Shema Chants
Shema Yisra’el Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad.
Hear Oh Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One.
The Shema is perhaps the most well known of all Jewish prayers. Its holiness and depth instills a feeling a connection to the tradition. Yet when we recite prayers by rote in the same tune, they can often be devoid of the energetic jolt needed to feel connected. Being able to access different melodies for this critically important prayer may offer news ways of connection and to feel its depth.
Oneness
Wage love and justice for all 3x
Let’s unite in our hearts, join hands as one
Shema Shema Yisrael 2x
Shema Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Ehad.
Listen Israel (all of us)
Your personal God is Our God and that God is One.
In the Summer of 2019 as many Democrat candidates began their run for the nomination, one of them spoke strongly about the need to insure all Americans were taken care, not just the rich, bi coastal Americans. They spoke passionately about the imperative for us to work together to insure all Americans (and all people for that matter) have access to good food and water, affordable medical care, education, justice, and opportunity. I was deeply inspired by the words of this candidate and “she” inspired these words and chant. As I was chanting the English words that came, I realized this is the message of a core prayer in Judaism, the Shema.
May this practice call each of us into Oneness consciousness. Let us join together to ensure we are all taken care of.
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Eternal Eden Shema (2019)
Dear God, help me with my humanity, with my challenges, fears, scares and conditioning.
Please hold it all, so I don’t have to
So that the path to you is clear, strong and deep.
And may I plant Eden inside me, so that it may live with aliveness eternally.
Shema Yisrael Havaya… Eloheinu ahava ehad.
Our God is the Presence and Beingness in our souls,
and it is the love, that connects us to one another
The Love of the Source of Life that is One.
This chant came through as a way to show me that the path to God could be planted inside. Like Dorothy’s red slippers, which she could have clicked 3 times any time she wanted to go home, this chant plants the path to God deep inside so a return to this deep connection that existed in the Garden of Eden could be experienced any time. The names I have used for God are havaya — a Kabbalist name for the being-ness of God as well as ahava which means love.
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Simple Shema (2016)
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Simple Shema (2019)
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Angelic Shema (2015)
Uriel, Micha’el, Rafa’el, Gavri’el 2x
Shema Yisra’el Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Ehad.
Before heading to bed it is traditional to say the Shema and to invite in the archangels so that one may sleep peacefully. Although this chant is a bit energetic, I hope it doesn’t keep you up!
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Shema on the Beach (2015)
While walking the beach, I was called to the words of the Shema in this rhythmic soothing rendition.
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Listening Tree of Oneness: Etz Shema (2020)
Etz Shema b’sheleg halavan 3x
Etz Shema, Shema Yisrael
Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu,
Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad 2x
We are listening trees, listening for Oneness
We are listening trees, listening for The One 2x
Etz Shema~ listening for Oneness
Etz Shema~ listening for the One 2x
Jamie had a vision. She wanted to recreate the feeling of beauty, serenity and peace she felt when she walked Mt. Greylock for a few weeks, and she needed another dose. We found a lovely trail which was accessible with fresh snow, no ice and few others. As we walked, I reminded everyone to look at the trees and to note the bones and outline of the trees, as someone had reminded me a few weeks ago during the Jewish holiday of Tu B’shevat.
A few minutes later, my husband Fred said he saw the Hebrew letter Shin in a 3-branched tree, Shin as in the Hebrew prayer Shema. t was a Shema tree! Our friend Paul (Jamie’s husband) called it a tree of listening an Etz Shema and then added the words in Hebrew to describe its roots of emerging from the white snow sheleg halavan — so Etz Shema b’sheleg halevan a listening tree in the white snow. The words may not have intrinsic meaning but they speak to a much deeper and richer experience.
Then Paul started to sing the words to show tunes and tried to put it to White Christmas, which was funny, but didn’t quite work. The words had a lyrical sound to them and for me this chant then emerged.
What felt so extraordinary about this experience was that it had taken all four of us to create this sweet, special connection with the tree, the snow, nature and our Jewish heritage. If any one of us hadn’t shown up fully present to the moment, it would never have gotten expressed in such a profound way. Jamie had a strong desire and listened to the yearning of her soul for this kind of walk. Fred noticed the tree’s shape and outline and named it aloud. Paul then named it in Hebrew and gave it the context in the snow, and I added the melody.
For me this chant and experience are reminders to all of us of how important it is to listen. To one another, to our own instincts and impulses, to follow our guidance and to know that when we do, wonderful things may emerge. In this case its a little fun chant. With practice, listening to one another may usher forth creative solutions that can solve problems that address humanity’s needs.
But in order to listen fully, we need to get quiet. Our minds, technology and our world is noisy on many levels. Through chant, meditation, silence we want to create a deep quite from which this kind of creativity may emerge.
For me this chant and words are reminders of the kind of connection and creativity that can emerge when each of us is fully present to one another, to honor and witness, support and encourage. When we do this we are deeply connected to the One that connects us all. May we imagine each of us as trees of listening to one another and to the Oneness that lives inside each of us as living trees in the forest of humanity.
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Shema Reaching up the Heavens (2020)
The Shema is one of the best known prayers by Jews across all spectrums of observance. Reciting the words to the same melody can become rote and prevent an enlivened connection to the power of the words. Try any one of the Shemas to get comfortable reciting it in new ways and then experiment and see how your body, mind, spirit and voice want to recite the Shema.
To download the audio file, right-click (or Control-click) the following link and choose the option to save/download the file: Download Link »