During this glorious week of Pesach, when we hear the sounds of the Hallel prayer being sung each morning at synagogue, prayer is celebrated and celebration is implemented through prayer. There is the prayer of the synagogue, the prayer in the synagogue with our human voices raised in connection with holiness, but at this time of spring and rebirth there are other forms of prayer and moments of potential holiness.... for all moments, any moment might be a holy moment; we need just discover it.
When Holiness Finds You
We prepare for
holy encounters
wrap ourselves
wool and linen
blue stripes bend
stretch
along our
fault lines
guide us
cocoon us
the parchment
thin
wings of
the Shechina
brush
against us
we cover
our heads
sealing in
thoughts
we cover
our eyes
only our inner eye
sees
our arms twirled
in leather
head bound
boxed
our weight shifts
foot to foot
we bend
and sway
reaching
reaching
for moments
of kedushah
our hands open
our bodies
closed and covered
hoping
a crack
will open
to allow
the holy
to enter
open my lips,
S'fatay Tiftach
open my eyes
Gal Aynai
*
And sometimes
without the coverings of
wool and linen
wordless
you walk
in the quiet of the woods
you hear
the
solitary
call of a bird
or the sun cuts
hazy yellow
triangles
through the canopy
of the trees
or the breeze whispers
against your cheek
or you smell
the impossible
sweetness
of spring rain
holiness
has found
you
the Shechinah
has discovered
you
as the rain
dampens your brow
the pine needles
cushion
your steps
hush
hush
there are no words
let the holiness
find you
fall upon you
like gentle rain,
there is a time for prayer
for the praise
words bring
for covering ourselves in
wool
and silk
and then
there is the moment
in your garden
in your old
gray
sweatshirt
as you sit
on a
wooden stump
close to the
fragrant earth
among the
plants
holiness finds you
and
this
holiness
is
bliss
Hitbodedut- Going out alone to commune with nature, with God.
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav
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