Hello Friends, table mates. In the daily liturgy, this psalm offers a transition between the routine morning blessings, [and some mourning themes], and the poetry and music that prepares us for the formal service, the Listen and love, [shema], stand and devote [Amidah], study and serve [Torah], etc. In handful of days between Yom Kippur and the Feast of Booths [Sukkot] we are called on a journey from atonement and fasting to harvesting joy and feasting. So, I turned to Psalm

Will the cries of the stranger open our eyes? (an interpretive translation of Hagar’s story in Genesis 21) They call him Ishmael, and me Hagar. Ishmael, meaning ‘will be heard.’ Hagar means ‘the stranger.’ But the boy I bore is not 'my' son and the unseen stranger has no one - Who will bear witness for her, unheard one? The stranger, outsider, a ger? That’s what I am, Abraham. Like you, yes? You from rivers east, and me from the River west, We’re all gerim, are we not? Soj

More of the moon hiding in shadow than not now. Less than a week until the new moon of the new year, Rosh Hashanah, the mid-year renewal at the head of the seventh month, recalling 6th day of Creation, Adam and Eve, gans of Eden, first canopy. The shofar sounds re-rousing my courage. You hide. I'll seek. Ready or not here I come, hearing these blessings, seven blessings from a wedding canopy, then listening for the echoes of a collective 'Amen.' Earth, vine, fruit, harvest,

SH. Shhhhhh. Supple fingers raised heavenward, Lifted to wet lips like SHip resting on the SHoreline Folding up the sails that turn breath to word Before the skipper has set the rudder on course. They whisper: Is it true? Is it kind? Can it be heard? Is it helpful? Is it yours to share? Shhhh. Mmmm. Stilled waters make the best mirrors. Listen, and savor what is Here Now In the silent-connecting-spaces I Am. Mmmmm. Ah. The lips part The awe rolls into waves of sound that li