The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening Love (For People of All Faiths, All Backgrounds) - Softcover

Rabbi Shefa Gold, is director of C-DEEP: The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced several recordings, and her liturgies have been published in many prayer books. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of chanting, devotional healing, spiritual community building and meditation around the world. She also trains chant leaders in Kol Zimra, a two-year program for rabbis, cantors and lay leaders. Shefa, who is on the faculty of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, combines her grounding in Judaism with a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic and Native American spiritual traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the shared path of devotion. She is author of Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land and In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs. For more information about Rabbi Shefa Gold, please visit her website at www.RabbiShefaGold.com.

Rabbi Shefa Gold is available to speak on the following topics:

• The Magic of Hebrew Chant
• Ecstatic Meditation
• The Path of Love
• Gratefulness as the Foundation of our Spiritual Practice
• The Power of Intention

Click here to contact the author.

Gold, Rabbi Shefa. The Magic of Hebrew Chanting: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, DeepeningLove. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2013. 326 pp. $24.99. (9781580236713).

Chanting is a form of meditation. Rabbi Shefa Gold has written a book presenting both the theory of chanting and also providing musical notations for her popular chants. Gold explains that the root: zayin-mem-resh ((רמז for chanting "has a double meaning: z-m-r means to chant, but it also means to prune." By chanting, we are removing the nonessential and uncovering our soul or neshamah. Chanting can bring spirituality, healing and togetherness as a community. The book is well organized and the explanations are clear. One suggestion, however, I would also purchase Gold's audio discs if you truly want to experience the power of chanting. If you can play a musical instrument, you can play and sing the chants yourself.

Ellen Share, Librarian, Washington Hebrew Congregation