We Climb the Mountain: A Kavanah Before the Shema on Erev Rosh Hashanah

We climb the mountain
On this Night of Nights.
We climb the mountain
And declare,
“Behold, a New Year is born!”
We climb the mountain
And rest on a ridge
Looking out at the world below
At the lights of the city
At the lights of the Ancient Ones
At the glimpses of life
In the darkness of night.
We climb the mountain
And hear the call
Of the Ancient Ones
With us
“We” from another time
We have been here before
We return again
To the Night of Nights
We climb the mountain
And we, we, WE hear
The call of the Ancient Ones
Our voices from a life before
The eternal sound of Am Yisrael
The echoes from peak to peak:

ShemaThe most central prayer in Jewish liturgy, the Shema states: "Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is One." These words are written inside mezuzot and t'fillin. It is traditionally said during all major services and when waking and going to sleep.

Shema

Yisrael

Yisrael

Adonai

Adonai

Eloheinu

Eloheinu

Adonai

Adonai

EKHAD