Songs to honor the water, which is threatened by Enbridge's Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Learn more about how to protect water, land, climate, relatives, and Anishinaabe treaty rights at stopline3.org

[Track image is "urchatz" illustration from Bend the Arc Jewish Action's Liberation Haggadah.]

Nibi songs

roots

shevat // stop Line 3

A companion for the melodies in our Nishmat Shoom Haggadah for 5781, plus more songs for your seder!

Pesach

Brich Rachamana בריך רחמנא

recorded by dove kent, talia cooper & margot seigle on a sweet fall night in a cozy brooklyn apartment. 

Aramaic: Babylonian Talmud 
English: Rabbi Shefa Gold, www.RabbiShefaGold.com

lyrics
בריך רחמנא 
מלכא דעלמא 
מריה דהאי פיתא 

Brikh raḥamana 
Malka d'alma 
Ma'arey d'hi (oh!) pita 

You are the source of 
Life for all that is 
And your blessing 
Flows through me

Oh lord prepare me
To be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
And with thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary for you

Oh lord prepare me
To be a revolutionary
Bold and tender, tried and true
And with each other, 
We'll build another
World together
For me and you

(bonus verse written by iris brilliant, andrew meeker, sarah abbott, margot seigle & becky jones, with edits from Aly Halpert / summer 2015)

TISHREI - Brich Rachamana בריך רחמנא

Kosi R’vaya
My cup runneth over

Psalm 23
tune by Shefa Gold. 

recording by margot seigle, ilana lerman & michelle citrin around a campfire in the woods in mendham, nj
2016

Kosi R'vaya

Tu B'shvat Nign

Tu Bshvat Nign (akon) [with B part]

let the rain soak soak soak your clothes
let the rain seep seep into your bones
let the rain drench drench drench your soul
let it in

*with the help of a bat and an egret and the pond in a powerful summer storm*

storm song

Chabad nigun named after it's author, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn who was also known as the "Tzemach Tzedek," which means "sprout of justice."

Tzemach Tzedek Nigun

asher lo hayam

this is a fragment of a longer phrase "asher lo hayam v'hu asahu" from psalm 95, which roughly translates as "g!d is/is of/has the sea and g!d made it"

collage by chani nicholas
https://chaninicholas.com/horoscopes/

Asher Lo (by Matthew Goldfield & Batya Levine)

A slow song brought to you by the waters of the Webatuck swamp - Schagticoke / Mahican land. 

Water provides life. From the rain, the dew, the ocean, water heals and holds, and sings so many songs through us. I am grateful to the waters for being such a teacher, and invite you to honor them with this song.

The hebrew at the end is the traditional prayer said for a Mikveh, ritual immersion or bath:

Barukh atah Adonay Eloheynu ruach ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al ha-t'vilah.

Blessed are you, source of creation,  of the universe, who sanctifies us through mitzvot and has shown us immersion.

lizard popping bubbles

Great Waters

You can purchase the Elul album, which was compiled, recorded & edited by Anat Hochberg & Matt Goldfield here:
https://elulmusicproject.bandcamp.com/releases
This album features a beautiful collection of original songs for Elul by various contemporary Jewish musicians.

This song came through in the forests of the Blue Hills, which is on the land of the Massachusett tribe. Sometimes it may seem that all of our leaves fall down, onto the forest floor, and our branches lie bare & exposed in the cold wind. Shedding tears and the things that no longer serve us, we are stripped down to our most basic selves. This leaves us vulnerable, and it naturally opens up a space for teshuva, a return to self. Because we are the water, earth, fire and wind, and we can call on these powers, to help us through.

LYRICS:
all the leaves have fallen down, have fallen down
all the leaves have fallen down, have fallen down

i am the water, earth, fire & wind
dig deep my roots and return again
i am the water, earth, fire & wind
return again

CREDITS:
from Elul: Songs for Turning, released September 7, 2017
Batya Levine: vocals
Anat Hochberg: vocals
Micah Shapiro: djembe, vocals
Album Art: Roz Freeman

Elul: Songs for Turning

All The Leaves

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)

with the help of hashem ~

this is a song for rain inspired by tefillat hageshem (prayer for rain). as we closed out sukkot this past sunday at sunset, we welcomed in a one line change in our daily liturgy: praying for rain instead of dew. we'll do this for another five to six months and switch back to dew, following  the waxing and waning of our ancestors crop growing and harvest cycles. 

this chag season i’ve had some powerful experiences with sunshine and rain. we had sun when we’ve needed it dwelling outside in our impermanent hut; rain when we were ready and the car was completely packed. sun during the day biking and walking to shul and town; rain now that the sun has set on simchas torah and i am writing this. I know we won’t always be that lucky, especially in the climate crisis, to have just the right amount of rain at just the right time. this prayer for rain is invoking that spirit of hope and timing — that we may have rain in the right places and the right times. that spirit will remember us, and won’t hold back water. 

happy rainy season, y’all.

tefillat hageshem

Songs from "A Night of Questions" Passover Haggadah, published by Reconstructing Judaism

A Night Of Questions

Also see

Dayenu

Use these recordings to prepare yourself for our Shavuot Inclusion Service on Saturday, May 30 at 11am!

Contact Josh at jrosenberg@pasyn.org for more information about this service.

Hinei Ma Tov

for the trans bodies, covid bodies, black & brown bodies, disabled and chronically ill bodies, gloriously fat bodies & all the bodies that have to forge their own beautiful path to wholeness.

this body is the earth that holds my bones
this body is the air that i breathe
this body is the water flowing at the shore
this body is the path that guides me home

this body, this body, this body sets me free

This Body

By Miner
Recorded by Sol Weiss & Margot Seigle

let the wave wash over me
let the wave wash over me
I am already under
let the wave wash over me

Tomorrow - Miner

Artist: Saro Lynch-Thomason

Lyrics:
There are more waters rising
This I know, this I know
There are more waters rising
This I know
There are more waters rising
They will find their way to me
There are more waters rising
This I know, this I know
There are more waters rising
This I know

There are more fires burning...

There are more mountains falling...

I will wade through the waters
This I know, this I know
I will wade through the waters
This I know
I will wade through the waters
When they find their way to me
I will wade through the waters
This I know, this I know
I will wade through the waters
This I know

I will move with the fires...

I will rebuild the mountains...

*Note: Saro's lyrics are "I will walk through the fires" - I changed them to "I will move with the fires"

More Waters Rising (Saro Lynch-Thomason)

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

Avra K'Davra