Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17

lyrics:
Why, why worry when you can _____
Pray to the most high
Pray to the mothers and the fathers
Pray to the most high
Pray for them to watch over
Why, why worry when you can ____

Why Why Worry (Passover Version)

created by Reverend Osby of Aurora Illinois in the Hinds County jail during the freedom rides based on an old gospel song from the 1960s

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17

lyrics:
Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Well I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Hallelu, hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, hallelujah


Woke Up This Mornin

Aish Tamid tune by Shefa Gold from Leviticus 6:6
Which Side Are You On by Florence Reece coming out of 1930s mine workers struggle in Kentucky
Mash Up by Ilana Lerman

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics:
Aish tamid tukad al hamizbayach lo tichbeh

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

Aish Tamid + Which Side Are You On

tune by Rabbi Menachem Creditor from Psalm 89:3

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics:
Olam chesed yibaneh

We will build this world from love

Olam Chesed

Recorded at Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics:
Avadim hayinu ata benei chorin
Avadim hayinu ata benei chorin

We were slaves, we were slaves
Now now - we are free we are free.

Avadim Hayinu

traditional Passover song

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics: 
Ilu hotzi’anu mimitzrayim, dayenu.
day day enu day day eny day day enu dayenu dayenu

Dayenu

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

We Ready We Comin

Seder Order Song

by Charlie Murphy

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics: 
Light is returning
Even though this is the darkest hour
No one can hold back the dawn


Light Is Returning

Origins: An anti-apartheid, sung as protestors were being taken to jail.

Recorded at Boston Passover Prep Meeting 4/17/16

Courage

Based on Enemy's Camp by Brownsville Revival
An old union song (researching!) re-popularized by Ohio Student Association and Dream Defenders (Freedom Side)

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics: 
Went Down to the Courthouse
And I took back what they stole from me
And I took back my dignity
And I took back my humanity
And it's under my feet it's under my feet it's under my feet
Ain't nobody gonna walk all over me

Went Down to the Courthouse

tune by Shefa Gold from Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics: 
Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah

IfNotNow rendition of Courage, My Friend (Origins: An anti-apartheid movement, sung as protestors were being taken to jail.)

Recorded at Boston INN Training March 25 - 27th, 2016

If Not Now Then When + We Ready We Coming

from "God Bless Our Dead Marines" by Silver Mt. Zion

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep 4/17/16

When The World Is Sick

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

Ozi v’Zimrat Yah - melody by Rabbi Shefa Gold  
Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah (Psalm 118:14 and Exodus 15:2)
My Strength (balanced) with the Song of G!d will be my salvation.

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Ozi Vizimrat Yah

Lo Yisa Goy - by Isaiah 2:4

Lo yisa goy el goy cherev, Lo yil'm'du od milchama

Nation Shall Not Lift up Sword against nation, nor shall they ever again know war. 

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Lo Yisa Goy

Ahava V'rachamim by Bon Singer 
Ahava V'rachamim Chesed V'shalom
Love and compassion, kindness and peace/wholeness

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Ahavah V'Rahamim

Light is Returning - by Charlie Murphy, 1980s Pagan songwriter
Light is returning,
even though this is the darkest hour.
No one can hold back,
the dawn.

When the World is Sick - A Silver Mt. Zion REMIX philly punk band
When the world is sick, can’t no one be well,
But I dreamt we were all beautiful and strong…

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Olam Chesed Yibaneh - adapted from Rabbi Menachem Creditor, written after 9/11 
We will build this world with love      

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Olam Hesed Yibaneh

Havdallah

Aish Tamid - melody by Shefa Gold (Remix with Which Side are you On)
Which side are you on - by Florence Reece- activist and organizer, a poet and songwriter- in 1931.  It was intended specifically as a song to be sung by the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky.  It was revived during the Civil Rights movement, with verses changed and updated to fit the times. 

Aish tamid tukad al hamizbayach; lo tichbeh
Fire always shall be kept burning on the altar; it shall not go out. (Leviticus 6:6)

Which Side are you On? Which Side are you On my people?
Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016

Aish Tamid

Went Down To The Courthouse

Courage - adapted from the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement, sung as protesters were being taken to jail and as a way to learn people's’ names in the jail cells. 
Courage, my friend, you do not walk along. 
We will, walk with you, and sing your spirit home.

Why, why worry when you can _____
Pray to/for the most high
Pray to/for the mothers and the fathers
Pray to/for the most high
Pray for them to watch over
Why, why worry when you can ____

Why Why Worry

This song was written/ inspired by a team of cross movement leaders who are in an interconnected network building for a just world and social transformation brought together by Momentum. 

We're gonna rise up, rise up till it's won.
When the people rise up, the powers come down.
They tried to stop us, but we keep coming back.

We're Gonna Rise Up Momentum Song

"We Rise" was inspired by the powerful, prayerful resistance Batya Levine witnessed and experienced at Standing Rock. This song is an attempt to remember and to hold that model of resistance in our hearts and in our minds. 

We Rise…  humbly hearted
Rise...   won’t be divided
Rise...     with spirit to guide us
Rise!
(Chorus) (x2)
In hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here
In hope, in prayer, we’re right here!
We Rise… all of the children
Rise...     elders with wisdom
Rise...     ancestors surround us
Rise!
(Chorus)
We Rise…   up from the wreckage
Rise...     with tears and with courage
Rise…    fighting for life
Rise!
(Chorus & Repeat verse 1)

More from Batya and Let My People Sing here: https://soundcloud.com/user-478813445

Voice Memos

We Rise

Melody by IfNotNow member Arielle Korman and her father, Jerome Korman. This English translation is by Arielle. 
Rabbi Hillel, Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Ancestors 1:14. 
?אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי? וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי? וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתַי

Im ein ani li, mi li? 
Uchshe’ani l’atzmi ma ani? 
V’im lo achshav, ematai?
Im lo achshav, ematai?

If I am not for me, who will be? 
If I am just for me, what does that make me? 
And if not now, then when? 
If not now, then when

Im Lo Achshav / If Not Now

Melody by IfNotNow member Arielle Korman. 

Boz del puevlo, boz del sielo.
The voice of the people is the voice of the heavens.
-- Judeo-Spanish(Ladino) Proverb

Found in Devin Naar's book Jewish Salonica.

Boz del Puevlo / The voice of the people

IfNotNow is a movement led by young Jews to transform our American Jewish community’s support for the occupation into a call for freedom and dignity for all. Learn more about the songs we sing in our movement here: http://bit.ly/2mIZUks
>on singing songs from other movements of today and from the past:
We are lucky to have the songs of our own Jewish traditions -- they are for us to sing.  Some of us have ancestors who have been deeply involved in movements across the world for social change for generations, both as those directly affected and as allies.  We are also singing their songs. 
And.
We recognize that this can easily turn into cultural appropropriation, particularly when we do not have direct links. So, before we sing a song we have a practice of honoring where it comes from: we share the movement, the struggle, or the people who birthed this music. Singing these songs is one way of acknowledging that we’re in a long line of movements for justice. 
We continue to create new movement songs. We write new lyrics. We get inspired by old text- Jewish and non-Jewish.  We do not simply translate movement songs into Hebrew in order to connect with them. One possibility instead is to incorporate Jewish text with similar themes and vision. 
From the beginning, IfNotNow leaders have been building relationships with leaders from Cosecha, BlackLivesMatter, The Dream Defenders, and other movements through the Momentum Community where we have been creating and sharing our songs with each other. Diversity keeps our movements strong and interconnected. We understand this as an ecological system of access, ancestries, struggles and strategies for resistance. Song is part of the way we arrive in interdependent relationship. We are building a culture that is accountable, compassionate -- and vibrant as all hell. Please honor the history of each song -- learn it, share it. 
We will lift each other up.

IfNotNow

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