On the Return Path: A Kavanah and Blessing before Taking on a New Mitzvah

(Men say:) Hin’ni muchan u-mz’zuman …

(Women say:) Hin’ni muchana u-m’zumenet …

Ready to accept your invitation, Holy One

of Blessing, who orders creation, I stand

before You, with humility and with joy,

prepared to enter more fully into the

weave of Your commandments.

Attentive to the call of my heart to do good,

drawn by the pull of ancestors to sanctify

life, and held by the bonds of community,

alive to the mystery and possibility of

redemption, I ask for strength and resolve

that I may do Your will.

Through the discipline of this mitzvah,

I shore myself up against despair and

express my faith in the potential of our

partnership to repair our world.

Divine Parent, who divided the light from

the darkness, made meaning from hurly

burly (tohu vavohu), created all humanity in

Your image, and gave us the gift of Torah,

I am mindful of the many blessings of my

life, and I thank You for sustaining my body

and guiding the maturation of my soul that I

may maintain a wide perspective, hear Your

voice, appreciate what is sacred, and make

righteous choices along the path of my return.

ברוכה את יה אלוהינו רוח העולם אשר קדשתנו במצותיה, וצותנו לקיים מצות

Beruchah At Yah Eloheynu Ruach Ha’olam, asher kidshatnu b’mitzvoteha, v’tzivatnu likayem mitzvot.

 ברוך אתה יי אלוהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו, וצונו לקיים מצות

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu melekh haolam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu likayem mitzvot. 

 Blessed are You, our God, Spirit of the Universe, who made us holy through Your commandments and commanded us to sustain them.