Blessings

VoLume 9, No.4 Summer 1991 BLESSINGS1 Marcia Falk Marcia Falk is the author of two books of poems and numerous translations from Hebrew and Yiddish. Her books include The Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation (Harper San Francisco, 1990), With Teeth in the Earth: Selected 'Poems of Maika Heifetz Tussman (translations from the Yiddish, Wayne State University Press, forthcoming, 1992), and' The Book of Blessings: A Feminist-Jewish Reconstruction of Prayer (Harper San Francisco, forthcoming, 1992). She has taught Hebrew Bible as Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, and is currently an Affiliated Scholar at Stanford's Institute for Research on Women and Gender and at the Bain Research Group of the University of California at Berkeley. 5 The following new berakhot (blessings), excerpted from my forthcoming book, 'The Book of Blessings: A Feminist-Jewish Reconstrnction of Prayer (Harper San Francisco, 1992), are. examples of the liturgy I have been evolving over the past eight years-although in truth, the process began much earlier than that. For a long time I have struggled with the traditional Hebrew liturgy, attempting to make it work for me, wanting to have it articulate what I believe as a practicing feminist Jew. I finally had to acknowledge that, unlike Humpty Dumpty, I could not make words mean whatever I wanted them to. Although my private kavvanot (meditations) could help me focus to pray, they could not stretch the meanings of the liturgy beyond certain limits: I simply could not trick myself into believing that the traditional Hebrew prayers expressed the theology out of which I live. Nor did they express the values of the Jewish communities with which I identify, especially those of the Jewish-feminist community. At the same time, I have always felt strongly connected to my history as a Jew, and, in particular, to the Hebrew poetic tradition-the tradition that produced the liturgy that appears in our prayerbooks today. But tradition 1These blessings are excerpted from Marcia Falk, The Book of Blessings: A Feminist-Jewish Reconstruc(ion of Prayer (Harper San Francisco, forthcoming, 1992). Copyright 1991 by Marcia Lee Falk. Used by permission. Calligraphy by Peggy Davis. 6 SHOFAR implies process and change, the movement of the past into the future, the continual forging of links on an unending chain. The liturgy was not always "fixed"; the old prayers were once new creations of individuals living in particular cultures and times. Prayers changed as communities changed; they evolved as Judaism itself evolved. I believe that the challenge for heterodox Jewish communities today-and especially for those that embrace feminist values-is not just to study and preserve the classic texts but to create new ones, just as we create new practices and customs, to keep Jewish tradition moving forward into the future. My berakhot do not bless a "Lord God King of the Universe" or, indeed, any "sovereign" at all. Instead they point toward a divinity that is immanent, that inheres in all of creation and nurtures all creativity. Because I believe in a monotheism that does not deny diversity but instead celebrates differences, I use a multiplicity of images to point toward an underlying unity-the unity that embraces all creation. Thus, no single formula replaces the "Lord God King" in my berakhot; rather, I vary my metaphors for divinity to reflect the particular moment being marked by the blessing. All of my images have their roots in classical Jewish sources-Bible, midrash. po-yut-though, of course, most are turned and shaped to reflect my own poetic sensibility. The first blessing below is a new kiddush (sanctification) over wine, to mark the festival of Rosh lfodesh (New Moon), which was traditionally designated as a women's holiday. Although in the past there have been no special blessings for women to say on Rosh lfodesh, today Jewish women are creating new rituals and celebrations for this monthly occasion. My blessing is intended for use in these rituals, as well as in other new events and occasions that Jews wish to mark as a community. Following the kiddush is my shehel;leyanu blessing, to be used for all new occasions as well as moments...