Inspired by an excerpt from the poem "Red Sea" by Aurora Levins Morales written in 2002 and included in the article written by Arielle Angel “We Cannot Cross Until We Carry Each other” in Jewish Currents post October 7, 2023.

Written by Molly Bajgot & Sol Weiss on our way to DC, October 2023
Sung by Leigh Witzling, Nina Gordon Kirsch, Lily Israel, Molly Bajgot and Sol Weiss


Lyrics:

We won’t rest till we’re all free
You are not my enemy
In our pain, in our grief
Border walls won’t protect me

We will cross the sea
With all of us or none

We will cross the sea
We will cross the sea
With all of us or none
With all of us or none

Cross the Sea (by Molly Bajgot & Sol Weiss)

Why, why worry when you can _____
Pray to/for the most high
Pray to/for the mothers and the fathers
Pray to/for the most high
Pray for them to watch over
Why, why worry when you can ____

Why Why Worry

recorded by Batya Levine & Noam Lerman
November 9, 2016

Noam Lerman learned this song during a morning water ceremony that took place at standing rock reservation when they were there during sukkot. It was taught by someone named Lia.

Water Heal My Soul

lyrics: be easy, take your time, you are coming home to yourself, coming home to yourself. 
Based on a poem by Nayyirah Waheed

Be Easy

Artist: Meredith Buck
I learned from Marion of Sing Portland.

The story goes that Meredith Buck was at a retreat in the woods. The participants were led somewhere on the grounds, were then blindfolded, and had to find their way back by listening to the sound of drums being played. Part of the journey back was crossing the Eel River, and it was when Meredith was wading across that this song came to her.

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

Part 1:
Listen (x4)

Part 2:
Lay yourself down on the rocks now
Let your body down in the river
Listen for the drumming on the other side
Lose yourself in the meantime

Part 3:
Listen
Let your body be your guide
Let the water decide
Lose yourself in the meantime

Eel River Chant / Listen (Meredith Buck)

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)

Artist: Scott Kalechstein Grace
I learned from the IfNotNow soundcloud!

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

Lyrics:
I'm gonna let life move me
I'm gonna let life stir me deep
I'm gonna let life wake me from an ancient sleep
I'm gonna laugh all my laughter
I'm gonna cry all my tears
I'm gonna love the rain as deeply as the sun when it clears

Gonna Let Life Move Me (Scott Kalechstein Grace)

Artist: Sol Yael Weiss

I learned this song from Sol at Let My People Sing 2019. They taught it during the trans/non-binary/queer mikveh just before we all jumped in.

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

Lyrics:
Great waters, great waters
Pour over me
For I am your child
Make me yours again

(Second verse:
Great waters, great waters
Pour over me
Heal my broken places
Make me whole again)

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Great Waters (Sol Yael Weiss)

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

By Molly Bajgot & Noah Weinberg. 
Elul music project by Anat Hochberg & Matt Goldfield

Great Waters (Sol Yael Weiss)

Ary Solomon

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