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)

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

Be With Me by Koach Baruch Frazier, sung at Let My People Sing! 2017

LMPS 2017

Be With Me - Koach Baruch Frazier - LMPS 2017

there is a concept in Jewish thought, that in a person's life, they need to have both hishtadlus and bitachon, learning to balance the two.

hishtadlus is personal effort, bitachon is trust.

this song is a tribute to the power and endurance it takes to do our own unique work in this lifetime.

photo by batya levine

Hishtadlus Nigun

kept this track for the chickens in the background

Little Song

Batya Levine, Rena Branson, Aliza Schwartz, Tamar Sandweiss-Back

Shalom Aleichem (Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Sheva & Jai Uttal)

Nishmat Kol Chai - Joey Weisenberg

Origin:
Words from Selichot liturgy
Melody is a Chabad tune
This is a recording that Batya Levine made for NSP in preparation for co-leading High Holiday services with Rabbi Joseph in 2020

Words:
Rachamana d’anei (de’anei) la’ani’ei
oy vey! aneina(n) 

Rachamana d’anei l’tvi’rei lieba, 
oy aneina(n)! oy aneina(n)!

Translation:
Compassionate One, who answers/responds to the oppressed. 
Oy Vey! Answer/respond to us!

Compassionate One, who answers/responds to the brokenhearted. 
Oy! Answer/respond to us! 
Oy! Answer/respond to us!

Rachamana - Chabad Melody

Birkot HaShachar / Queer Morning Blessings - Dori Midnight & Randy Furash Stewart

A prayer for renewal
A song for healing
A blessing for life

We draw from the wellsprings of liberation
For one another
For the movement
For our world

Love is liberation is water is life

lyrics
מִמַּעַיְנֵ֖י הַיְשׁוּעָֽה
שְׁאַבְתֶּם מַ֖יִם בְּשָׂשׂ֑וֹן

Mimainei hayeshua
Shavtem mayim b'sason

(Words adapted from Isaiah 12:3)

We will draw water in celebration
From the wellsprings of liberation

Mayim Chayim
מים חיים
credits
released October 21, 2019

Written by Avra Shapiro in collaboration with Yael Schonzeit

Vocals: Avra Shapiro and Yael Schonzeit

Mixing and editting: Dave Rosenfeld and Yael Schonzeit

Percussion: Yael Schonzeit and Dave Rosenfeld

Mimainei

This is a chant grounded in the resilience, courage, and hope of our Jewish ancestors, reminding us that when we fight for life and for justice, we are weaving ourselves with all justice-fighters who came before us. No fight is too big for our fierce and courageous hearts. 

As the story goes: In 1939, Nazis surrounded a group of Jews from Lublin, Poland, backed up against barbed wire and ordered them to sing to their own execution. One man began to sing: "Mir veln zey iberlebn, iberlebn, iberlebn” —"We will outlive them.” The song took hold among the entire people, who, as they awaited their deaths, began to dance. They danced with joy, with resilience, with a life that could not be destroyed by fascism, militarism, or genocide. The commander saw this resilience. He recognized their defiance. They continued, even as the SS troops charged at them. Most lost their lives that day. And some lived to tell this story. We are here. We will outlive them. We will join forces and voices with others to fight so we can all outlive them, together (thank you, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice!). 

Vocals: Avra Shapiro
Melody: Avra Shapiro
Arrangement: Avra Shapiro & Nadav Simon 
Bass: Matt Coglianese
Drums: Nadav Simon
Violin: Mallory Linehan
Production and Mixing: Nadav Simon
Mastering: Steve Marek 
Recorded and Mastered at Cybernetic Meadow
Art by Micah Bazant (poster can be bought here: https://www.micahbazant.com/buy-art/we-will-outlive-them).

Mir Veln Zey Iberlebn

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.

Ozi Vizimrat Yah

IfNotNow

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