A lullaby melody for day turning to night

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu
Ruach haolam asher bid’varo 
maariv aravim

B’chochmah potei-ach sh’arim, 
uvit’vunah m’shaneh itim 
umachalif et haz’manim, 
um’sadeir et hakochavim 
b’mishm’roteihem barakia kirtzono. 

Borei yom valailah, 
goleil or mipnei choshech, 
v’choshech mipnei or. 
Umaavir yom umeivi lailah, 
umavdil bein yom uvein lailah, 

Adonai Tz’vaot sh’mo. 
El chai v’kayam, 
tamid yimloch aleinu l’olam va-ed. 
Baruch atah, Adonai, hamaariv aravim.

Maariv Aravim Lullaby

There Is So Much Magnificence

I Will Stay With You

For Pittsburgh and Squirrel Hill. In service of our healing and collective freedom in the midst of intense white nationalist violence in the form of transphobia, racism, sexism, and anti-semitism.  As a reminder that more police and "security" do not make us safer, especially for those of us who hold multiple targeted identities.  We will only win when we are all together.

Lyrics:
we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we sing for justice, and wholeness

we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we know that we are not alone
right here we are home

you have taken a universe
you have taken a mountain
our voices echo in the hills

they will not divide us
we will not abide this
we know that together we'll be free
mourning tragedy
our safety is with each other

we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we sing for justice, and wholeness

we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we know that we are not alone
right here we are home

toch emunei am segulah (repeated)

hebrew translation: 
from lecha dodi, a prayer greeting shabbes:
among those who hold faith, a treasured nation

gratitude to Chana Rusanov for hebrew lyrics and translation.
gratitude for Rachel Beck for leading me on my own journey against anti-semitism for seven years now
gratitude for Dove Kent, JFREJ, and so so many other brilliant teachers leading us towards solidarity
gratitude for our allies who take the time and effort to see the realities of systemic anti-semitism
gratitude for life, for existence, and the capacity to heal.

Aly Halpert's Album

Beautiful People (Toch Emunei)

Artist: MaMuse
I learned at a MaMuse concert in August 2018.

Sung at a song circle on August 18, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Findin' my way (x5)
Findin' my way back home
Findin' my way (x5)
Findin' my way back home

Part 2:
Oh river
I hear you feel you callin' me
Oh river
Who will I be when I reach the sea

Part 3:
I am, I am home
I am, I am home

Finding My Way / Oh River (MaMuse)

Music: Miriam Margles
Words: Ary Solomon
I learned at Hava Nashira (singing retreat at OSRUI in Wisconsin) from Noam Katz. Original words are in Hebrew (zeh hayom asah adonai nagilah v'nis'm'cha vo) and have been changed (not a translation).

Sung at a song circle on July 20, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Raise your eyes look up to the sky
Feel the rain as it falls down

*Note: I originally thought the music was by Noam Katz - thank you Baci Weiler for the correction!

Raise Your Eyes (Music: Miriam Margles, Lyrics: Ary Solomon)

Artist: Miner
I learned this song at Let My People Sing 2019.

Sung at a song circle on September 15, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Let the wave wash over me
Let the wave wash over me
I am already under
Let the wave wash over me

Part 2:
There will be better days

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Let The Wave (Miner)

Artist: Coco Love Alcorn
I learned at Adamah (Jewish Farming Fellowship) in 2014. The song was brought to the Isabella Freedman community from Let My People Sing; Batya and Noam taught it, and they learned it from Lia at a morning water ceremony at Standing Rock.

Sung at a song circle on February 22, 2020 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Water heal my body
Water heal my soul
When I go down, down to the water
By the water I feel whole

Water Heal My Body (Coco Love Alcorn)

"The Sky's Reply" by Joshua Blaine
LYRICS:
מִֽן־הַ֭מֵּצַ֥ר קָרָ֣אתִי יָּ֑הּ עָנָ֖נִי בַמֶּרְחָ֣ב יָֽהּ׃
Psalm 118:5

To You I call, feeling scared and small.
And You reply with the vastness of the sky!

English verse/translation inspired by-the English translation from Siddur HaKohanot: A Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook:
"I called to Yah from the narrow place, and was answered with the sky's wideness"

The Sky’s Reply by Josh Blaine

More at: www.patreon.com/rivshapiro

Song from project "fragments":

"Fragments" is a multimedia process of ancestral re-membering. Music and film become the container for the artist's quest to recover the stories and strengths of their Jewish ancestors who migrated from Romania to Minneapolis at the turn of the 20th century. "Fragments" challenges linear space-time to illuminate the past through the present and invite the audience into the question: How do we remember what's been forgotten?

Remember Me (Live)

A prayer for renewal
A song for healing
A blessing for life

We draw from the wellsprings of liberation
For one another
For the movement
For our world

Love is liberation is water is life

lyrics
מִמַּעַיְנֵ֖י הַיְשׁוּעָֽה
שְׁאַבְתֶּם מַ֖יִם בְּשָׂשׂ֑וֹן

Mimainei hayeshua
Shavtem mayim b'sason

(Words adapted from Isaiah 12:3)

We will draw water in celebration
From the wellsprings of liberation

Mayim Chayim
מים חיים
credits
released October 21, 2019

Written by Avra Shapiro in collaboration with Yael Schonzeit

Vocals: Avra Shapiro and Yael Schonzeit

Mixing and editting: Dave Rosenfeld and Yael Schonzeit

Percussion: Yael Schonzeit and Dave Rosenfeld

Finding My Way / Oh River (MaMuse)

Ary Solomon

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