Posts in First Year Milestones
Excerpt from "The Little Prince"

If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-blossom with flowers.

And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live, everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better like that. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. And so you will love to watch all of the stars in the heavens. They will be your friends.

All men have the stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travellers, these stars are guides. For others, they are no more than little lights in the sky.

But all these stars are silent. You – you alone – will have the stars as no one else has them and in one of the stars, I shall be living. In one of them, I shall be laughing when you look at the sky at night.

And when your sorrow is comforted, for time soothes all sorrows, you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, just for that pleasure.'

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Hanukah Prayer Blessing Ancestors

This can be adapted for any day of the year or for daily practice.

Holy One of Blessing. Spirit of All Life, as I light these Hanukah candles I attune to the soul of my _______ (relationship) ___________(name/names). Beloved _________(relationship), I invite you into my heart and ask for your blessings in my life. Watch over me and my family. May my life express those values you held dear, values that inspire and help me to make the world a better place. If there is a need for more forgiveness and healing between us, may the lights of Hanukah radiate healing and illuminate the capacity for forgiveness between us.

Holy One of Blessing, You who made miracles for our ancestors in days of old, continue to bring more miraculous love, light and healing into our hearts, our homes, our community, and the world. I am grateful to those ancestors whose spirits touch mine and I offer my thanks for your loving wisdom. Amen.

—Reb Simcha Raphael, Ph.D., Founding Director, DA’AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training

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