National JOC Shabbaton by Jews of Color Mischpacha Project

Healing light, that’s what you bring, healing light

And the water’s no longer confining
And the water is shimmering free
And the water becomes beauty blinding 
You bring us freedom release 
Yemaya

Freedom release

Yemaya by Shoshana Vogel

Time of Change - Keshira haLev Fife
We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for
We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for
It is upon us to dream beyond us
We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for
 
This is a time of change
Hold liminality
Let it rearrange us
May it turn us towards the sacred

Keshira's website: https://www.keshirahalev.com/

Photo by Jess Benjamin, taken at Let My People Sing! Summer Retreat 2023

Time of Change - Keshira haLev Fife

Water

sim shalom, sim shalom, sim shalom, oooh sim shalom
lace peace and goodness and blessing on the world
grace, lovingkindness, compassion on us

Sim Shalom - Koach Baruch Frazier

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

This song came through the shock following a particularly cruel Zoombombing that disrupted a funeral. 

May we hold one another as we wind down the rocky mountain roads from the peaks of shock and heartbreak to the valleys of silence and peace.

Melody, Vocals, and Guitar by Arielle Korman

Comedown Nigun

Vocalist Anthony Russell, in collaboration with acclaimed klezmer consort Veretski Pass (Joshua Horowitz, Cookie Segelstein and Stuart Brotman), set out to create a new musical idiom by combining two distinct older ones: African American spirituals and the music of Jewish Eastern Europe.

Drawing from a diverse collection of folksongs, anthems, lullabies, art and religious music, Convergence mobilizes an array of historic genres to evoke a multi-diasporic sound. Early blues, Hungarian and Bessarabian klezmer, “old time” fiddle music, synagogue tunes and contemporary classical music combine to create a repertoire of songs authentically inhabiting the sounds and histories of two traditions.