For two or three years, I have been singing this melody occasionally in my groups at the beginning of the day, before we start working. The words are from the Hebrew morning prayers.
elohai, neshamah shenatata bi, tehorah hi
atah veratah, atah yetzartah, atah nefachtah bi
tehorah, tehorah hi
creator, the soul you have given me, she is pure
you created her, you intended her, you breathe her into me
pure, pure is she.
You can do a wonderful meditation as you listen to these words: without changing the intensity or the rhythm of your breath, imagine that while you are breathing in, the creator/creation is breathing out into you. And while you are breathing out, creation/the creator is breathing in. In this way, you become intimately linked with the creative forces from which you come. The words of the prayer also remind us that there is a part of our soul which is pure, and it will always stay pure: there is a part of ourselves that is timeless and always whole.
Some years ago, in a synagogue I heard someone sing these words with a melody I liked, and I kept singing it myself for some time, improvising and changing it a bit until I found the melody you hear now on the CD. Much later I heard that the melody I had heard in the synagogue was based on a melody by rabbi Shefa Gold. Shefa Gold has a web-site: www.rabbishefagold.com, when you visit and go to ‘specific practices’ you will find audio samples of many of her chants and meditations.
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