws of life;
be gracious now to us and teach us.
Have compassion upon us, O Source of mercy,
and guide us to know and understand,
to learn and teach, to observe and uphold
with love all the teachings of Your Torah.
Enlighten us with Your Teaching,
help us to hold fast to Your Mitzvot,
and unite our hearts to love and revere Your Name.
Then we shall never be shamed,
for we shall put our trust in You,
the great, holy, and awesome One.
We shall rejoice and be glad in Your salvation,
for You, O God, are the Author of many deliverances.
In love You have chosen us and drawn us near
to serve You in faithfulness and to proclaim Your unity.
Blessed are You, O God: You have chosen Your people Israel in love.
[And likewise we, who are not chosen like Israel,
who belong to the Gentiles of the Nations,
represented in the “mixed multitude” at Sinai,
who have chosen You in love,
as our Lord and Master,
and responded to your commands with “yes, we will obey!”
O YHWH, God of Israel, ]
Blessed is Your glorious majesty forever and ever!
You shall love your Eternal God with all your mind,
with all your strength, with all your being.
Set these words, which I command you this day,
upon your heart.
Teach them faithfully to your children;
speak of them in your home and on your way,
when you lie down and when you rise up.
Bind them as a sign upon your hand;
let them be symbols before your eyes;
inscribe them on the doorposts of your house,
and on your gates.
Be mindful of all My Mitzvot, and do them:
so shall you consecrate yourselves to your God.
I am your Eternal God who led you out of Egypt
to be your God; I, am your Eternal God.
[Deuteronomy 6:5]
BLESSINGS
The Miracles of Daily Life
Blessed is the Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe,
who has implanted mind and instinct within every living being;
who removes sleep from the eyes, slumber from the eyelids;
who opens the eyes of the blind;
whose power lifts up the fallen;
who gives strength to the weary;
who makes firm each person’s steps;
who provides clothes for the naked;
who has made me to be free;
who brings freedom to the captive.
For the Body
Blessed is the Eternal God, Creator of the universe,
who has made our bodies with wisdom,
combining veins, arteries, and vital organs
in a finely balanced system.
Wondrous Fashioner and Sustainer of life,
Source of our health and our strength,
we give You thanks and praise.
For the Soul
The soul that You have given me, O God, is pure!
You have created it. You have formed it.
You have breathed it into me, and within me You sustain it. So long as I have breath, therefore,
I will give thanks to You, my God and the God of all ages,
Source of all creation, loving Guide of every human spirit.
Blessed is the Eternal One,
in whose hands are the souls of all the living
and the spirits of all flesh.
Our Smallness and Our Greatness
Sovereign of all the worlds,
not in reliance upon the righteousness of our deeds
do we place our longings before You;
we look instead to Your abundant mercy.
For what are we?
What is our life, and what our faithfulness?
What is our goodness, and what our vaunted strength?
What can we say in Your presence,
our God and God of all ages?
Are not all the conquerors as nothing before You,
and those of renown as they had not been,
the learned as if they had no knowledge,
and the wise as if without understanding?
Many of our works are in vain,
and our days pass away like a shadow.
Our life would be altogether vanity,
were it not for the soul which, fashioned in Your own image,
gives us assurance of our higher destiny
and imparts to our fleeting days an abiding value.
Despite all our frailty, we are Your people,
bound to Your covenant, and called to Your service. Therefore we thank You and bless You,
and proclaim the holiness of Your name.
These are obligations without measure;
their fruit we eat now, their essence remains for us in the life to come:
To honor father and mother;
to perform acts of love and kindness;
to attend the house of study daily;
to welcome the stranger;
to visit the sick;
to rejoice with bride and groom;
to console the bereaved;
to pray with sincerity;
to make peace when there is strife.
But the study of Torah is equal to them all.
Eternal our God,
make the words of Your Torah sweet to us,
and to the House of Israel, Your people,
that we and our children may be lovers of Your name
and students of Your Torah for its own sake.
Blessed are You, the Eternal One, Teacher of Torah to Israel [and to the nations].
Image from www.artelstudio.com
Image from www.etz-hayim.com
HAVDALAH
The day is fading; the sun is setting;
the silence and peace of night descend upon the earth.
Give rest now, O Author of peace, to our troubled hearts;
lift up the spirit oppressed by guilt.
Turn, O Loved One, to Your children:
turn to every broken heart and every burdened soul.
Let us at this hour be sure of Your forgiveness.
From Your house, O God,
we are about to return to our homes.
Enter them with us,
that they may become Your sanctuaries,
dwelling-places of Your spirit.
Then will our home stand firm against the storms of life,
to be a shelter for all that is good,
and a refuge from evil.
And still another dwelling-place have You destined for us, O Source of life,
an eternal home to which we shall go when our brief day on earth has passed.
Open for us then the gates of everlasting peace,
and keep alive in those who follow us the truths,
the visions, and the hopes we have struggled to make real.
This twilight hour reminds us also of the day when,
if we are faithful to our mission,
Your light will arise over all the world,
and Israel’s spiritual descendants will be as numerous as the stars of heavens.
Teach our people to recognize the meaning of our history and the challenge of our destiny, to proclaim to all Your children the truth of Israel’s message:
One humanity on earth
even as there is One God in heaven.
You alone know when this great hope shall be fulfilled.
But the day will surely come,
even as none of Your words returns fruitless,
without having accomplished Your purpose.
Then joy will thrill all hearts,
and from one end of the earth to the other will ring the exultant cry:
‘Hear, O Israel, hear, all creation:
The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One!’
Your house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples; all nations shall flock to it and exclaim in triumphant song:
‘Lift up your heads, O gates!
Lift yourselves up, O ancient doors!
Let the God of glory enter.
Who is the Sovereign of glory?
The God of all being is the Sovereign of glory!’
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Shabbat Shalom from the
Sinai 6000 Core Community!
