January 28, 2009

Blessing for Tamar and Helen

Helen came for lunch today. Earlier, when we had confirmed our visit, she volunteered, "I wrote a blessing. I wrote it for you and me," she hinted.

My friend, the gifted liturgist (she served on Emory University's Candler School of Theology faculty from 1981-1999) arrived bearing a copy of her recent book, "Mother Roots: The Female Ancestors of Jesus" (the opening chapter: "Tamar: A Woman Who Sought Justice"). Helen also brought a copy of the blessing and too many yummy desserts.

When she recited the blessing, Helen spoke the Hebrew word ruakh twice. In this context, ruakh means soul, spirit, essence.

Watch the video (3:57 minutes).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely prayer. Thank you so much for sharing it. And please thank Helen as well.

Thanks for commenting over at "my place". I couldn't agree more than smiling goes a very long way.

Anonymous said...

Your blog is book marked so that it is easily available. When you return from Israel to Atlanta, I'd appreciate a copy of the prayer. It gets to me every time I hear it. The depth, the simplicity, the reverence... all imbued with hope. I know, I have my very own Hope, my wife, but the hope that is available to each of us is what keeps so many of us going. To quote Reverend Joanna Adams, "If you don't have hope, you don't have anything."
 
D