I'm hoping to teach this at Tashlich this year, to go with the traditional reading of Micah 7:18–19: "... You desire loving-kindness. You shall return and grant us compassion..." Thank you for sharing this lovely recording!

Now available on 
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6wEGu8eYVGW5WJig24lrT5?si=ee938433a81043f4 
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGK-vw479k0
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/jewish-nigun-meditation-medley-how-can-i-mah-tovu-washougal/1618998865?uo=4
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y8WC274

This is an arrangement of three separate nigunim with added accompaniment. The individual tracks are:

Batya Levine - How Can I: https://soundcloud.com/batyalevine/how-can-i
Sol Yael Weiss - Mah Tovu: https://soundcloud.com/sol-yael/mah-tovu
Ary Solomon - Washougal Nigun: https://soundcloud.com/ary-solomon/washougal-nigun

Please check out and support these artists! In addition to SoundCloud:

- Batya Levine has a website here: www.batyalevine.com, a Bandcamp here: batyalevine.bandcamp.com/album/karov, and is on streaming services such as Spotify
- Sol Yael Weiss has a website here: www.solyaelweiss.com

Jewish Meditation Nigun Medley with Batya Levine, Sol Yael Weiss, and Ary Solomon (now on Spotify!)

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

by Aly Halpert

chorus and bridge from an Arundhati Roy quote.

recorded by Aly Halpert (voice & guitar) & Margot Seigle (backup vocie)
November 9th, 2016

lyrics:
the policemen have thrown away their guns
they kiss their sons and their daughters and their souls are at peace
no more black boys black girls trans women dying
no more reasons that could ever justify their loss 
and mothers send their teens out at night 
to breathe the sweet summer air and exhale on the ground
the earth was made for them
the earth is made for them
she is on her way
and no one can be silent anymore
every death is a death that my family mourns 
we've traded in our numbness and all of our fear
to fight for the lives we now hold dear
and everyone has come to greet the reckoning
the place where our hearts got smaller and smaller 
now grows to hold the pain
the brokenness that leads to pain
she is on her way
another world's not only possible
on a quiet day I can hear her breathing
and when the world we're dreaming is ours
we'll be tall inside
there will be no more question
as we pray and sing
that we have each other and what that means
we'll finally get to be together
stare with our hearts at what has been
and find some place of home
she is on her way"

She is On Her Way

singing resilience into beloveds - our selves, our loves, our communities, our interconnection

ani l'dodi v'dodi li
ha'ro'eh ba'shoshananim (bashoshanim ha'ro'eh)

source: song of songs 6:3
translation: I am to my beloved, and my beloved is to me, who shepherds in the roses

Ani Ldodi

Zeh Hayom: This Is the Day

Hallelu! (Psalm 150) by Miriam Margles

kept this track for the chickens in the background

Little Song

Nigunim, Vol. IV: Brooklyn Spirituals

Mozi's Nigun / Ana B'choakh by Joey Weisenberg

Tune: an adaptation of the song 'Galeh' by Moshe Shur
Concept from Joseph Berman, Words by Joseph Berman & Batya Levine for the Neilah service on Yom Kippur

Open, open up the gates for 
All who gather here
Open up the gates for
all who seek your presence

Open, open up the gates of
Kindness and compassion
Open up the gates of
Wholeness and peace 
 
Open, open up the gates of 
Freedom and justice
Open up the gates of
Liberation

Open, open up the gates of
Change and release
Open up the gates of 
Transformation

Open, open up the gates of 
Healing and forgiveness 
Open up the gates of
Reconciliation

Open, open up the gates of
Listening and patience 
Open up the gates of 
Humility 

Open, open up the gates of 
Prayer and wisdom 
Open up the gates of
Intuition

Open, open up the gates of 
Equity and honor
Open up the gates of
Dignity
 
Open, open up the gates of
Torah and blessing
Open up the gates of
Gratitude and learning 

Open, open up the gates of
Love and connection
Open up the gates of 
Giving and receiving

Open, open up the gates of 
Trust and pleasure
Open up the gates of
Abundance

Open, open up the gates of    
Joy and resilience 
Open up the gates of 
Liberation

Open Up the Gates - Melody: 'Galeh' by Moshe Shur// english words by Joseph Berman & Batya Levine

Sung with Batya Levine

הָ֭רֹפֵא לִשְׁב֣וּרֵי לֵ֑ב וּ֝מְחַבֵּ֗שׁ לְעַצְּבוֹתָֽם
מוֹנֶה מִסְפָּר לַכּוֹכָבִים לְכֻלָּם, שֵׁמוֹת יִקְרָא

Harofei lishvurei lev um'chabesh l'atzvotam 
Moneh mispar lacochavim lechulam shemot yikra

Healer of the broken-hearted and tender of our wounds
You account for every star and call each one by name

Healer of the Brokenhearted/Harofei Lishvurei Lev — Psalm 147 + Interpretive Translation

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

Grateful for this little melody coming to me from the pages of my siddur one summer morning.

Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishk’notecha Yisrael
How lovely are your tents [people of] Jacob; your sanctuaries [people of] Israel.

Mah Tovu

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.

Ahavah V'Rahamim

IfNotNow

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