Seudah

You who love my soul
compassion's gentle source,
Take my disposition shape it to Your will.
Like a darting deer I will flee to You.
Before Your glorious Presence
Humbly I do bow.
Let Your sweet love
Delight me with its thrill,
Because no other dainty
Will my hunger still.

How splendid is Your light
Which worlds do reflect!
My soul is worn from craving
For Your love's delight.
Please, good God, do heal her
And show to her Your face,
So my soul can see You
And bathe in Your grace.
There she will find strength
And healing in this sight.
Her joy will be complete then
Eternal her delight.

What pity stirs in You
Since days of old, my God!
Be kind to me Your own child
Begotten by Your love.
For long and longing hours
I yearned for Your embrace
To see my light in Your light
Basking in Your grace.
My heart's desire is
to harmonize with Yours
Do not conceal Your pity
Hide not that light of Yours.

Help, my Lover, spread Your canopy of peace.
Enfold all human beings Give all pain surcease.
Your presence on this earth plane
Do make known to us
And we shall respond then
With song and with dance.
Rush, my love, be quick,
The time for love is now,
Let Your gentle favor Grace us as of old...

Source of Mercy With loving strength
untie our tangles.
Your chanting folk raise high, make pure,
accept our song.
Like Your own eye Lord keep us safe,
Who union seek with You.
Cleanse and bless us, Infuse us ever
With loving care.
Gracious source Of holy power!
Do guide your folk.
Sublime and holy One, Do turn to us,
Of holy chant.
Receive our prayer, Do hear our cry,
Who secrets knows.
Through time and space Your glory shines.
Majestic One


Yom Zeh L-Yisra’el
Orah V-simcha:
Shabbat Menuchah
by Rabbi Yitzchak Luria

This version works best when sung to a Flamenco tune and the English version is done simultaneouly with the Hebrew.

_
YOM SEH L-YISR’AEL ORAH--
V’SHIMCHAH SHABBAT MENUCHAH
Your gift
to those who strive with You
is joy and light
Shabbat Menucha

YOM SEH L-YISR’AEL ORAH--
V’SHIMCHAH SHABBAT MENUCHAH

_
Certain of Your holy ways
You revealed to us at Sinai
Shabbat and other holy days
we are to keep as You commanded
You send your healing rays
accept our human ways
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Charm is Shabbat for the heart
for the poor and broken people
if all week we were depressed
additional souls are ours on Shabbat
to help our anxious moods
breathe a relaxing sigh
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Consecrated bride You blessed
all other days gave her their blessing
in the sixth and final phase
You finished global creation
There found the sorrowing
calm and security
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Let go of every form of toil
You in Your kindness have commanded
regal auras shine from us
when we keep Shabbat as is wanted
I offer holy gifts
a fragrant sacrifice
Shabbat Menuchah

_
What songs of love could I perform
with rhythm and harmony and music
to please your presence holy God?
My soul delights in her surrender
Do keep that promise God
to your beloved folk
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Receive my worship blessed God
as if it was my life I offered
This restful, blissful Shabbat day
with ample joy and sweet elation
we feel secure and loved
in Your protection God
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Your salvation do we trust
Yah God most powerful and mighty
David’s heirs - do send them soon
to those who do transcend convention
Let Freedom be proclaimed
and with it space that’s safe
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Awesome God who is most High
do look for us and give an answer
redeem this troubled planet soon
be kind and manifest Your caring
revive our trust in You
with light and blissfulness
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Cherish and Renew Your house
enough the years it was in shambles
With Your compassion Gentle God
console the grieving ones in sorrow
who puts her grief aside
to sing You Shabbat songs
Shabbat Menuchah

_
Zealous to treasure this holy day
keep us well in your rememberance
protect and guard us wondrous God
This day and every other day
Beloved do respond
and grant deliverance
Shabbat Menuchah
_ __
_ _Could celebration’s welcome song
be heard by Israel and her neighbors
When that vast vision is fulfilled
and all the world is safe from terror
Our light has dawned this day
and shines in every way
Shabbat Menuchah



YAH RIBON OLAM
a current rendition in consultation
with the spirit of Rabbi Israel al Najara L"Z

YAH RIBON OLAM V'`OLMAIA
ANT HU MALKO MELEKH MALKHAIA
OVAD G`'VURTEKH V'`TIM'HAHYA
SH`'FAR QODOMOKH L'HAHVAYA
h
Yah! Ribon Olam - the countless worlds' Source
All the realms of life they do belong to You
wondrous are the works of Your potent force!
Delightful it is for us that we worship You!
a
Serenades we offer You at dusk and at dawn
To You Holy God I render them and sing
You dwell in heart of friend,
in Seraph and in fawn
in lilies, in cedars tall and in doves on wing!
r
Raiser of the meek and humbler of proud
So varied are Your creatures –
so vast is their amount
If thousands and thousands of years
thousand of poets would shout?
The glory that's Yours alone
they could never recount
t
All honor to You God,
All splendor yours and might!
Redeem us Holy God,
Bring us home to our place
Help us we are your people,
take note now of our plight
Let all of us whom You have made
delight in joy of your grace.

k
Let Your glory return to the all holy shrine
To Jerusalem, the holy,
that to all of us belongs
Te place where all the peoples
attain to joys divine
We"ll sing to You, hymns of love
and anthems in chorus and songs.


Yequm Purqan


From Heaven let our freedom flow
favor Mercy and kindness show
ample life years, ample living
with G-d’s helpful blessing glow

Generations well and strong
Generations that belong
To God’s Mitzvot and the Torah
Engaging in them all our life long.

Teachers Rabbis Havurot
learning Torah - polyglot
Heads of Yeshivot, magistrates
and their students who are Torah gates

Any one who spends their time
even studying just one line
May G-d’s blessings fill their life
and save them all from war and strife.


AN’IM Z’MIROT –
A HYMN OF GLORY

I chant to please You,
I weave You dear songs
For You my soul yearns,
For You she longs.

Nestled in Your palm
her love for You grows
She will not rest
until it’s You she knows!
I look for words to speak Your praises
my heart to You its yearning raises.

Therefore I will speak
the virtues of Your Fame
And garland with excellence
the honor of Your Name.

Though I do not see You,
still I draw Your Face
Portray Your features, name Your Place.

Your prophets spoke,
Your servants darkly knew
In symbols and myths
they referred to You.

When describing your pow’r
and declaring Your care
Of Your awesome compassion
they made us aware.

Yet it is not Your Being
that they could describe
Only the way
Your compassion touches our life.

Countless their visions
of Your mysterious feats
In all their forms Your ONEness meets.

They saw you Young,
they saw You Old
They saw You patient,
They saw You bold.

Ancient of Days Eternally Just
Each moment our Helper
in whom we trust.

Wearing Your helmet
as hero to help us
Your strong arm,
Your right hand to save us.

Your hair drenched with light drops,
all shining with brilliance.
Your Darkness is shelter,
Your love in all radiance.

How fair is Your kindness,
how splendid Your sight
May our song rise to crown You
with endearing delight

A jewel all golden
Your image sends rays
with t’fillin on forehead
we follow Your ways.

With grace and honor,
all splendid in glory
Your people sing loudly
your triumphal story

In words of young lovers
they gaze at your visage
the letters of Torah in black
hold Your message.

Justice Your mantle
in balance with kindness
This gives You pleasure
delight and sublimeness.

May we deserve to be scepter
in Your regal hand
A crimson royal cape,
we Your loyal band.

The burdened sufferers ,
You sustained them with might
How precious You held them,
so dear to Your sight.

Your glory my pride is,
my delight for Your care
So close You are,
to answer my pray’r.

Your shining face illumines my days
I am awed by the magic
revealed in Your ways.

To Moshe You showed
Your Head -T’fillin’s knot
Your image was clear
in his mind and his thought.

Though humble Your folk,
they are Your proud fame
You are enthroned on their praises,
they honor Your Name.

Truth is Your Word ,
enduring its worth
From parent to child
its message flows forth.

I cannot sing your praises complete ,
May those that I do sing
and reach You be sweet.

Like perfume and incense
may my singing rise high
A paean to crown You,
a poor lover’s sigh.

My poor song devoid is of all artifice
still this loving song
is my best sacrifice.

My blessings are lifting
to rise to new heights,
To make fertile the birth
of the Tzaddik with might.

And with with these blessings,
these love words so fond.
With a nod of Your head,
I ask You :Respond.

Regard please these poor words
that I blush to recite
My soul’s ardent longing
to give You delight.


Adon Olam
You were cosmic Lord Adonay Malakh
Before there even was a world
Then Your will all things did make
Adonay Melekh we call you now.

Once when all things will cease to be
Adonay Yimlokh still true will be
You were, You are, eternally
Resplendent to infinity.

You alone, there are not two
To join as friends, as lovers do.
Beginningless and without end
You keep all one by plan and strength.

You are my G-d, Redeemer,
Life Protecting me in war, in strife.
My holy haven and my flag
My cup of health for what I lack.
Into Your hand I trust my breath
You breathe in me by night by day



A REACHING UP SONG

We dream
How God will bring us back to Zion.
Then shall we laugh again.
Then shall we sing again.
Then shall it be said abroad:
“How great it is!
Look at what God has done for them!
If God had done the same for us,
We too would be glad.”

O God! Why don’t You bring us back?
• As you bring back water
To the dried-up Negev streams?

Yes we will trust. We sowed with tears
We will reap with song.

Those who go, casting out seeds,
Sometime feel like weeping.
Yet on they go, always trusting,
That they shall come back singing,
Bearing in the harvest sheaves.

(At Wedding Feast include)

Remove all pain, all wrath take wing
Then even ones who are mute will sing
Guide us aright and far from sin
As we join in praising Aaron’s kin

INVITATION AND CONSENT

Leader:
Havey-rai n‘va-reyekh.
Friends, let us give praise.

Response:
Y’hi sheym Adonai m‘vorakh mey-ata v’ad olam.
May God’s name be praised, now and forever

Leader:
Y’hi sheym Adonay m’vorakh mey-ala v’ad olam.
Bir’shut havey-rai, n‘vareykh Eloheynu
she-akhalnu mi-shelo.

May God’s name be praised, now and forever.
With your consent, friends, let us praise God,
of whose food we have partaken.

Response:
Barukh Eloheynu she-akhalnu mi-shelo uv‘tuvo
hayinu.

Praised be our God of whose abundance we have
partaken and by whose goodness we live.

Leader:
Barukh Eloheynu she-akhalnu mi-shelo uv‘tuvo
hayinu.

Praised be our god of whose abundance we have
partaken and by whose goodness we live.

Together:
Barukh hu u-va-rukh sh’mo.
Praised be God, and praised be God’s name.


THANKS FOR THE FOOD AND ITS NOURISHMENT

Praise, yes, praise is Yours, 0 God,
Ruler of all time and space,
Who every day invites the world
To the feast of love, goodness and compassion:

You feed us--and we earned it not;
You sustain us—and we deserved it not;

You so abundantly overwhelm us with
Your Goodness.
Food you provide for all Your creatures
Whom You love so abundantly.

And because you are so good to us,
We have never lacked sustenance in the past
And we believe that we will never lack food
In the future.

This You do for Your own repute
That You may be known as:
The one who sustains,
The One who supports,
The one who provides food for each
creature’s needs.

For Your feast is prepared for all,
And Your table is set for all;
You know well what each one needs,
For You did create all.

Therefore do we praise and. thank You,
the One who nourishes all.

THANKS FOR THE EXODUS,
THE TORAH, THE HOLY LAND--
AND FOR THE JOY OF EATING

We thank You, Adonai our God, because You settled
our ancestors in a land desirable and good and wide.

You removed us, Adonai our God, from the straits
and narrow places of Egypt, and freed us from being
at home in servitude.

We thank You for the promise sealed in our flesh,
For the Torah teaching which You impart to us,
And for the limits of conduct which
You made us know;
For life,
for beauty,
for love,
with which You are so generous.

And we thank You for the joy of eating which
You grant us while You nourish us, everyday,
every moment.


THANKS FOR THE GOOD EARTH AND HER PRODUCE

For all this, Our God,
We worship and thank YOU,
Whose name is praised
By ever new expressions of life.

We do this to fulfill Your command which states:
“Eat Your fill praising Adonai your God
for the earthy goodness which the Almighty
so freely gave to you.”

Therefore we say:
Praise to You 0 God
for the earth and for its food.


AS A MOTHER WOMBS HER CHILDREN IN MERCY

Have pity, 0 God, on
Israel Your people
Jerusalem Your city;
Zion Your glory’s shrine
And the heir to David’s throne.

And pity the Holy House
The Temple Of Grandeur
Where it was so easy
To call upon You.
Our God, Source of our being,
Mother, Father, Provider, Sustainer,
You nourish and support us,
Yet still allow us our independence.

O God, keep us free from needs that enslave us.
Permit us not to depend on gifts, handouts or loans.
For even when others offer help, what they give is
little and the indignity is great.

But may we only rely
On Your full, broadly open hand,
So we never lose self-respect,
Nor suffer shame or disgrace.


WHEN WE ALSO GIVE THANKS
FOR THE SABBATH’S REST

In commanding us You share your will with us.
In commanding us You impart in us the strength
to fulfill the commandment.
We thank You for the commandment of the seventh day
the great Shabbat, the holy Shabbat, this Shabbat.
A great day it is, holy it is, a day in which we
live Your presence.
We rest on it; we relax on it, we enjoy its peace;
Loving You all the more for the limits You set
on our actions by Your will.
On this day of rest--may there be no pain,
no worry, no anguish, stress or sighing.
On this Sabbath day open our eyes to the vision
of the consolation of Zion, and the upbuilding
of Jerusalem, Your holy city.
For you are at liberty to freely give liberation
and consolation.


WE REMEMBER OTHERS AS
WE REMEMBER JERUSALEM

We ate and drank
Yet we forget not that
there is exile, destruction,
famine, fear and want.
Please, forget us not,
But in remembering us,
Remember all in want.
Make this world
A place of holiness,
Now in our lifetime,
As you rebuild Jerusalem
Praised are you, 0 God,
Who in building up mercy
Builds Jerusalem.
Amen—do as we believe!
WHEN WE CELEBRATE
HOLY SEASONS

Our God and God of our ancestors,
May this prayer we offer to You,

Rise and come and reach You,
Be noted and accepted and
Heard by You;
Be remembered and acted upon:

As You become aware of us
As You remember us.

You remembered our parents,
You will remember the Mashiach
David’s son,
You are mindful of Jerusalem
Your city,
You are mindful of Israel
Your people.

Allow them all to find their way
To goodness, to grace, to kindness,
to mercy, to life, and to peace.

On this:

New Moon Day
Pesach
Sukkot
Shemini Atzeret
Shavuot
Rosh Hashana

Think well of this day
Be mindful on it for our blessing
Grant us the good life on it.

And as concerns such matters as
salvation and mercy
Pity us, be kind, save us, be gentle,
For our eyes look to You--
Divine, Majestic One
Yet also Kind and Gentle.

WE THANK YOU FOR ALL
THAT YOU ARE TO US

Praise, yea praise to You, 0 God,
Source of our being
Merciful Mother
Mighty Father
Powerful Ruler
Redeeming Creator
Holy Artist,
Jacob’s Sanctifier,
Guiding Shepherd,
Israel’s Shepherd,
Sovereign who is good to all.

In Your goodness you do not discriminate,
Doing good day by day according to that day’s
needs.

So You did act out of goodness in the past,
And so will You deal with us in the future.

You give of Your Self,
You gave of your Self,
You will give of Your Self
Freely and completely
kindly and mercifully
generously and abundantly
to save us,
to prosper us,
to bless us,
to redeem us
to console us
to sustain and support us—

in mercy, life and in goodness,
while not diminishing
the good You hold in store for us for eternity.





WE PRAY FOR THE MESSIANIC AGE AND
TIMES OF PEACE

Compassionate One!
Help us
so that we may be worthy of being alive
when Mashiach finally arrives.
Grant strength and loving kindness to Mashiach,
to David’s descendants,
to the very ends of time.

0 God!
We know that You can make peace on high:
That is not too difficult.
Grant peace to us and to all Israel:
That is more difficult:
Grant us peace!


INVOCATION FOR THE FUTURE




Harahaman Hu

Kind-hearted One!
Rule over us always.

Caring One!
Be involved wiih our heaven
and on our earth.

Feeling One!
You who are praised from one
generation to the next,
Take pride in us always.
May our lives honor You
in this world and in the next.

Merciful One!
Grant us an honorable livelihood.

Warm-hearted One!
Break the restraints that make
us strangers. Lead us home with dignity.

Generous One!
Send abundant blessing to this
home and to this table.

One who grants
Pleasant Surprises
Send Elijah the prophet--of
blessed memory--
To bring good news of liberation
and consolation.

Compassionate One!
Bless and protect all of us,
our loved ones and our families,
our endeavors and our possessions.
May we all be blessed
like Abraham--with everything
like Sarah--with faithfulness
like Isaac--by everyone
like Jacob--in everyway
like Rachel--with warmth
like Leah--with love.

And to all this let us say, Amen!

Sublime One!
Interpret our act as prompted by
good intentions, as an act of
surrender, worthy of blessing from You.

And even if we are no, deemed worthy,
then accept our act of thanksgiving
as a kind favor on Your part.
0 Helping God!

May we ever be found pleasant and wise
by you God
and by all our fellow human beings.




WE ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER BEFORE LEAVING THE TABLE

Fear Our God, you who make God holy!
Fearing only God, what will you lack?

Those who are self-sufficient, like young lions,
May starve in relying on their own strength.

But those who seek Only God
Shall not lack all that is good.

Give thanks to God who is so good,
Whose kindness is ever wise to the world.


Blessed are they who trust in God,
For God will ever be their guarantor.

I was young, now I’m old
Yet never saw a Zaddik so forsaken
That their child seeks only bread.

How can this be? How could this happen?
Surely blessings will be heaped on those
Who are really righteous, fair and just.

May what we ate
be a source of satisfaction
What we drank
A source of health
What we left a source
a source of blessing.

According to Scripture:
“The host set food before them,
They ate and left enough for others,
As God has spoken.”

God will surely give strength to our people
God will bless our folk with SHALOM!