Shavuot
Your soul stretching like a flower unfurling her petals,
opens wider and wider.
You eat only dairy foods,
going back to the beginning, to the first food that sustained you
when you emerged into this world.
You remember that primal closeness, the innocence,
the Garden.
You drink milk, color of the Moon, bearer of knowledge.
You gather roses, rich with fragrance, sacred flower.
You begin your pilgrimage, walk of faith, carrying the fruit of your fields,
of your being, to offer as pledge, as betrothal gift.
And you call upon the name of God
HaKodesh,
Holy One,
One Who is dear to your soul
HaKodesh,
You Who are Holy, You Who see the holy in me,
this eve I am ready to join with You.
 I have struggled to release that which binds me,
so that I might be
fully free
to stand with You.
Now the time has arrived.
I am garbed in light.
I am decked with roses.
I am ready to go beneath the wedding canopy,
to engage my soul, to wed.
I join all my ancestors at the foot of the Mountain.
It too is touched with light. It is aflame, kindled.
The sacred places are waiting.
I have been here before.
Each year I return to this spot in the desert.
Each year we meet here again, under the canopy.
Each year we wed ourselves differently.
Each year more of myself emerges.
Each year I shed more husks, pass through more gates.
Each year I am more free, more of me is present to unite with You.
And each year of my life I learn more of You.
We wed different parts of ourselves each meeting.
So my Beloved, Holy One,
my Maker, my Source, my Wellspring,
I come to pledge myself anew,
to join with You
in Holy endeavor.
I circle You with candlelight.
I bind myself to You forever.
HaKodesh,
let's enter once again our covenant.
Let's renew yet again our vows.
Let's walk together.
I join with You Holy One and enter into my task once more,
to take my place beside You
that we might join as healers of the world of creation
that we might practice the art of loving kindness
that we might be practitioners of ways of light
that we might dance together
all of our lives.
HaKodesh, Holy One,
I betroth myself to You forever.
I betroth myself to You in righteousness and in justice.
I betroth myself to You in loving kindness and in compassion.
I betroth myself to You in faithfulness.
I join my soul to You, HaKodesh, Holy One.
I am Your precious one and
You are my Beloved.
Photography Credits:
First photograph: Kathy Berendt
Second, third and fifth photograph: Leonid Rozenfeld
Fourth photograph: Vicki Hollander
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