A man takes a wife and possesses her. She fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house
Ritual, God, and Me, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman
Ritual…is the fashioning of order; it is liturgy acted out, the order of the text (as script) wed to musi and action – opening the door for Elijah, blowing the shofar, lighting a candle when Yahrzeit begins, or dowsing one when Havdalah is over.
All of life is the assertion of order within chaos, and human behavior especially is distinctive in the degree to which we have learned to extend the desire for order in endless creative directions. Ritual is the regularized affirmation of order that matters.
Life and a Little Liturgy, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman
...liturgy is the way we ritualize life, it is a whole lot more about life. It's my unabashed take on a ot of life: our communities, our values, our identity and our stories in the making -- but with a twist, a liturgical twist, the insight that comes from knowing that human beings are ritualizing animals, and that how and what we ritualize says a lot about who and what we want be.
Elohai Neshama (translation from Mishkan T'filah)
MY GOD, the soul You have given me is pure. You created it, You shaped it, You breathed it into me and You protect it within me. For as long as my soul is within me, I offer thanks to You, Adonai, my God and God of my ancestors Source of all Creation, Sovereign of all souls. Praised are You, Adonai, in whose hand is every living soul and the breath of humankind.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמָן הַזֶּה
Shehechyanu
Blessed is the Eternal, the God of all creation, who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this time.