Preserve the memory of your loved one with a plaque on our Yahrzeit Wall. Learn More ->

Search
Close this search box.

Your Pure Soul: Elohai Neshamah

Your soul was pure:
You were in yourself,
You remember that.
You remember safety.
Amazed at the taste of food, sugar blew your mind.
You danced and laughed and told jokes.

You slept on the dog.
You loved to hear the cantor sing the songs,
You knew that God was in that room.
You loved cartoons.

Then life happened to you.
Your soul became corrugated
And you kicked back at the world.
You forgot how to be in yourself,
You only knew how to react.
Your hurt looked like anger,

Your fear looked like sarcasm.
Other people’s pain was somehow all about you.
Godliness looked like stupidity
And you were not allowed to touch the Torah.
The past was wrong
And the future was fantasy
And you thought you could not love.

Then one day you stopped.
You listened to the ambient sounds.
You listened to your breath,
You listened for that pure soul.
And you saw things as they really were:
Hurt was only hurt
And you were not the center of the universe  
And you felt compassion instead of fear.
Godliness surrounded you.
The past was past, the future was yet to be.
You began to touch Torah
And you remembered to love.

It is very difficult to get there,
It can take a long time,
But once achieved
It is simple.

Really.
Your soul IS pure.
Our souls ARE pure.
And we are each of us a part of all creation,
Protected in the One-ness.

אֱלהַי נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַתָּ בִּי טְהורָה הִיא

Amen

Facebook
Email

Ritualwell content is available for free thanks to the generous support of readers like you! Please help us continue to offer meaningful content with a donation today. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Rituals

The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

Join the Ritualwell community to read and discuss examples of hope expressed in writing through song, story, humor and metaphor that will stir you to think about where hope lives within you.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Get the latest from Ritualwell

Subscribe for the latest rituals, online learning opportunities, and unique Judaica finds from our store.

The Reconstructionist Network