From the Song of Songs:

Ani y'sheine v'libi er v'libi er
Kol dodi dofek pit'chi li

Achoti rayati yonati tamati
sheroshi nimla tal
kevutzotai r'sisei lailah

I sleep, but my heart is awake; Hark! my beloved knocks: 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled​; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.'

Ani Y'sheine

The last couple lines of psalm 27, which is recited throughout the month of Elul to prepare for the High Holy Days. 

lulei, lulei hemanti
lirot b'tuv hashem 
b'eretz chayim

kave, kave el shechinah
kave, kave el shechinah
kave, kave el shechinah
chazak v'ametz libeich

oh how, oh how i trusted
that i would see god's good
in this living land

stay open, open to the one
stay open, open to the one
stay open, open to the one
may your heart be open to the one

*tune/arrangement by Arik Labowitz. some parts have been adapted to feminine hebrew with the help of Rabbi Jill Hammer.

Lulei Hemanti

You just get to be here now, dear one, dear one

We are always going forward
We are always coming home
In this spiral we call life
We remember we're not alone 

We are held, ooh, we are held, ooh

Dear One

May We Remember

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

Song/prayer/meditation to heal personal and societal grief. For ordinary grief, extraordinary grief, the unbearable kind and the unseen kind and the enduring kind, in service of exhales and letting go of what is ours and not ours, of compassion, lightness, & becoming who we are after and through it all.

Aly Halpert's Album

Loosen Loosen

Negro Spiritual reinterpreted by Koach Baruch Frazier

Be With Me by Koach Baruch Frazier

I May Not Know What’s Coming!!!!!

Vocal accompaniment and production by Baci Weiler

I will carry you through these changes
V'ad seva ani esbol
(When you turn grey, I'll still carry you/be patient with you/bear you) 
- Isaiah 46:4

(((It's odd to do this as a duet because to me, it's about learning to hold myself and have my own back, and sometimes feeling like the universe is holding me too.)))

I Will Carry You/V'ad Seva — Inspired by Isaiah 46:4

A collection of Kabbalah inspired Hebrew songs & chants from the album "Lev Shalem" offering a direct invitation into our inner life.

Ve'ahavta Le Rea'kha

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).

May We Remember

Keshira haLev Fife

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