Listen to today's SCRIBBLES here
So many years of studying, writing and presenting on the women in the Bible has immersed me in the Hebrew Scriptures and led quite naturally to a deep love and respect for Judaism and the conviction that we cannot understand Jesus without considering his Jewishness.
In my years of studying and teaching at Seattle University I came to know Daniel Wiener, the head rabbi at Temple de Hirsch Sinai, located just blocks from the University. Rabbi Wiener was a frequent lecturer and seemed always to end his time with us by inviting us to come to Shabbat. Eventually I did and I was entranced by the prayers. I encountered a language that gave voice to the lived experience of faith, love, and longing. My habit became to attend Shabbat and Torah Study every 3-4 months.
Not long ago, I treated myself to GATES OF PRAYER, the Reform Judaism Book of Prayer, that is used for the Sabbath. It contains ten different settings for Shabbat as well as numerous other prayers and readings. Again I fell in love with the words that gave animation to my own heart stirrings.
In today's SCRIBBLES, I offer you some excerpts that I hope speak to your soul as well. The pages of GATES OF PRAYER are filled with prayers that are addressed to God, but also with meditations and lines of wisdom that address the soul and the complexity of human existence.
ON PRAYER
It is not you alone who pray, or we, or those others; all things pray, and all things pour forth their souls. The heavens pray, the earth prays, every creature and every living thing. In all life, there is longing. Creation itself is but a longing, a kind of prayer to the Almighty. What are clouds, the rising and the setting of the sun, the soft radianace of the moon and the gentleness of the night? What are the flashes of the human mind and the storms of the human heart? They are all prayers--the outpouring of boundless longing for God. (GATES OF PRAYER: The New Union Prayerbook, Central Conference of American Rabbis, p. 8)
SIGHTLESS AMONG MIRACLES
Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing; let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk.
Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns uncomsumed.
And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder:
How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it! Blessed is the Eternal One, the holy God!
(Ibid., p. 170)
These lines remind me of Luke 24:32, "Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road...?" - Kathleen
A SIMPLE DAILY PRAYER
Lord, our God, may love and kindness, peace and happiness dwell among us. May we live always among good friends, and be to them faithful companions. May we have hope in goodness in the future, and awaken each morning to find our hearts ready to serve You.
DOUBT AND SUFFERING - PRAYER.
I do not know how to ask You, Lord of the world, and even if I did know, I could not bear to do it. How could I venture to ask You why everything happens as it does...I do not ask you to reveal to me the secret of Your ways--but show me one thing: show me what this very moment means to me, what it demands of me, what You, Lord, are telling me through my life at this moment. O I do not ask You to tell me why I suffer, but only whether I suffer for Your sake! (Ibid. pp. 713-4)
DOUBT AND QUESTION - MEDITATION
Cherish your doubts, doubt is the handmaiden of truth. Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery. A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief. Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false. (Ibid. p. 711)
THE POWER THAT MAKES FOR FREEDOM
We worship the power that unites all the universe into one great harmony. That oneness, however, is not yet. We see imperfection, disorder, and evil all about us. But before our eyes is a vision of perfection, order, and goodness: these too we have known in some measure. There is evil enough to break the heart, good enough to exalt the soul. Our people has experienced untold suffering and wondrous redemption; we await a redemption more lasting and more splendid, than any of the past.
When will redemption come?
When we master the violence that fills our world.
When we look upon others as we would have them look upon us.
When we grant every person the rights we claim for ourselves.
ALL THE DAYS OF THE WEEK, A Havdalah Prayer at end of Shabbat
The holiness of this day is not for this day alone. We must make it overflow into all our minutes, to hallow our weekdays from these sacred moments, hour by hour to make the world a sanctuary where every human soul may be at home. O may the awe we feel at times at the miracle of one another united in prayer, be with us tomorrow: keep tenderness in our words, and our touch, and our look. (Ibid. p. 214)
AT END OF DAY
In this momet of silence, a still, small voice speaks in the depths of my spirit. It speaks to me of all that I must do to come closer to God and grow in His likeness. I must work with untiring faithfulness, even when no one's eye is upon me. I must come to the end of each day with a feeling that I used its gifts wisely and faced its trials courageously. I must try to judge others less harshly and love them more freely. I must be loyal to my people and heritage, seeking greater knowedge of our tradition and putting its teaching to work in my life. May I become ever more concious of my dignity as a child of God, and may I learn to see the divinity in every person I meet. Then indeed shall I come closer to God and grow in His likeness. (Ibid. p. 345)
A great learning opportunity
from Bat Kol International
Amy-Jill Levine is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, at Vanderbilt University.
Amy-Jill Levine,PhD.
presents
Ancient Texts for our
Troubled Times
Thank you to my dear friend, Teresa Pirola, Ph. D, of LIGHT OF TORAH from Australia. These sessions are sponsored by various Jewish-Christian agencies in Australia.
Ancient Texts for our Troubled Times
This 2026 education program offers three online presentations exploring biblical perspectives that speak to interreligious relations and social cohesion issues in our time.
Misunderstanding Jewish Practice and Belief Means Misunderstanding Jesus and Paul
2 June
Antisemitism: Why does it persist in Catholic Teaching and Preaching 60 Years after Nostra Aetate #4?
4 August
Supersessionism: Naming and Addressing the Issue
1 September
All sessions are free, meet on Tuesdays at 8:30 am, CDT and last for one hour. Each session requires a separate registration. Registering for one will also bring you the link to the recording, plus an email notification when it is time to register for the subsequent session. So for example, when I registered for the 4 August session, I also recieved the link for the 2 June recording.
For further details, free registration and Zoom link, click here to go to Bat Kol International
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