Kavanah Cards by Betsy Teutsch

Kavanah Cards are no longer in print. Feel free to print your own, just credit me. To read about my book 100 Uder $100, click here.

Kavanah means focus, directed mindfulness, and intentionality. Each of these 22 Kavanah Cards (one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet) features a hand-lettered Hebrew focal word and its English translation with a vivid painting.

The reverse side is a painted miniature with a hand-lettered text highlighting the same Hebrew letter, celebrating ever-flowing blessings and enhancing our sense of gratitude. The text side includes the highlighted letter's gematria, the Jewish mystical system of assigning each Hebrew letter a numerical equivalent. 

Kavanah Cards are full color, two-sided, plastic with rounded edges, about the size of a business card. Each set comes in a drawstring bag with 8 stands, for displaying each card. Here are some ways to use Kavanah cards around the Shabbat table: 

• Each focal-word is open-ended and evocative. How did you experience this during the last week? Or how do you hope this enters your life in the coming week?
• These can serve as icebreakers for people who are not acquainted, and a chance for those who are already connected to share meaningful things.  Simply pass the cards around for people to draw a card or two, and let them respond however they like.
• Some people will like the challenge of creating explanations for how the focal word and text side connect. The text sides and the focal word sides are basically two different decks. However, they are often connected thematically, and people may generate explanations or interpretations about how they relate. There is no right answer. 
• Draw three cards: one for the previous week (past), one for Shabbat (present), and one to carry into the next week (future).Mikael Elsila and Dina Pinksy
• Set out the Kavanah Cards, one or two at each place, like place cards. Let your guests see which seat they think is theirs! Anna Rosenfield

• For Chaplains, Healing, and Healers

  • Bring your Kavanah Cards and stands with you when you visit patients. You may want to leave a card or two (Tikvah/hope comes to mind). 
  • You might pray with the ill person, giving them a choice between a few different cards, asking what they feel they particularly need.
  • If you are visiting a friend, you might want to give them a set of Kavanah Cards to accompany them during their treatment. Present the set with the Reut/Friendshipcard in front; the text on the back is “Healer of Broken Spirits.” Clearly both God and friends are meant here.
  • Kavanah Cards are good companions for people going through chemotherapy, helping to count and focus the days of each regiment.

  • Frequently Asked Questions

    Is the text directly related to the focal word? 
    Each focal word and text feature the same highlighted letter of the alphabet.
    In many cases, but not all, they are thematically related. However, they are not directly connected, like two parts of a verse would be. They offer opportunities to create an interpretation/midrash about how the text and focal word relate.
    Are the paintings watercolor?
    The paintings are actually acrylic, and quite unlike anything else I’ve done. The calligraphy was lettered directly onto the paintings.
    Was each miniature painted intentionally for each card’s message?
    No. I painted with the kavanah that the images could either look like micro images, natural things under a microscope, or macro-images, things looked at from an astronomer’s view. For example, is it a magnification of nerve structures, or an image of a tree? After I had created all the images, Benj Kamm assisted me in deciding which images expressed which thoughts and texts.
    Do people think the card they draw is really a message intended for them?
    There is a long history of the role of magic and the non-rational in Jewish life. Some people are open to the idea of forces at work which guide their pick; others would scoff at such an idea. No matter where your beliefs fall each card has something to offer, so you can approach them with whatever kavanah you wish! Some people enjoy the randomness, but it is also possible to view all the cards and choose the one or two you want to focus on, eliminating the randomness.
    Are these Jewish Angel Cards?
    Kavanah cards were inspired by Jewish Angel Cards, but have added dimensions. The focal words converge somewhat with the Mussar tradition of Midot, virtues. The text side is a gateway for appreciation of Divine presence in our world. Some texts allow for a different interpretation, that we humans participate in putting blessings into the world along with God. The Gematria is added as an additional source of meaning, learning, and play. Any method or approach used with Angel Cards would work with Kavanah Cards.
    What about Tarot Cards—any connection?
    I discovered only after creating the Kavanah Cards that there are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot Card Set, the same number as Kavanah Cards. There is no agreed upon source for the Tarot set’s 22, though some historians connect it to a Kabbalistic influence and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Tarot Cards are not alphabetical or related to the Hebrew alphabet, so the only common link is the number 22.
    Where did this acrostic come from?
    There is a long tradition of acrostics in Jewish liturgy and text. This one was created by Betsy Teutsch and Dr. Adina Newberg, a professor of Hebrew at theReconstructionist Rabbinical College. We composed a set of 22 focal words which balance traditional and contemporary concerns and values.
    To whom/Whom does the text side refer?
    The texts are intended as expressions to cultivate gratitude for divine, everflowing blessings. Here we name the Divine by divine action in the world. This is called predicate theology, “a way of approaching a definition of God by listing the qualities we associate with divinity” (Arthur Green in Kol Haneshamah for Shabbat, p. 256).
    If one reads the text side with a more human focus, it can be a charge to create that particular activity in the world, to the best of our human ability. This is, of course, working in partnership with the Source of All.