Let Us Love: Havah Nohav

by Machar: The Washington Congregation for Secular Humanistic Judaism

Inspired by the V’Ahavta – Deuteronomy 6:5–9

Let us encounter all the world with appreciative and insightful love,

deep and healing love, liberating and joyful love.

Let us rejoice in love and in the fertility it brings to the human experience.

Love expands our abilities to explore and express ourselves. Love deepens our feelings of connectedness and individuality.

Love helps us reach across the boundaries

of ego, class, creed, ethnicity, & nation.

Love heightens our senses of meaning, beauty, and wonder.

Let us love all the world with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might.

And these words will be upon our heart always.

Let us learn them by heart with our children,

and let us speak them often

as we sit in our homes

and walk along the way,

as we lie down and rise up.

Let us attach them as a sign to guide our minds and our hands.

Let us write them on mezuzahs in our homes as lessons.

Let us make our every deed a labor of love.

Havah nohav et kol ha-olam

b'-khol l'-vave-nu, b'-khol nafshe-nu,

u-v'-khol me'ode-nu.

V'-hayu ha-d'varim ha-eleh

al l'-vave-nu tamid.

N'-shanne-nam im banei-nu u-v'notei-nu,

vin-daber bam l'-ittim k'rovot -

b'-shivte-nu b'-vatei-nu

u-v'-lekhte-nu va-derekh,

u-v'-shokhbe-nu u-v'-kume-nu.

N'-kashram l'-ot

l'-hadrikh et da'atei-nu v'-et yadei-nu.

Nikhtavam al m'zuzot

b'-vatei-nu l'-shiurim.

Havah na-aseh

kol ha-ma'aseh shel-anu

avodah l'-ahavah.

הָבָה נֹאהַב אֶת כָּל הָעוֹלָם

בְּכָל לְבָבֵנוּ וּבְכָל נַפְשֵׁנוּ

וּבְכָל מְאֹדֵנוּ

וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה

עַל לְבָבֵנוּ תָּמִיד

נְשַׁנֵנָם עִם בָּנֵינוּ וּבְנוֹתֵינוּ

וִנְדַבֵּר בָּם לְעִתִּים קְרוֹבוֹת

בְּשִׁבְתֵנוּ בְּבָתֵינוּ

וּבְלֵכְתֵנוּ בַדֶּרֶךְ

וּבְשָׁכְבֵּנוּ וּבְקוּמֵנוּ

נְקַשְּׁרָם לְאוֹת

לְהַדְרִיךְ אֶת דָּעָתֵינוּ וְאֶת יָדֵינוּ

נִכְתֹּבֵם עַל מְזוּזוֹת

בְּבָתֵינוּ לְשִׁעוּרִים

הָבָה נַעֲשֶׂה

כָּל מַעֲשֵׂה שֶׁלָּנוּ

עֲבוֹדָה לְאַהֲבָה

Humanistic Judaism was founded as a congregational movement in 1963 by the late Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine, and has emerged as a stream of Judaism that enables people of any ethnic or religious background to cherish Jewish history, culture, and ethics without worshipping or praying to a supernatural being. As an affiliate of the Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ), Machar is part of the national and international Humanistic Judaism movement. The International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism (IISHJ) is the educational arm of our movement, training rabbis and other leaders.

Posted in Daily Prayer & Mindfulness, Evening Service, Morning Service, Shabbat
kabbalat shabbat, meditation, shema

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