On the Return Path:
A Kavanah and Blessing Before Taking on a New Mitzvah
Lori Hope Lefkovitz

(Men say:) Hin'ni muchan u-m'zuman ˆñ

(Women say:) Hin'ni muchana u-m'zumenetˆñ

Ready to accept your invitation, Holy One
of Blessing, who orders creation, I stand before You, with humility and with joy, prepared to enter more fully into the
weave of Your commandments.

Attentive to the call of my heart to do good, drawn by the pull of the ancestors to sanctify life, and held by the bonds of community,

alive to the mystery and possibility of redemption, I ask for strength and resolve
that I may do Your will.

Through the discipline of this mitzvah,
I shore myself up against despair and
express my faith in the potential of our partnership to repair our world.

Divine Parent, who divided the light from the darkness, made meaning from hurly burly ( tohu vavohu ) , created all humanity in Your image, and gave us the gift of Torah, I am mindful of the many blessings of my life, and I thank You for sustaining my body and guiding the maturation of my soul that I may maintain a wide perspective, hear Your voice, appreciate what is sacred, and make righteous choices along the path of my return.

B'rucha at Yah, Elohaynu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu b ' mitzvoteha, v ' tzivatnu likayem mitzvot.

Baruch atah Adonai, Elohaynu melekh haolam, asher kidishanu b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu likayem mitzvot.

Blessed are You, our God, spirit of the universe, who made us holy through Your commandments, and commanded us to sustain them.

 

Lori Hope Lefkovitz is the Gottesman Professor of Gender and Judaism and Academic Director of Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women's and Gender Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.   Kolot's projects include Ritualwell.org, a website of contemporary Jewish liturgy and ritual.

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