This is the most important spiritual practice for Psalm 27 - Learn to recite it by heart!

1. Yah, you are my Light, my Savior,
Whom need I dread?
Yah, With You as my strong Protector
Who can make me panic?
2. When hateful bullies gang up on me,
Wanting to harass me,
To oppress and terrorize me,
They are the ones who stumble and fall.
3. Even if a gang surrounds me
My heart is not weakened.
If a battle is joined around me
My trust in You is firm.
4. Only one thing do I ask of You, Yah,
Just this alone do I seek:
I want to be at home with You, Yah,
All the days of my life.
I want to delight in seeing You,
When I come to visit You in Your Temple
5. You hide me in Your Sukkah on a foul day.
You conceal me unseen in Your tent
And also raise me beyond anyone’s reach.
6. And now, as You have held my head high,
Despite the presence of my powerful foes,
I prepare to celebrate and thrill,
Singing and making music to You, Yah!
7. Listen, Yah, to the sound of my cry
And, being kind, answer me.
8. My heart has said: I turn to seek You,
Your Presence is what I beg for.
9. Don’t hide Your Face from me.
Don’t just put me down,
You, who have been my helper
Don’t abandon me, don’t forsake me,
God, my support.
10. Though father and mother have left me
You, Yah, will hold me securely.
11. Please teach me Your way
And guide me on the straight path.
12. Discourage those who defame me.
False witnesses stood up against me,
Belching out violence.
Don’t let me become the victim of my foes.
[I would not have survived]
13. If I had not hoped that I would yet see
Yah’s goodness fully alive on Earth.
14. So friend, you too, hope to Yah.
Be sturdy!
And make strong your heart!
And most of all —keep hoping to Yah.

For a translation by Norman Fischer click here

1. Read and understand the meaning of words you don't know.
2. There are some idioms in the Psalm. Can you think what is their meaning beyond the literal? (for example לאכול את בשרי, לחזות בנועם ה, לבקר בהיכלו,אל תתנני בנפש צרי)
3. Does Psalm 27 remind you of another (famous) Psalm? how?
4. Some say that these are actually two Psalms stuck together, some hold the opinion that this is one Psalm. What are the two (or three) parts of the Psalm? How do they differ from each other? How are they connected? Find word similarities between the two parts. Below (after the youtubes) there are sources for our class with these connections. If you want to do the exercise yourself, don't scroll down to this sources yet :-)
5. Count the number of the appearance of the Holy Name (יהו"ה). Any insights?

Here is a a Hebrew reggae version of the whole Psalm by Alon Tamir - to slow your scroll and stop you from peeking...

And a rap version by Danny Raphael, who is the alter ego of the Rabbi director of AJS (in English!)

Linguistic connections between the two parts. here is link to full Hebrew article By R' Elchanan Samet that suggested these, and I added one more.

(2) בִּקְרֹ֤ב עָלַ֨י מְרֵעִים֮ לֶאֱכֹ֢ל אֶת־בְּשָׂ֫רִ֥י צָרַ֣י וְאֹיְבַ֣י לִ֑י
(12) אַֽל־תִּ֭תְּנֵנִי בְּנֶ֣פֶשׁ צָרָ֑י כִּ֥י קָמוּ־בִ֥י עֵדֵי־שֶׁ֝֗קֶר וִיפֵ֥חַ חָמָֽס

Acadian: karṣī akālu
Aramaic: למיכל קרצין
Arabic: ي ا ك لٌّ لٌٌّّ حومٌٌٌَّّّ (flesh eater, of people, meaning slandering)

Marianne Williamson from her book "Return to Love". This quote was made famous when it was quoted in Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Speech, 1994

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear in that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the World.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel unsure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
As we let our own Light shine,
we consciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

לך אמר ליבי בקשו פני, את פניך יהוה אבקש׃

Go to our playlist for many more melodies for this verse.
Lach amar libi bakshu fanai, et panayich Havayah avakesh

Go to our playlist for many more melodies for this vers

Meditative Kavvana by Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg - for the full set of her kavvanot for Psalm 27 go to our Drive folder.

I seek only one thing, one thing alone: to connect to this moment. Nowhere else. Only this. Nothing less. My palace in time.

Rabbi Sheila's kavvana: May we take courage; may we be strong; may our hearts be so filled with love there is no room for anything else! May we see the arising and passing of all conditioned things. May we open to the Unconditioned: Y*H*V*H

כִּֽי־אָבִ֣י וְאִמִּ֣י עֲזָב֑וּנִי
וַֽיהוה יַאַסְפֵֽנִי׃
ה֤וֹרֵ֥נִי יהוה דַּ֫רְכֶּ֥ךָ

Though my father and my mother have forsaken me,
God will gather me in.
Teach me Your Way, Oh God

R' Shefa Gold develops chant practices. She calls this one Reparented.
1. This three part round is a three part process of first admitting the ways that your parents may have “failed” you. They may not have been able to give you the exact safety, encouragement, nourishment, guidance, or embrace that you needed. From your grown-up perspective now you can stop blaming them and instead cultivate compassion for their limitations and for yourself. They were really doing the best they could.

2. The second step is to turn to God, the Great Father/Mother and allow yourself to be embraced, gathered in, and re-parented. Surrender into the arms of that Divine Parent and let yourself be held, seen, known, and sent to your own truth.


3. The third step is to open to Guidance, internalizing that Divine Parent as you connect to Wisdom in this very moment on your Life Path.

Click here for music for this chant practice on Shefa's website

Anyone who recites Psalm 27, “Of David: The Lord is my light and my salvation,” etc., from Rosh Chodesh Elul until after Simcḥat Torah, evening and morning, day by day—such a person is assured that he will complete his years in goodness and find delight. Even if a harsh decree has been written against a person from Heaven, it can be annulled; and all prosecutors, adversaries, and destructive forces are removed from upon him, and all severe and evil decrees are nullified. He emerges acquitted in judgment, and through this all accusers are subdued.

For from Rosh Chodesh onward, thirteen sources are opened from the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and they are revealed and shine below... Therefore, in this psalm there are thirteen occurrences of the Divine Name (Y-H-V-H)... And through the recitation of this psalm we effect the nullification of the Heavenly Court, of adversaries and accusers, who have no permission at all to approach and judge us. Rather, our judgment comes forth from before You, and thus we emerge acquitted in judgment.

Warning! in this clip Sapir Cohen, who was abducted to Gaza and released after 55 days tells her deeply moving story about reciting Psalm 27. She also is describing her abduction. We will not be watching the whole clip together, I will tell you the parts of the story about Psalm 27 in class (also form other interviews).

This is how we conclude Kol Nidrei Services late of Yom Kippur Eve.