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Lyrics:
Bimkom rinah, sham t’hei t’filah.
Where there is song, let there be prayer.
Bimkom rinah, sham t’hei t’filah.
If you sing along, oh, God will be there.

Wherever you sing, there you will pray, 
even when you don’t know what to say. 
As long as the song comes from deep inside your heart, 
God knows, that’s the best place to start. 
Bimkom rinah…

If God is in the song, does He hide behind the notes, 
or is there something deeper that She wrote? 
Or maybe They sing, too, through the voice of me and you, 
helping us to sing what’s good and true. 
Bimkom rinah…

If you sing along, and sing strong, and we know we all belong, 
then maybe, just maybe, just maybe, just maybe, oh, God will be there.

--

Commentary:
The refrain is an interpretation of a phrase from the Babylonian Talmud, B’rachot 6a. The Aramaic reads:
בִּמְקוֹם רִנָּה שָׁם תְּהֵא תְּפִלָּה

The translation in the William Davidson edition of the Talmud on Sefaria offers: “In a place of song, there prayer should be” 

And here is the passage that leads up to that statement. “It was taught Abba Binyamin said: One’s prayer is only heard in a synagogue, as it is stated, ‘…to listen to the song and the prayer’ (I Kings 8:28). In a place of song, there prayer should be.” Rashi comments on the phrase, “in a place of song," suggesting it means, "in the synagogue where the community utters songs and praises in a pleasant tune.” 

Now, this translation and commentary present some ideas that I find highly problematic, especially given the impact that the pandemic had on the way communities and individuals pray. The idea that prayer can only be fully heard when it is uttered in a synagogue, or any particular physical structure, seems ridiculous. Abba Binyamin assumes that just because God listened to Solomon’s song and prayer when he was in the Temple (for that is the context of the I Kings reference), that the listening was contingent upon Solomon’s location (and Rashi seems to agree), but this is not how I read the verse. Rather, I tend to focus on the first part of I Kings 8:28, “You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant,” implying that God turns to listen to prayer and song of any who serve God (however you might understand what it means to serve God), wherever they might be. 

In Joey Weisenberg’s book, “The Torah of Music,” Joshua Schwartz translates the phrase, “Where there is song, there is prayer,” that is to say, whereEVER there is song, there is prayer. I find this much closer to the mark. The only problem I have in this translation is actually with the word “is”. The Aramaic verb is not in a simple present tense, but rather in what we might call the jussive mood, i.e., third person imperatival, often translated “let there be”. It is a mood with a tone of hope and demand that captures Judaism’s inherent cognitive dissonance between what is and what should be. With it we can say that, while not necessarily every song is a prayer, any song, with the right intention, CAN be prayer. And so, with that adjustment, we arrive to my translation, “Where there is song, let there be prayer.”

Those who have read this far might appreciate an additional note about the second verse. I once learned from the great theologian, Dr. Rachel Adler, that all of our ways of naming and describing God, including gender, are really metaphors, that no metaphor can adequately describe God for everybody all the time, and that one solution is to use as many metaphors as possible, selecting those that help us feel connected to the Divine at that moment. Accordingly, in the second verse of this song, I used all three third-person singular pronouns common in the English language. Please note that the order of the pronouns is not meant to imply any kind of hierarchy. In practice I would probably switch them around each time I sing the piece, and I would encourage others to do the same.

Bimkom Rinah

Sung with Rachel Chang (guitar + vox) and Marni Loffman (vox)

Lyrics:
In doing and in dreaming
You’ve been dropping seeds behind you that will flower in due time
You will never know all the change that you help sow
But just know that it’s happening all the time
You will never know all the beauty you help grow
But just know that it’s happening all the time
All the time (x4)

In Doing & In Dreaming

Finding some comfort in the midst of the rockets, as we gathered together in Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo in Yerushalayim to sing and learn. This is an old melody from Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi a'h who left the world last week.

For more info, email us at info@shlomokatz.com

Hine Ma Tov - R' Zalman's Niggun

Ashreichem, piyyut from Persian tradition, sung by MJ Gilbert 
written in Judeo-Persian 
זְכוּתֶה תוּרֶה יֶה מוּשֶׁה
זְכוּתֶה גַ'מְעֵה חֲבֵרִים 
בָּר מָה רֶסַאן בְּשׂוֹרָה 
אָז אוֹמַאדַנֶה יְשׁוּעָה 
אַשְׁרֵיכֶם אַשְׁרֵיכֶם אַשְׁרֵיכֶם יִשְׂרָאֵל 
אָז צֶ'שְׁמֶה יֶה הָיֶיה יְשׁוּעָה 
אָוֹבֶּה הָייָאתִי בָּרוֹרִים 
בָּר מָה רֶסַאן בְּשׂוֹרָה 
אָז אוֹמַאדַנֶה יְשׁוּעָה 
אַשְׁרֵי אֲשֶׁר אַשְׁרֵי 
הַשִּׁירִים אֲשֶׁר לִשְׁלֹמֹה 
אַשְׁרֵיכֶם אַשְׁרֵיכֶם אַשְׁרֵיכֶם יִשְׂרָאֵל

Zekhuteh tureh ye Musheh
Zekhuteh jam’eh haverim
Bar mah resan besorah
Az omadaneh yeshu’ah
Ashreikhem, ashreikhem, ashreikhem Israel
Az cheshmeh yeh hayeh yeshu’ah
A-obe hayati barorim
Bar mah resan besorah
Az omadaneh yeshu’ah
Ashrei, asher ashrei 
Hashirim asher li-Shlomo
Ashreikhem, ashreikhem, ashreikhem Israel

By the merit of the Torah of Moses
By the merit of this gathering of friends
Send us the good news
Of the coming of our redemption.
Happy, happy, happy are you O Israel
From the wells of redemption we draw the water of life
Happy, happy, happy are you O Israel



Artwork by Sivan Tratt

Ashreichem - piyyut from Persian tradition, sung by MJ Gilbert

Highlights from a two-hour lecture by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi given 4/5/1981 at the B'nai Or Religious Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA. Originally entitled "Pesach for Adults". Learn more about Jewish Renewal at https://www.aleph.org

08 A Bitter Herbs Niggun

Vocals - Batya Levine
Percussion - Simcha Halpert-Hanson

I'm Gonna Get Through  - Batya Levine

Ein Od Milvado

Lyrics by Ibn Gvirol & Melody by Arielle Korman 

Shachar avakeshcha, tzuri u’misgabi
E’eroch lefanecha shachri v’gam arvi
Lifnei gedulatcha, e’emod v’ebahel
Ki eincha tireh chol machshevot libi
Ma zeh acher yuchal halev v’halashon 
La’asot u’mah koach ruchi b’toch kirbi 
Hineh l’cha titav zimrat enosh al ken 
Odcha b’od tihyeh nishmat Eloha bi 

(Somewhat Interpretive) English Translation— Arielle Korman

Dawn— I seek you, my rock and my fortress 
I unfurl before you my Shacharit (morning) and Aravit (evening) prayers 
Before your greatness I stand in my fear 
For your eye sees all the thoughts of my heart.
What is it that my heart and tongue are capable of 
doing? What is the strength of this spirit within me?
Here— a human’s song will be good to you.
I thank you, while the spirit of God is still within me. 

שַׁחַר אֲבַקֶשְׁךָ,
צוּרִי וּמִשְׂגַּבִּי
אֶעְרֹך לְפָנֶיךְ
שַׁחְרִי וְגַם עַרְבִּי
 
לִפְנֵי גְדֻלָּתְךָ
אֶעְמֹד וְאֶבָּהֵל
כִּי עֵינְךָ תִרְאֶה
כָּל מַחְשְׁבוֹת לִבִּי
 
מַה זֶה אֲשֶׁר יוּכַל
הַלֵּב וְהַלָּשׁוֹן
לַעְשׂוֹת וּמַה כֹּחַ
רוּחִי בְּתוֹךְ קִרְבִּי
 
הִנֵּה לְךָ תִיטַב
זִמְרַת אֱנוֹשׁ עַל כֵּן
אוֹדְךָ בְּעוֹד תִּהְיֶה
נִשְׁמַת אֱלוֹהַּ בִּי

Shachar Avakeshcha - Lyrics by Ibn Gvirol & Melody by Arielle Korman

Nanny's Niggun is an ode to the incredible resiliency of my grandmother, "Nanny" Dorothy. A Holocaust survivor, she endured unimaginable horror and summoned untold strength and endurance to survive four different concentration camps over the course of 18 months as a Hungarian Jewish teenager. 

I caught the initial threads of this niggun (Hebrew for a "wordless melody") while singing with/to her about a year before her passing. It's my attempt to honor her story in all of its pain and profound triumph while reminding me to remain committed to ending oppression for all - no matter the creed, gender, sexual orientation, or color. 

"Nanny's Niggun" was one of the last songs I sang to my grandmother at her bedside before she drew her final breaths in mid-October 2019. This is a recording of me teaching it to a group of about thirty-five community singers in the rotunda of the Texas State Capitol on 11.18.2019, a one month after her burial. 

This song is yours to carry if it helps you connect to your own resiliency and your own commitment to fighting the grave injustices of our time.

To read a more in-depth backstory of this song, become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35685709

Nanny's Niggun (Joshua Blaine) - Live in the Rotunda

A song from the depths of grieving

www.madelynilana.com

https://madelynilana.bandcamp.com/album/awake-dreaming

Bimkom Rinah

Cantor Jacob Niemi