Kesher Talk

". . . false witnesses have risen up against me, and those who breathe violence. . . " From Psalm 27, recited every day for a month before Rosh Hashanah, and through the 10 days of t'shuvah that follow. This is a bit late, but here is a lovely commentary on the psalm (with both the Hebrew original and an English translation) and how to use it during this period of self-examination. You don't have to be Jewish (or even religious at all) to use this guide. Bookmark it for next year.

Psalm 27 has been a comforting companion as I prepared for the Yamim Noraim, made the rounds of live and blogged 9-11 memorials (next week I may write about the live ones here in New York), deal with a close relative's terminal illness, and look forward in hope and dread to intensification of the war we are already in. So here is my pre-Yom Kippur entry. Gmar chatima tova, every one of us.

Adonai is my light and my life. Whom shall I fear?
Adonai is the foundation of my life. Whom shall I dread?
When evil-doers assail me to devour my flesh,
It is they -- my adversaries and enemies -- who stumble and fall.
Should an army besiege me, my heart would not fear.
Should war beset me
Even then would I be confident.
One thing I ask of Adonai,
Only this do I seek: to live in the house of Adonai all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of Adonai, to frequent his Temple.
For Adonai will conceal me in his sukkah on an evil day,
and hide me in the covert of his tent,
raise me up high on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me
And I will offer sacrifices in [Adonai's] tent
with the sound of trumpets.
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Adonai.
Hear my voice, Adonai, when I cry out
have mercy on me and answer me.
"For yourself," says my heart.
"Seek My face."
Adonai, I seek Your face.
Do not hide Your face from me.
Do not push aside Your servant in anger.
You have always been my help.
Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, O Lord my deliverer.
For my father and my mother abandon me, but Adonai gathers me up.
Show me Your way, Adonai,
and lead me on a level path
because of my ever-watchful foes.
Deliver me not over unto the will of my adversaries
For false witnesses have risen up against me
and those who breathe violence.
If I had not believed to look upon the goodness of God,
[I would no longer be] in the land of the living.
Look to Adonai.
Be strong and of good courage.
Look to Adonai !

posted by Judith @ 9/14/2002 06:51:06 PM