This Ritual Life
Welcome to This Ritual Life.
Here you will find out about ways to enhance your holiday experience, to celebrate or mark a meaningful life cycle event, and to deepen your experience of the everyday.
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Our authors are especially interested in your responses to what they have written.
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Receiving Guests…
It is an
enchanting moment when we hear the doorbell ring. The guests have arrived! We have so
wanted everything to be just right for them: the house in order, the table sparkling, the
food lavish. When we perform the mitzvah of kabbalat orchim, receiving guests,
the pleasure is all ours.
Meditation
:God, help me carry on the tradition of Abraham and Sara, who ran to bring in guests, who knew how to provide for each one in the most fitting way, and who escorted them on their way out, exemplifying overflowing kindness.
Ritual
:When your guests arrive:Greet your guest in the name of God: "God bless you!" "God be with you!" "Thank God you’re here!"
Brukhim ha’ba’im brukhim ha nimtza’im.
Hosts: Blessed are you who have come!
Guests: Blessed are you who are here!
Blessing
:Yehi ratzon mil-fanecha, Hashem Elohei v’Elohei avotei, she-tashrei sh’chinat-cha beineinu.
May it be Your will for Your presence to reside among us.
Ritual
:When your guests depart: In Jewish tradition, we treat the departure of a guest as graciously as we treat their arrival, escorting them to their car or walking along with them until they are safely on their way.
Blessing
:Yehi ratzon...
May it be your will to bring our guests home safely, and in peace.
Teaching
:"A person should greet his associate with God’s name. As it says, "And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, ‘The Lord be with you!’ And they answered, ‘The Lord bless you!’"
(TJ Brachot 9:5)
Bruchim Haba-im b’shem Hashem.
Blessed are those who come in the name of God.
(CLAL Faculty)
CLAL's National Jewish Resource Center develops and publishes rituals that
help to bridge the gap between our contemporary lives and the ancient wisdom of the Jewish
tradition. We invite you to become a partner with us in thinking about the place of ritual
in our lives and in developing new ritual resources for our time. If you are interested in
being part of this exciting endeavor, visit with us in the Ritual Resource Area
of the CLAL website by clicking here.
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