Shehechianu is a tool for marking time and achievement, lifecycles, other annual cycles, and moments of gratitude. It's been used this way for thousands of years. Tonight, we mark an annual cycle that somehow gives us the opportunity to begin something anew. To mark gratitude - amidst, even despite - and celebrate that we made it here, to this moment. 

There are seemingly infinite blessings that Jewish liturgy offers us to mark the variety of experiences of being a human on this planet - from this rather vague and all-purpose blessing to the specific blessings for seeing the ocean or a rainbow. Then on top of that are the countless "tkhines," or individual prayers, that have been written by average folks for hundreds of years - from blessings for the safety to a blessing @decolonizingjewishness wrote last year for burning a flag on July 4th. What blessings will you write this year? 
 

WG1NknVRQC54KAjxofbJYHv3Ia1yHaRTH2ByK4aiGssydhDPEV_Q_DW4rWln3vMWQv5B6Fxjr5zoj34vDj_89SJVbWLdSlhlQ-uI3H48XJ-L49HUKwrYEaLZptYhPN4Vmvy9v95z

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higianu laz'man hazeh.

It is such a blessing that we live and are uplifted, that we are sustained by this world, and that we found our way here, for this moment.

Amen


haggadah Section: Kadesh
Source: Ariel Kates