SELICHOT

4 September 2021 27 Elul 5781

1 Avinu Malkeinu Music by Josh Nelson

Avinu malkeinu, chonneinu va’aneinu, ki ein banu ma’asim, aseih immanu ts’dakah vachesed v’hoshi’einu.

Avinu Malkeinu, answer us with Your grace, for we lack good deeds; deal with us in charity and love, and save us.

Havdallah

God is my deliverer, I trust in God, I am not afraid. For Adonai is my power and strength, the source of my deliverance. With joy we will draw water from the wells of salvation. Adonai brings deliverance, for Your people, Your blessing. Adonai is with us, the God of Jacob is our shield. Give us light and joy, gladness and honour, as in the happiest days of Israel’s past. I lift up the cup to rejoice in Your saving power, and call out in the name of Adonai.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine

2 ...... Selichot 2021 Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Creator of all spices.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Creator of the lights of the fire.

Blessed is Adonai, who separates the sacred from the profane.

Elijah, the prophet, the Tishbite, the Giladite, will come to us, speedily with the Messiah, the son of David.

We Return Music by Elana Arian and Noah Aronson

Hashiveinu Adonai Eilecha v’nashuva Chadesh yamenu, K’ke-e-e-e-dem

We return (we return) (x2) We return, return again

To love… / truth… / You…

Selichot 2021...... 3 Knots in a Rope Adapted from a teaching by Anthony de Mello, as found in The Spirituality of Imperfection

ne of the disconcerting — and delightful — teachings we Oremember during Elul is: God is closer to sinners than to saints. This is how it is explained: God holds each person by a string. If the string breaks and is later fixed with a knot, that individual is connected even closer to God than if there never were a break in the string. Thus, errors, mistakes, and failures have the potential of drawing us even closer to God. With each further knot God draws us closer and closer.

Achat Sha’alti Arrangement and English words by Chava Mirel

Achat sha’alti me’eit Adonai Achat sha’alti otah avakesh

Shiv’ti shiv’ti b’veit Adonai Shiv’ti shiv’ti kol y’mei chayai

Lachazot b’noam Adonai Ul’va’keir b’hei’chalo Lachazot b’noam Adonai Ul’va’keir b’hei’chalo

One thing, one thing I ask You Adonai To be with You, all of my life

One thing do I ask of God, for this do I yearn: to dwell in the house of the Eternal all the days of my life, to see the goodness of God and to visit God’s sanctuary.

4 ...... Selichot 2021 Ki Hinei Kachomer Arrangement and English words by Daniel Cainer

Ki hinei ka’chomer b’yad hayotzer, Birtzoto marchiv u’virtzoto mekatzer Ken Anachnu b’yad’cha chesed notzer, La’brit habeyt v’al tefen la‘yetzer.

Ki hinei ka’even be’yad hamesatet, Birtzoto ocheiz u‘virtzoto m‘chatet, Ken anachnu b‘yad’cha m’chayeh u’m’motet, La’brit habeyt v’al teifen la‘yetzer.

Ki hinei ka’kesef, b’yad ha’tzoref, Bir’tzoto m’sagseg, u’virtzoto m’tzareif Ken anachnu b’yad’cha mam’tzi l’mazor teref, La’brit habeyt, v’al teyfen la’yeytzer. I am stone, I am iron, I am silver I am glass, I am cloth, I am clay And I am in your hands To be molded and shaped any way You are the Artist The Giver of life and of death Your call, Your say Your will, Your way I am blessed.

Selichot 2021...... 5 I am ink, I am paint, I am canvas. I am parchment and paper and pen. I don’t have the answers Why I am drawn in the ways that I’m drawn, Without shape, without form, at the beginning and the end. I’m an oar, I’m a sail, I’m a tiller On a boat cast adrift on the sea And I am in your hands, Where you want me to go, you take me. You are the water, The fire, and the earth, and the air… La’brit Habeyt v’al tefen la’yetzer. Your call, Your say, Your will Your way, I am blessed.

Everything is Waiting for You David Whyte

our great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life Ywere a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. You must note the way the soap dish enables you, or the window latch grants you freedom. Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and to invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into

6 ...... Selichot 2021 the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

Shema Koleinu Arr. Stephen Glass

Shema koleinu Adonai Eloheinu, chus v’rachem aleinu, v’kabel b’rachamim uv’ratzon et tefilateinu. Hashiveinu Adonai eilecha v’nashuvah, chaddeish yameinu k’kedem.

Hear our voice, Eternal God; spare us and have mercy upon us, and accept our prayer in mercy and favour. Turn us back to You, Eternal, and we shall return; renew our lives as of old.

Spilling Coffee from the Cup

Adapted by Rabbi Paul Kipnes and Rabbi Julia Atlas Weisz from Why did you spill the Coffee? A Great Analogy Contributed by Ashish Bhavnani. Shared by Chandru Gidwani

young woman was holding a cup of coffee At the synagogue Awhen someone came along and accidentally hit her arm, making her spill the coffee everywhere.

The rabbi saw what happened, Rushed over to make sure she was okay,

Selichot 2021...... 7 And then Sensing an opportunity for a life lesson asked: “Why do you think you spilled the coffee?”

The woman answered, "Well, of course, Because someone bumped into me!"

The rabbi shook her head And said, “Not precisely.

You spilled the coffee because he coffee was in the cup. If tea had been in it, you would have spilled tea.

Whatever is inside the cup is what will come out.

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you, which will happen, whatever is inside of you will come out. It’s easy to fake it until you get rattled.

Said the Rabbi:

So we have to ask ourselves…. What’s inside our cups? When life gets tough, What spills over?

8 ...... Selichot 2021 When The Soul Asks Why Carrie Newcomer

don’t know why We get so lost, IAnd afraid And misguided And mistaken Why we fall down in sludgy heaps of resentment Or hate And stay there Because its familiar Because doesn’t require too much. Because this version of violence Enacted upon others or ourselves Feels justified Even sanctified. All I know is that we do.

I don’t know why - or even how We continue to rise up, Then stand up, Choosing (because its always a choice) To be kind And courageous And funny and true And listen before speaking But then speak when the dangerous words Must be said. I don’t know why We keep on imagining What could be In the middle of What is

Selichot 2021...... 9 How we breathe again And start again And remember to look up Checking if our feet are aligned With the most faithful star. Or how we keep pouring out All the beauty we can create Cup after cup Into the waiting basin of the world Where we can wash off the dust Before it’s too deep. I don’t know why we can stray So utterly far And yet More often than not Be so utterly fine.

All I know is we are All I know is we do

I Wanted So Much to be Your Friend

Merle Feld – from A Spiritual Life – a Jewish, Feminist Journey, SUNY Press

wanted so much to be your friend Your friend for always IBut I did it all wrong I always do I thought I could tell you everything That you’d love me more That I’d be sure it was me you loved I thought when someone really loves you, nothing is too much to share I guess I was testing your limits

10 ...... Selichot 2021 I guess I found them I miss you I wish I had settled for less I’m sorry I scared you With my everything, my too much. Couldn’t we say “take two” As if we were making a movie Couldn’t I instruct you “The jury will disregard that” Couldn’t I rewind the tape And press the “erase” button Couldn’t I interrupt your note taking with “That last part is off the record” Couldn’t we just agree matter-of-factly That we’ve just been rehearsing out of town Couldn’t you return my phone calls?

Adonai Eil Rachum Leon Sher

Adonai, Adonai, eil rachum v’channun, erech apayim v’rav chesed ve’emet. Notseir chesed la’alafim, noseih avon vafesha v’chata’ah v’nakeih.

The One, the Eternal, a God of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, generous in love and truth, showing love to thousands, forgiving sins, wrong and failure; who pardons.

Selichot 2021...... 11 Ashamnu

We have abused and betrayed. We are cruel. We have destroyed and embittered other people’s lives. We were false to ourselves. We have gossiped about others and hated them. We have insulted and jeered. We have killed. We have lied. We have misled others and neglected them. We were obstinate. We have perverted and quarrelled. We have robbed and stolen. We have transgresed through unkindness. We have been both violent and weak. We have practised extortion. We have yielded to wrong desires. Our zeal was misplaced.

12 ...... Selichot 2021 Ner Tamid Adapted from 36 words by Rabbi Mark Goldsmith

e are used to calling the lamp above the bimah in every synagogue around the world by the name Ner Tamid, the Weverlasting light, as if it were a term in common use forever. Actually, in the Torah the words ner and tamid are not used as a distinct phrase, and when they do appear together they come with the word l’haalot, and the notes with which we chant Torah put the words l’haalot and ner together with tamid as separate.

So what were these notes emphasising in this choice of musical phrase? L’haalot means to light or to kindle. Ner is the noun form for light. This means that l’haalot ner tamid does not mean kindle an everlasting light but kindle a light continually. So that light in front of our Ark is not an everlasting light, but rather, it is a light which by our efforts we keep burning.

It is easy to imagine that little needs to go into keeping the light burning – it is just there. But no congregation is an everlasting congregation. A congregation needs to be tended continually. It is the responsibility of all members of a synagogue to be counted among those who keep the light burning.

Our behaviour, the time we give and the other resources we can contribute to community life, can be the fuel which keeps the flame burning, and our deficiency causes the flame to flicker.

Selichot 2021...... 13 Ki Anu Amecha

We are Your children and You are our Father. We are Your servants and You are our Master. We are Your community and You are our Portion. We are Your inheritance and You are our Destiny. We are Your flock and You are our Shepherd. We are Your vineyard and You are our Keeper. We are Your work and You are our Creator. We are Your beloved and You are our Friend. We are Your own and You are our Nearest. We are Your people and You are our King. We are the people known to You and You are the God made known by us.

14 ...... Selichot 2021 Avinu Malkeinu

Selichot 2021...... 15 16 ...... Selichot 2021 Achat Shaalti

Achat sha’alti me’eit Adonai, otah avakesh: shivti b’veit Adonai, kol y’mei chayai, lachazot b’noam Adonai, u’l’vaker b’heikhalo.

One thing I ask of God, that only do I seek: to live in Your house all the days of my life.

Selichot 2021...... 17