I first heard this niggun of yours a few years ago thx to the rising song group recording and have since learned to sing it on my own. I love connecting with it and it's nice to hear your original solo version. Quite comforting in a joyful way.

NSP Fire Pit Singing

Sung with Grace Gleason, Chol HaMoed Pesach 5781/2021

Love is not a receding horizon we reach for
Love is the ground, love is the ground on which we lay (x2)

Worthiness is not a mountaintop we strive toward
It is the field, it is the field in which we play (x2)

אַהֲבָה רַבָּה אֲהַבְתָּנוּ, ה’ אֱלקינוּ
חֶמְלָה גְּדולָה וִיתֵרָה חָמַלְתָּ עָלֵינוּ

Ahava raba ahavtanu Hashem Elokeinu
Chemla gedola viteira chamalta aleinu

[Translation: With abundant love You have loved us, Divine One
With overflowing compassion You have compassioned on us]

Ahava Raba (Love is the Ground)

Cross the Sea

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)

from Release: Songs for Shmita by Adamah Fellows Fall 2014

PRODUCER 
Shir Yaakov Feit, shiryaakov.com

MUSICIANS 
Elana Brody, Arielle Solomon, Rachel Cohn, Talya Goldberg, Tadea Klein, Yaeli Bronstein, Brooke Palatt, Craig Auerbacher, Margot Seigle, Brian Dolphin, Shir Yaakov Feit

RECORDING ENGINEER 
Ruwan Karunanande

lyrics
May the life I lead speak for me 
When I get to the end of my road 
And I lay down my heavy load 
May the life I lead speak for me

May the songs I sing speak for me

May the work I do speak for me

May the words I speak speak for me

May the path I walk speak for me

May the land I tend speak for me

May The Life I Lead

Vocals - Batya Levine
Percussion - Simcha Halpert Hanson

Nechama - Batya Levine

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

Elohai Neshama by Sol Weiss

I wrote this song inspired by this quote from the Apocrypha, Book of Enoch (9:7) “The angels taught the daughters of men incantations, exorcisms, the cutting of roots, and revealed to them healing plants.”

The angels revealed to us healing plants (x2)
The angels taught the daughters the cutting of roots (x2)

Erez v'ezov
Levanah v'rimon
Shaked v'tamar
peygam v'shoom

Cedar and hyssop
frankincense and pomegrante
almond and date palm
rue and garlic

 I love this quote because it speaks to knowledge acquired through direct transmission, through relationship, specifically to “the daughters of men” (which we know means anyone without access to institutional power/gender non-conforming/trans/femmes) –  people who are identified by who they belong to and who are clearly transgressing by hanging out with and learning from angels.  It also suggests that this knowledge is always/still available to us; that even though it can feel like the healing wisdom and practices of our ancestors have been lost or purposely hidden from us,  we can access this knowledge by connecting with “angels.” Who are these angels who reveal and teach this stuff (and can I follow them on instagram and take a workshop?) I don’t know, but in my dreams sometimes they are the trees and flowers themselves, generously sharing their magic and beauty everywhere we look. (fyi, originally, in the Apocrypha, this was not actually a celebration of learning about healing from angels as you can imagine!)

you can read more about jewish plant magic here: https://dorimidnight.com/resources/jewish-plant-magic-rooting-in-resources/?fbclid=IwAR1edzpNKBZMTcivRU6TsePiQuoUGNrzxBMsButomfTNbErAHO2D1aqQc3A

Erez V'ezov

Singing Team - Friday Night Melodies

Hashkiveinu - Two Part Round

Blessed Motion - 7:2:19, 11.01 PM

Gevurah ~ Strength
“Your loving kindness sustains the living, your great mercies give life to the dead*.” 

You wake us up
From our sleep
To fight for all humanity
‘Till everyone is free

Guided by our biggest light
Love is part of how we fight
Mechai meitim*

And I pray, pray, pray,
For our strength, strength, strength
And I pray, pray, pray,
For our strength

-- Molly Bajgot

[Other verse options:   Possibility    Our Community    Solidarity]

*to give life to the dead here is being specifically interpreted to mean:

to give life “to carry on the memory”
to the dead “people who died due to unjust systems":

583 people shot and killed by police in 2019
7,216 people have died crossing the US-Mexico border between 1998 and 2017
Israeli security forces killed 290 Palestinians, including 55 minors, in 2018
28 trans women killed in 2018
And many more deaths rooted in racism, sexism, class-based oppression, addiction, mental health, gender-based oppression, homophobia -- and more otherwise consequences of an oppressive society

we remember them & fight for them with love

for our strength | גבורה

Artist: Peter McKenna
I learned it from Adamah (Jewish Farming Fellowship) in 2014. 

Sung at a song circle on January 1, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
There is so much magnificence in the ocean
The waves are comin' in
Waves are comin' in

Part 2:
Wash me away
So that all that's left is love
Great Spirit

Part 3:
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Part 4:
Hallelu, Hallelujah (x3)

Magnificence (Peter McKenna)

Artist: Laurence Cole
I learned at the 2017 Rewild Conference from Rose and Heron Brae.

Sung at a (mini) song circle on August 1, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Trees grow slow
And trees grow strong
And trees sway with the wind
Their whole lives long

And trees hold the ground
As they reach for the sky
And fallen trees still feed the seeds
They cast before they die

Trees Grow Slow (Laurence Cole)

Artist: Chandler Yorkhall
I learned it from Sonrisa Alter.

Sung at a (mini) song circle on August 1, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Full moon outside my window
This warm September night

Pulls me into wakefulness
Far too early

I'd rather be sleeping the day's
Already too long for me

I'll just wait
For dawn

Full Moon Round (Chandler Yorkhall)

https://fb.watch/3eSSURrJSb/

We will not underestimate 
our power any longer—
we know that together, we are strong.
Like drops of water shape the rocks 
as they rush down the falls,
we know that together,
we are strong.

שִׁירָה חֲדָשָׁה שִׁבְּ֒חוּ גְאוּלִים לְשִׁמְךָ עַל־שְׂפַת הַיָּם יַֽחַד כֻּלָּם הוֹדוּ
Shira chadasha shibchu ge'ulim l'shimcha al sfat hayam, 
yachad kulam hodu
"With newborn song, liberated people praised Your name on the lip of the sea. All were one in thanks." -Jewish Liturgy

May it be so.

Production by Eitan Kantor
Art by Sol Yael Weiss
Music and English Lyrics by Rena Branson
Hebrew Lyrics from Jewish Liturgy

Virtual Choir:

Aly Halpert
Anat Halevy Hochberg
Ari Yovel
R' Ariel Root Wolpe
Ariel Shapiro
Arielle Rivera Korman
Aviva Chernick
Batya Levine
Binya Kóatz
Caryn Shebowich
Chloe Telfeyan Glickman
Cole Krawitz
Dori Midnight
Eitan Kantor
Gedalia Penner
Grace Gleason
Itai Gal
JB Levine
Pastor John Bergen
C' Jessi Roemer
K' Keshira haLev Fife
Margot Seigle
Marigo Farr
Mariyama Scott
Marques Hollie
May Ye
Molly Bajgot
R' Mónica Gomery
Nissa Mai Rose
Nnedinma Umeadi
R' Noam Lerman
Patrece Dixon
Rachel Chang
Rebecca Peretz-Lange
Rebekka Goldsmith
Reem Rosenhaj
Reuben Shachar Rose
Riv Ranney Shapiro
Rowan K. Ching
Sadie Gold-Shapiro
Shana Salzberg
Sol Yael Weiss
Yaara Perczek
Yasha Shapiro
Zuriel Biran

Our Power (Video Version)

The New Synagogue Project is building a spiritually vibrant, radically inclusive synagogue that reflects our vision for a world of justice, equity, and liberation. Our community is being created by and for families with kids, couples and single people, queer and trans people, disabled and chronically ill people, D/deaf and hard of hearing folks, interfaith families, Jews of color and white Jews, Jews from many religious and secular backgrounds, and anyone interested in exploring and experiencing Jewish life. 

We believe communal singing is an incredibly powerful way to pray, connect with each other and ourselves, and find healing. Singing infuses our services and gatherings, and we are always looking for new ways to create vibrant, songful experiences. Come sing with us!

Nechama - Batya Levine

Batya Levine

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