This poem by Ruth F. Brin describes the stillness and silence of the transition into evening, as reflected in the physical world, human beings, and God. Brin, a liturgical pioneer in the 1950s, modernized traditional Jewish prayers and texts with new interpretive readings and original poetry reflecting her own religious experiences. Her writings can be found in many Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist prayer books. This poem, published in her book “Harvest: Collected Poems and Prayers,” was shared on Ritualwell, a project of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College that provides a platform for creating new Jewish practices and observances.
For Kabbalat Shabbat
Who with Your word brings on the evening twilight . . .
rolling away the light before the darkness.
The trees are silent, and the earth is still,
the sun makes no sound; no voice has the hill.
The earth rolls in silence, the stars pierce the sky,
the moon will not whisper, the clouds cannot sigh.
And though God has bid them, we have not heard,
this night has fallen without sound of God’s Word.
Yet Your law sends the stars across the night,
the earth turns surely from darkness to light.
How then shall we praise God who silently gives?
Each silently praises who righteously lives.
Our stillness is praise when our ears have heard
the command of love: God’s unspoken word.