Journey Through the Daily Psalms

Sunday

S’u Sh’arim roshaychem, u’s’u pitchay olam
Sunday Psalm Hebrew text
Lift up your head, oh you gates; lift them up you everlasting doors! (Psalm 24: 9)

We are the gates: we are the doorways. God enters the World through us when we “lift up our heads”… when we raise our consciousness. We begin the week with an intention to listen for the call to awareness that lifts us up out of our small concerns into a wide perspective and compassionate responsiveness. By answering that call, we become everlasting doorways between the finite and infinite realms.

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

Monday

Diminu Elohim Chasdecha
Monday Psalm Hebrew text
Our Stillness/Silence is Your Love God (Psalm 48:10)

Coming into relationship with God and opening to Divine Love is perhaps the best way of become authentic and of knowing the True Self. As we come into this relationship and open to the force of Love, God strips us of all artifice. We become naked to ourselves. In relationship to God, the Great Mystery, all the layers of defense fall away; all of our posturing dissolves.

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.

Tuesday

Kumah Elohim Shaftah Ha-Aretz
Tuesday Psalm Hebrew text
Arise God, and judge the land. (Psalm 82:8)

As we explore the inner landscape, we find places of shadow — corners of the heart that are unhealed or hidden in shame. We call on the God-force within us to rise up, to reveal the Divine perspective so that the entirety of our inner landscape can be bathed in Awareness.

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.

Wednesday

B’rov sarapai b’kirbi
Tanchumecha y’sha’ashu nafshi
Wednesday Psalm Hebrew text
When worries multiply within me, Your comfort soothes my soul. (Psalm 94:19)

When we become aware of the multitude of voices within, and place those concerns into the context of a vast inner spaciousness, then our harried souls can be soothed, comforted and allowed their Freedom.

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.

Thursday

Tiku vachodesh shofar
Ba’keseh l’yom chagaynu
Ki chok l’Yisrael hu mishpat L’Elohai Ya’akov
Thursday Psalm Hebrew text
Sound a shofar at the New Moon…. at the moment of concealment/potential for our Celebration Day. It is a statute for Israel; it is a rule for Jacob. (Psalm 81:4-5)

We live our lives in the holy cycles of exile and return, forgetting and remembering, going out from ourselves and returning again to center. We cycle between being Jacob, the ego struggling to manipulate the world, to being Israel, the one who encounters God directly. Through our calendar and festivals we attune to the cycles of the moon whose waxing and waning reflects our own spiritual cycles. As awareness of those cycles deepens, the circles of our lives become spirals, connecting the mysteries of the universe with our own Center.

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

Friday

Nachon kisacha me-az, me-olam atah
Friday Psalm Hebrew text
Your throne was long ago secured; beyond eternity are You! (Psalm 93:2)

As we prepare for Shabbat, we gradually release our grip on personally mastering this world. No matter how we have struggled, succeeded or failed during this past week, today we prepare ourselves now to let go of the illusion of control and surrender our cleverness to the vast Intelligence that has been in charge all along.

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.

Shabbat

Ma-Gadlu Ma’asecha Yah, m’od amku mach’sh’votecha
Shabbat Psalm Hebrew text
How great is your work, oh God, how very deep are your thoughts! (Psalm 92:6)

On Shabbat we step outside of the ordinary stream of time; we leave behind the structures of Duality in order to drink from the extraordinary river of Delight that flows directly from the Source. We set aside our struggles and worries in order to simply appreciate and celebrate Life. Shabbat consciousness requires us to embrace a profound paradox. On the one hand we see the amazing beauty of God’s Creation, and in that same vision we encounter the unfathomable suffering and mystery of our world. On Shabbat we let go of our struggle to understand, explain, make excuses or figure it out. We embrace and accept it all and celebrate existence itself.

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

For the musical notations for all these Psalm chants, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, pages 298-304.


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


Morning Song: Va’ani ashir

Va’ani ashir uzecha va’aranayn labokayr chasdecha
Morning Song Hebrew text
And I will sing Your Glory and I will sing Your Love to the morning. (Psalm 59:17)

As my morning practice, I attune myself to the Divine attributes, allowing God’s strength, glory and love to sing through me. I become the channel for God to address this new day.

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 Morning Song PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 272.


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


Re-Parented: Ki avi

Ki avi v’imi azvuni
Va’Adonai ya’asfayni
Horayni Yah darkecha
Re-Parented Hebrew text
Though my father and my mother have forsaken me,
God will gather me in.
Teach me Your Way, Oh God. (Psalm 27:10-11)

This three part round is a three part process of first admitting the ways that your parents may have “failed” you. They may not have been able to give you the exact safety, encouragement, nourishment, guidance, or embrace that you needed. From your grown-up perspective now you can stop blaming them and instead cultivate compassion for their limitations and for yourself. They were really doing the best they could.

The second step is to turn to God, the Great Father/Mother and allow yourself to be embraced, gathered in, and re-parented. Surrender into the arms of that Divine Parent and let yourself be held, seen, known, and sent to your own truth.

And the third step is to open to Guidance, internalizing that Divine Parent as you connect to Wisdom in this very moment on your Life Path.

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

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Re-Parented PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 271.


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


Oh Justice: Yifrach

Yifrach b’yamav Tzadik, v’rov Shalom
Oh Justice Hebrew text
Oh Justice, Oh Justice… in the fullness of Peace!
Oh, Justice shall flourish in its time, and the fullness of peace. (Psalm 72:7)

In Memory of Senator Ted Kennedy:
At the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy, his daughter Kara led the congregation in a version of Psalm 72. After each line, the congregation of dignitaries responded with refrain, “Justice shall flourish in its time, and the fullness of peace forever.”

Senator Kennedy, may his memory be a blessing, understood that Justice is the inner truth of Peace. His legacy of making justice for the poor, for the disabled, for the disenfranchised people of this land, can be our inspiration as we all become Makers of Peace.

This practice marries Justice with Peace, affirming that the fullness of Peace is Justice. All our work for Justice must have Peace as its driving force and as we work for Peace, we must make Justice our goal.

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 Oh Justice PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 270.


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


Giving My ‘Self’ in Service: Ana Yah ki

Ana Yah ki ani avdecha; Ani avdecha
Giving My Self in Service Hebrew text
Please God, for I am your servant; I am your servant. (Psalm 116:16)

With this practice, I am asking God to please take my small self and connect me with the larger Whole so that everything that I have imagined, constructed, developed and refined as my separate self can be re-connected and be given in service to the Whole of Life.

I am saying, “Please use me,” as I give myself to the Greatest Intelligence and Deepest Mystery of Oneness. With each repetition of the chant, I find more of my “self” to give away in dedication to my higher purpose of service.

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 Giving My Self in Service PDF. For the musical notation, see The Magic of Hebrew Chant, page 269.


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