Inspired by Yonatan Razel’s D’ror YIkra (original piyyut by Dunash ibn Labrat).  

This song is a declaration of freedom, recovery, and turning it over to Shechina. It is dedicated to the amazing OG's of suite five hundo. 

D'ror yikra l'ven im bat, v'yintzorchem k'mo vavat, n'im shimchem v'lo yushbat, sh'vu v'nuchu b'yom shabbat.

D'rosh navi v'ulami, v'ot yesha aseh imi, n'ta sorek b'toch karmi, she'e shavat b'nei ami.

Seek my sanctuary, come into my home, Give me a sign of deliverance
I give it all to you, I am the apple of your eye
I am a being precious and free as I was meant to be. 

D’ror Yikra… 

D'roch purah b'toch batzrah, 
v’gam bavel asher gavrah, 
n'totz tzarai b'af v'evrah, sh'ma 
koli b'yom ekra.

Elohim ten b'midbar har, hadas shitah b'rosh tidhar, v'lamazhir v'lanizhar, sh'lomim ten k'mei nahar.

When I cry, please hear my voice, Nurture me with peace like a river
I give it all to you, I am the apple of your eye
I am a being precious and free as I was meant to be. 

D’ror Yikra… 

Hadoch kamai, el kanah, b'mog levav uvamginah, v'narchiv peh unmalenah, l'shonenu l'cha rinah.

D'eh chochmah l'nafshecha, v'hi cheter l'roshecha, n'tzor mitzvat k'doshecha, sh'mor shabbat kodshecha.

Crown me with wisdom that my soul may live
Your will for me all of these sacred days. 
I give it all to you, I am the apple of your eye
I am a being precious and free as I was meant to be. 

D’ror Yikra...

Let us proclaim freedom for all the children
I am a being precious and free As I was meant to be
I give it all to you, I am the apple of your eye
I am a being precious and free as I was meant to be. 

D’ror Yikra l’ven im bat  v’yintzorchem k’moh vavat
I am a being precious and free as I was meant to be.

Art by Lev Givon: https://lebedov.github.io/dror-yikra.html

D’ror Yikra - A Proclamation of Freedom (Guitar Version)

You just get to be here now, dear one, dear one

We are always going forward
We are always coming home
In this spiral we call life
We remember we're not alone 

We are held, ooh, we are held, ooh

Dear One

Poem by Aurora Levins Morales
Music by Avra
Support her work here: http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/support-aurora.html

Say these words when you lie down and when you rise up,
when you go out and when you return. In times of mourning
and in times of joy. Inscribe them on your doorposts,
embroider them on your garments, tattoo them on your shoulders,
teach them to your children, your neighbors, your enemies,
recite them in your sleep, here in the cruel shadow of empire:
Another world is possible.
 
Thus spoke the prophet Roque Dalton:
All together they have more death than we,
but all together, we have more life than they.
There is more bloody death in their hands
than we could ever wield, unless
we lay down our souls to become them,
and then we will lose everything.  So instead,
 
imagine winning.  This is your sacred task.
This is your power. Imagine
every detail of winning, the exact smell of the summer streets
in which no one has been shot, the muscles you have never
unclenched from worry, gone soft as newborn skin,
the sparkling taste of food when we know
that no one on earth is hungry, that the beggars are fed,
that the old man under the bridge and the woman
wrapping herself in thin sheets in the back seat of a car,
and the children who suck on stones,
nest under a flock of roofs that keep multiplying their shelter.
Lean with all your being towards that day
when the poor of the world shake down a rain of good fortune
out of the heavy clouds, and justice rolls down like waters.
 
Defend the world in which we win as if it were your child.
It is your child.
Defend it as if it were your lover.
It is your lover.
 
When you inhale and when you exhale
breathe the possibility of another world
into the 37.2 trillion cells of your body
until it shines with hope.
Then imagine more.  
 
Imagine rape is unimaginable. Imagine war is a scarcely credible rumor
That the crimes of our age, the grotesque inhumanities of greed,
the sheer and astounding shamelessness of it, the vast fortunes
made by stealing lives, the horrible normalcy it came to have,
is unimaginable to our heirs, the generations of the free.
 
Don’t waver. Don’t let despair sink its sharp teeth
Into the throat with which you sing.  Escalate your dreams.
Make them burn so fiercely that you can follow them down
any dark alleyway of history and not lose your way.
Make them burn clear as a starry drinking gourd
Over the grim fog of exhaustion, and keep walking.
 
Hold hands. Share water. Keep imagining.
So that we, and the children of our children’s children
may live

V'ahavta (poem by Aurora Levins Morales)

This song was created as a love song for friends and queer chosen family, inspired by my dear pals Scout Bratt & Grace Gleason <3 

From Ruth 1:16

אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִ֔י לְעׇזְבֵ֖ךְ לָשׁ֣וּב מֵאַחֲרָ֑יִךְ כִּ֠י אֶל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֵּלְכִ֜י אֵלֵ֗ךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּלִ֙ינִי֙ אָלִ֔ין עַמֵּ֣ךְ עַמִּ֔י וֵאלֹהַ֖יִךְ אֱלֹהָֽי׃

Al tif’gi’i vi l’azvech lashuv me’acharayich (x2)
ki el asher telchi elech uv’asher talini alin amech ami ve’elohayich elohai (x2)

Do not urge me to push you away
For wherever you go I shall go
Where you I will lie
Your people are my mine
Your Divine my Divine
(x2)

Composition: Avra Shapiro
Vocals: Avra Shapiro & Aly Halpert 
Guitar: Aly Halpert 

Produced by Aly Halpert & Lisa Stein, from the album "Derekh Eretz: Land, Love, & Liberation," created by Eden Village Camp Staffers 
Mixed and Mastered by Rafael Gell
Album Artwork by Karen Cheirif, Liad Hasson, Léah Miller, & Denean Ritchie

Derekh Eretz: Land, Love, & Liberation

Asher Telchi/Where You Go

אָ֭נָֽה אֵלֵ֣ךְ מֵרוּחֶ֑ךָ וְ֝אָ֗נָה מִפָּנֶ֥יךָ אֶבְרָֽח
אִם־אֶסַּ֣ק שָׁ֭מַיִם שָׁ֣ם אָ֑תָּה וְאַצִּ֖יעָה שְּׁא֣וֹל הִנֶּֽךָּ

*Ana elech meruchecha? 
v’ana mipanayich evrach?
Im esak shamayim sham At
ve’atzi’ah she’ol hineka

Where can I escape from Your spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
if I make my bend in the underworld, You are there too.

Psalm 139, Koren translation adapted with queer G-d language
*Note: there are some minor Hebrew mispronunciations in this recorded version. See above transliteration for correct pronunciation. 

There is so, so much heartbreak in the world right now. The devastation in Gaza. The desecration of our sacred earth. The unraveling of our collective moral compass. The quiet devastations- of loss and loneliness, painful transitions, rupture without repair. 

This line from Psalm 139 found its way to me when I needed it most. This verse has become both balm and invitation for me. Even here—in the most painful of places—Hashem is with me. It moves me to ask- How might I feel Their presence? Where do I catch glimpses of Them? And what becomes possible when I do?

May this offering be both balm and invitation for us in our moments of broken-heartedness as well as our great joys. May we never stop making space for Shechina, for that in-dwelling sacred presence, to hold us as we move through this messy, beautiful, heartbreaking, multitudinous life.

Ana Elech (Psalm 139)

Lyrics:
In the queen’s palace there are many gates and doors, leading to many halls and chambers.
The palace-keepers have great rings holding many keys, each of which opens a different door. 
But there is one key that fits all the locks, a master key that opens all the doors.
 
Ve’im ratz libcha l’harheir shuv lamakom- if the heart runs return to the place 
 
Every key unlocks another door in our souls, brings us to another chamber 
But there is one key that unlocks all the doors, that master key is a broken heart. 

Ve’im ratz libcha l’harheir shuv lamakom- if the heart runs return to the place 
 
The master key it is a broken heart 
 
קָרוֹב יְיָ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי לֵב
(Shechina d is close to the broken hearted)

*The verses are from a story of the Baal Shem Tov (Or Yesharim). The chorus is from Sefer Yetzirah. Compilation and melody by Avra. Cover art by Tamuz Shiran from the book "Return to the Place" by Rabbi Jill Hammer.

Return To The Place

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

Mimainei

This is a chant grounded in the resilience, courage, and hope of our Jewish ancestors, reminding us that when we fight for life and for justice, we are weaving ourselves with all justice-fighters who came before us. No fight is too big for our fierce and courageous hearts. 

As the story goes: In 1939, Nazis surrounded a group of Jews from Lublin, Poland, backed up against barbed wire and ordered them to sing to their own execution. One man began to sing: "Mir veln zey iberlebn, iberlebn, iberlebn” —"We will outlive them.” The song took hold among the entire people, who, as they awaited their deaths, began to dance. They danced with joy, with resilience, with a life that could not be destroyed by fascism, militarism, or genocide. The commander saw this resilience. He recognized their defiance. They continued, even as the SS troops charged at them. Most lost their lives that day. And some lived to tell this story. We are here. We will outlive them. We will join forces and voices with others to fight so we can all outlive them, together (thank you, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice!). 

Vocals: Avra Shapiro
Melody: Avra Shapiro
Arrangement: Avra Shapiro & Nadav Simon 
Bass: Matt Coglianese
Drums: Nadav Simon
Violin: Mallory Linehan
Production and Mixing: Nadav Simon
Mastering: Steve Marek 
Recorded and Mastered at Cybernetic Meadow
Art by Micah Bazant (poster can be bought here: https://www.micahbazant.com/buy-art/we-will-outlive-them).

Mir Veln Zey Iberlebn

Sometimes, the stakes really are high. Other times, they are not actually that high, but due to our nervous system's learned survival instincts, they often feel higher than they are. This is an antidote/spell for lowering the stakes when useful. Note: especially handy for Jews with ancestral trauma that's caused us to be hyper vigilant. Feel free to make up your own verses! 

Lyrics:
You can lower the stakes (x2)
When you're thinking real hard about what to do
No one really cares as much as you
It's not gonna be perfect, but it won't be poo
So you can lower the stakes

Yedid Nefesh (fka Avra K'Davra)

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