FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PARDES INSTITUTE OF JEWISH STUDIES NAMES ITS FIRST LITURGIST-IN-RESIDENCE
(JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – November 28, 2019) The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies (www.pardes.org.il) has named internationally-acclaimed liturgist and poet Alden Solovy as its first Liturgist-in-Residence. In this new role, Alden will teach ‘Introduction to Creative Liturgy’ in both the fall and spring semesters for Pardes’s 2019-2020 Year Program. He will also create new prayers for milestone student events throughout the year and read from his works at commemorations and other gatherings.
“Alden is a sort of 21st century paytan (writer of liturgical poems) who weaves together expressions of gratitude with the expressed desire for connection,” says Pardes President, Rabbi Leon A. Morris. “His presence as an indispensable part of our beit midrash (study community) is an incredible gift”
Alden, a Jerusalem-based liturgist, poet, and educator, made aliyah in 2012 and this will be his second year as a full-time student in the Pardes Year Program. His learning will support the creation of his fifth solo book of personal prayer. Earlier this year, Pardes hosted the international book launch of the fourth volume – This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings – released in 2019 by CCAR Press.
“Pardes has been an anchor of my Jewish learning ever since I arrived in Israel,” Alden said. “It’s an honor to be able to give something back to the Pardes community.”
Alden has taught throughout North America, the UK and Israel as well as online. The Jerusalem Post called his writing “soulful and meticulously crafted.” He’s written over 750 pieces of new liturgy, offering a new Jewish voice, often challenging the boundaries between poetry, meditation, storytelling, personal growth and prayer. The Huffington Post wrote that his “…prayers reflect age-old yearnings in modern-day situations.”
Alden’s writing appears in Anita Diamant’s Choosing a Jewish Life (Schocken, 2016) and Saying Kaddish (Schocken, 2019). His work also appears in Seasons of Hope: Prayers & Reflections on Aging (Little Sisters of the Poor, 2014), Men Pray (Skylight Paths Publishing, 2013), as well as the following books from CCAR Press: Mishkan T’shuva (2019), Mishkan Avielut (2019), Gates of Shabbat (2016), Mishkan Hanefesh (2015), Mishkah R’fuah (2013) and the CCAR lifecycle guide, L’col Tzman v’Eit (2015).
Alden is the author of three additional solo-volumes: Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing (Kavanot Press, 2013), Haggadah Companion (Kavanot Press, 2014), and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day (CCAR Press, 2017). Additionally, he blogs for RavBlog, Times of Israel and ReformJudaism.org. He’s a three-time winner of the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism and the founder of the ManKind Project Israel. His latest work is available at tobendlight.com.
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For more information, contact:
James Bornstein
Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
212-447-4333 * jamie@pardes.org
A Sampler of Writing by Pardes Liturgist in Residence Alden Solovy
Affirmation of Faith
Hear O Israel,
The covenant we made
Together on Sinai
Is a pledge for all time,
A vow for the ages,
To do and to listen
To teach and to learn
With the fullness of our hearts
From the depths of our souls
And the strength of our being
Binding ourselves to
Adonai Our G-d
With Torah and Mitzvot,
Binding our lives to each other
With righteousness and charity,
So that blessings will rain down from heaven
To feed our hearts and fill our land
With G-d’s abundant gifts,
The brilliance and wonder
That flow from service to G-d’s Holy Word,
In remembrance of creation
And our liberation from slavery,
Declaring throughout the generations:
G-d is One,
G-d is One,
G-d is One.
שמע ישראל ה אלקינו ה אחד
God’s Voice
What if God’s voice was so near
That your bones rattled
As thunder echoed inside your chest?
What if God’s voice was so near
You could feel the wind hit your face
As your feet seemed to slip on shaking ground?
What if awe and wonder surrounded you,
So close that your knees buckled,
As a pillar of fire from heaven descends to earth?
What if holiness packed all empty space with light
As your lungs filled with the one divine breath
Together with every other living being?
What if God’s voice is as near
As your willingness to remember
The moment we stood together on Sinai,
Amid the smoke and the lightning,
Hearing the great blast of the shofar?
What if that moment
Is now?
Being a Blessing
If you ask for rest, I will sit with you.
If you ask for comfort, I will stay with you.
If you ask for hope, I will yearn with you.
If you ask for love, I will sing with you.
If you ask for stillness, I will breathe with you.
If you ask for peace, I will dream with you.
If you ask for joy, I will laugh with you.
If you ask for healing, I will pray with you.
If you ask for warmth, I will become a blanket.
If you ask for refuge, I will become a shelter.
If you ask for help, I will become a blessing.
Prayer with Wings
Just once, Holy One,
Just once before I die
Let me feel my prayers with my entire being,
The radiance and the glory of my heart
Rising to meet You,
My soul reaching toward the unreachable,
My eyes blazing toward the unseeable,
My mind open to the unknowable,
My blood flowing gracefully through Your river of light.
Let me become a prayer with wings,
Gliding on the currents of faith,
Soaring into beams from heaven
Bursting forth from the moment of creation.
Just once, Holy One,
Just once before I die
Let my prayers enter the gates of heaven,
To plead for peace
And to sing Your praise.
Amidah
Open my lips, and I will praise You.
You are our loving G-d, the G-d of our ancestors.
You set the journey of the soul and the cycle of nature.
You are sacred, Your Name is holy,
Endowing us with intelligence,
Calling us back to you, repentant,
Forgiving us,
Redeeming us,
Healing us,
Regenerating resources,
Ingathering our communities,
Reinstating justice,
Subverting antagonists,
Rewarding the righteous,
Rebuilding Jerusalem,
Revitalizing us with redemption.
Hear our prayer.
Restore Your Presence among us.
For our lives and our souls, thank You.
Bless us, and establish everlasting peace throughout the world.
May my words, and my heart’s longings
Fit Your desires for me, Adonai,
My Rock and Redeemer.
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“Affirmation of Faith” and “God’s Voice” are © 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day
“Being a Blessing,” “Prayer with Wings” and “Amidah” are © 2019 CCAR Press from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings
Find Alden’s latest work on www.tobendlight.com.
