This song is Marcia Falk's poetic reworking of the Jewish blessing for sanctifying the present moment, the Shehechiyanu ('The One who enlivens us').

» highest in charts:   # 201   (151,857 songs currently listed in Acoustic)
» highest in sub-genre:   # 33   (19,980 songs currently listed in Acoustic > Acoustic Folk)

Any time you say "Baruch Ata," you are, without realizing it, speaking to God using a male pronoun. Hebrew is just like that- either you're speaking to a male or female. There is no "it," as there is in English. Thus, in her rewriting of many of the traditional blessings, Marcia Falk reclaims the language of blessing to empower the blesser- us- instead of the blessed- God. So instead of saying, "Blessed are You, Lord our God," it's "We bless you, Source of Life." She tidily avoids sexism and hierarchy all in one short sentence.

N'varech et Mayan Chayenu
Shechinat/ HaOlam (or Chei haOlamim)
Shehechiyanu v'kiyemanu
V'higianu lazman haZeh.

Let us bless the Source of our lives,
The Spirit of the world.
That has sustained us, given us strength and enabled us to reach this time.