This prayer is an invitation to lean into your deepest values and truths, and a way of setting your intentions to take an active role in tikkun olam, repairing the world.

May we hear and recognize our own calling,

We are the ones with the capacity to heal,

To nurture, and to repair the harm we have caused,

And the harm of those who came before us.

May we strive to practice tikkun olam,

May we repair the world through collective action

So that we can not only survive this changing world,

But thrive here.

May we be courageous in the face of apathy,

In the presence of our own fear and indecision,

May we move together even through grief,

Remembering that there’s still time to act,

There’s still time to remember the world

Back into being.

Julie Emden is the Founding Director of Embodied Jewish Learning and the Embodied Jewish Wisdom Network, a global collaborative of leaders and seekers of movement practices infused with Jewish wisdom. Laura Hegfield is an educator, meditation guide and spiritual lay-leader, incorporating original liturgical poems and musical compositions to lift her voice in prayer, song and love. 

Julie and Laura have been chevruta (study partners), exploring and studying Torah together for more than 20 years. In their words: “In our weekly studies, we have found that our steady, long-standing witnessing of one another in relationship as we make connections between Torah and our day-to-day lives has been a plentiful well of nourishment and healing that sustains us over time. You may choose to explore this booklet together with a chevruta - a friend who may witness you and whom you may also witness, to enrich your experience.”

Published by Recustom in collaboration with Embodied Jewish Learning. All content created by Laura Hegfield and Julie Emden of the Embodied Jewish Wisdom Network, except where otherwise noted. All contributions from Laura Hegfield are copyrighted and shared with the author’s permission.

Lyrics for Mi Shebeirach Prayer 

Written and Composed by Laura Hegfield

Listen to a recording here: Mi Shebeirach 

Mi shebeirach avoteinu v’imoteinu barech otanu gam r’feinu

May the One who blessed our fathers and our mothers bless us and heal us too.

Guf lev nefesh v’ruach body, heart, mind, and soul.

Nurture and sustain us, heal us and make us whole 

Mi shebeirach avoteinu v’imoteinu barech otanu gam r’feinu

May the One who blessed our fathers and our mothers bless us and heal us too.

Guf lev nefesh v’ruach body, heart, mind, and soul.

Nurture and sustain us, heal us and make us whole 

Bless us with compassion when internal skies are gray

Give us strength and courage to face another day.

Mi shebeirach avoteinu v’imoteinu barech otanu gam r’feinu

May the One who blessed our fathers and our mothers bless us and heal us too.

Guf lev nefesh v’ruach body, heart, mind, and soul.

Nurture and sustain us, heal us and make us whole ---oh. 

Original music/lyrics created by Laura Hegfield© 2022 reshared with permission.

Musical Performance of Mi Shebeirach by Laura and Gordon Hegfield© 2023 reshared with permission.

Source: Embodied Jewish Learning

Create your own playlist for your Embodied Rachamim practice using the kavanot (intentions) below, or visit this playlist on Spotify curated by Julie: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4a0C8o28pEvp23mseKIfza?si=22dc36cced3d4c34 

Opening: Begin your movements with lying on the floor and extending your limbs long on an inhalation, then folding into a seed shape on an exhalation. Move into your own warm-up on the floor or move slowly toward sitting and/or standing. Pay extra attention to your rib basket, shoulders and the spaces at the front and back of your heart as you warm up your body.

Mi Ma’Amakim: “From the depths I call out to you,” Psalm 130. When we are in pain or heartbreak, we can ask for help. Let your dance for this song be your prayer. 

Broken Hearted Psalm: “ Who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God counts the number of the stars; God calls them all by name,” Psalm 147: 3-4. Invite and welcome all parts of your heart in your dance. Softening to ourselves involves opening to our whole heart - including pain and suffering. An open heart is an open heart; we open to all parts of ourselves to meet ourselves fully.

Dietro Casa: For the final song, take in the beauty of this song in stillness or movement. Allow your movements to come to stillness in your own time as you close your dance.

Source: Embodied Jewish Learning

We call into awareness our ancestors most ancient; Avraham v’Sarah, Yitzchak v’Rivka, Ya’akov, Rachel v’Leah. We call upon the generations, nearest to our own; great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, without whom we would not exist. We ask for comfort, for strength, for wisdom, for guidance, as we face challenges and celebrate blessings revealed along the way.

Source: Embodied Jewish Learning

It is taught, that our ancestors carried both 

The unbroken, and broken tablets 

Together in the Mishkhan. 

Carried them across the wilderness 

Forty years side by side; 

broken and unbroken. 

We carry the unbroken and broken with us too. 

Stories of our lives; 

Births and birthdays -- 

Everything in between, as sure as

Illness, death, 

And grief are known.

Heartache and joy, side by side;

Broken and unbroken. 

Longing, belonging, 

Letting go;

All parts of the whole.

Learning to live with even the most jagged shards,

For the sake of healing

Through this life. 

Source: Embodied Jewish Learning