Elul

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for the heart

Letting Go, Letting In | Elul 5781

Jamz

Recordings from Congregation T'chiyah's 2020 High Holiday services, broadcast from The Light Box. 
https://www.lightboxperformance.org/ 

Recorded from livestream by Three Lyons Creative 
https://www.threelyonscreative.com/

PERSONNEL:
Jake Ehrlich - vox + guitar
Raya Samet - vox
Kendra Watkins - vox

8. We Let The Love Wash Over Us

Breathe breathe breathe in 
Breathe breathe out

Let it go, let it go, let it go

Trust in what's coming
Trust in your knowing
It's deeper and wider and holy


special thanks to Jess & Dan Pelberg Berlin for lighting the spark to find this song in me

Breathe

A chant to lean into Elul in three parts

Part one: I'm going deep, deep within, mmmmmm (inspired by the practice of cheshbon hanefesh and teshuva during Elul)

Part two: I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine (acronym of Elul from Song of songs 6:3)

Part three: Whom shall I fear? Nobody! (inspired by Psalm 27, the psalm read/chanted daily during Elul)

Elul Chant 5781

Setting of psalm 27

dedicated to all of us yearning for more life!

Lyrics:
Achat sha'alti me'eit Hashem, otah avakesh:
shivti b'veit Hashem, kol y'mei chayai, lachazot b'noam Hashem, u'l'vaker b'heikhalo.

One thing I ask from the creator, one thing I desire
That I might dwell in Your house all the days of my life
To behold the graciousn​ess of the creator, and to enter Their sanctuary​.

Achat Sha'alti

Olam chesed yibaneh, yai dai dai עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִבָנֶה 

I will build this world from love... yai dai dai 
And you will build this world from love... yai dai dai 
And if we build this world from love... yai dai dai 
Then G-d will build this world from love... yai dai dai

Olam Chesed Yibaneh (Rabbi Menachem Creditor)

I Will Stay With You

A song for the holiday of sukkot, litrugy from Hashkiveinu (Ufros aleinu) and V'ahavta (Adonai eloheichem emet). Is dedicated to the full harvest moon, the liturgy itself, and the wrsetling we seek to do this time of year, finding compassion. May it bring peace and comfort.

sukkot song

romemu | aly halpert and molly bajgot

grateful | complexity

we are good.
we are flawed.
we are the breath of an imperfect god.

returning to self. returning to source.
god is change. god is growth. the process, in all it's beauty and all it's mess, is god.

collage art by Chani Nicholas

we are good we are flawed

written from the words of adrienne marie brown out of emergent strategy "change is coming, what do we need to imagine to be prepared?" an imagination exercise that she proposes we do to prepare for a world post and/or amidst capitalism. what can we imagine??

change is coming

and end of meal, during labor, child protection jewish psalm

psalm 126 shir hamaalot, those who sow in tears shall reap in joy 

sung with sara batya levine

shir hamaalot

Daily praise song that celebrates all who live in the home of the divine (our sacred planet). Words from tradition, music by Aly Halpert. Creative consultation from Batya Levine.

Written for Linke Fligl, a queer Jewish chicken farm and cultural project in Millerton, NY, for their Sukkot gathering, 5779. (linkefligl.com)

Lyrics 
Hebrew(from traditional Jewish services)
Ashrei yoshvei veitecha, od y'hallelucha, selah!

English (by Aly Halpert)
I sing for you
I sing for what is holy and is true
I sing for all creation, for life and liberation
Everyday anew

Aly Halpert's Album

Ashrei

Inspired by nomadic years, the wisdom of the body and nervous system, change, Somatic Reality: Bodily Experience and Emotional Truth by Stanley Kelemen, the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess community, and the Judaism of my ancestors. Received to the tune of Avinu Malkeinu, a traditional Jewish High Holidays prayer. 

Deep gratitude to my teachers, community and bright and well ancestors: Taya Shere, Ibrahim Baba, my parents, Zaide, Grandpa, the Romanian women, Kohenet and so many more. Thank you.
lyrics
Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and listen to the wind 
All comes together; all falls apart 
Forming anew your beating heart 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and draw yourself near 
The rocks are your keepers 
Tell them your stories 
Now it is safe to be here 

A river flows from within you to where you will go 
The current carries you home 
Let your life unfold 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and you will receive 
Life wants to meet you where you are 
Not where you think you should be 

A river flows from within you to where you will go 
The current carries you home 
Let your life unfold 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and you will be shown 
The love that was always lifting you up 
You are never alone 

A river flows from within you to where you will go 
The current carries you home 
Let your life unfold 

Slow down child, slow down (x4) 

Slow down, child, slow down 
Slow down and listen to the wind 
All comes together; all falls apart 
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow Down / The Mother's Response (Demo)

Live recording from September 21 2019 Selichot service + concert, Ascend at Night: A Selichot service of contemporary and ancient music

September 21 at 8:30pm
Homewood Friends Meeting Baltimore, MD
Co-sponsored by East Bank Havurah

Selichot opens the season that asks us to dig deep, crack our hearts open, and pour out our yearning. Combining traditional Selichot liturgy (Ya'ale, Avinu Malkeinu) with contemporary secular music (Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen, Lake Street Dive), the service opens channels to the heart work the new year calls for. Expect opportunities for quiet reflection, full throated singing, performance, and grounding ritual.)

Musicians:
Megan Beller, Fiddle
Ever Hanna, Lead vocals
Ethan Hasiuk, Drums 
Joe Magar, Bass
Laurie Spector, Guitar

Featured vocals:
Lena Amick
Molly Amster
Miriam Avins
Charley Beller
Erin Kelly
Ilana Newman

Selichot 5779

Shiviti, Nava Tehillah

Melody by Sol Yael Weiss, harmonies by Aly Halpert

Words brought by Batya Levine, text from the very end of the Shmoneh Esrei / Amidah (silent standing prayer in every Jewish service): Y'hiyu l'ratzon imrei fi v'hegyon libi lefanecha adonia tzuri v'goali

"May these words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be favored in your presence, eternal One, my rock and redeemer." 

Dedicated to Ratzon: Center for Healing and Resistance in Pittsburgh PA, and all of us working to build the world we know is possible.

Y'hiyu L'ratzon

kol ha olam kulu gesher tzar meo'd 
the whole entire world is a very narrow bridge
and the main thing to recall 
is not to fear fear itself

<3

gesher tzar

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

Galeh (Rabbi Moshe Shur)

By Molly Bajgot & Noah Weinberg. 
Elul music project by Anat Hochberg & Matt Goldfield

Elul: Songs for Turning

Od Y'nuvun: Ripening in its Time

Sung to the tune of "V'haviotim," a melody/zemer originally written for Isaiah 56:7

Kol Tzedek Sings Ya'aleh - Elul 5780

Nigun (a wordless melody from the Jewish tradition) written on the banks of the Washougal River in so-called Washington state. Ancestral lands of the Cowlitz tribe and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. From what I can tell, "Washougal" is a Native word meaning "rushing waters". If you have any other information about the original stewards of this land and river, please let me know!

Washougal Nigun

An incantation for those who struggle to pray. A blessing for creativity, openness and receiving.

You Don’t Have to Believe

power of spirit and music * maker of prayer thru song * lover of chants * jewishly grounded and inspired

Od Y'nuvun: Ripening in its Time

molly bajgot | original music