Leave Your Troubles at the Water

Roadblock  by Debbie Nargi-Brown

Part 1 
This is a roadblock, not the end of the road
When I get knocked down, I get back up again

Part 2
I don’t care what you’ve been told
Now is the time to take back control
This is not the end of your dreams
Life is not, what it seems

Part 3
Faith, Hope to Believe
Faith, Hope to Receive

This is a live recording at Song Village 2022.

Roadblock

This I know: 
That my body is a vessel for the song
Let the drum beat through me
Let the great bells ring through me
Sing through me

Vessel for the Song

threshold

Lyrics:

Memories of laughter and love flood my mind where you once have been
Your memory now causing me unbearable pain

What happened to the one I loved?
The one I held above
shadows now curl where light had been

Your betrayal stabbed me in the heart 
You twisted it and abandoned me in the dark
Lost and confused without an answer

Oh love
Where did you go
The betrayal
The pain
Memory of your name
Stranger overtime
I don’t know you anymore
The face is the same
 but I don't recognize you

Your voice used to hum like a soft refrain
Now it cuts through air causing pain
The hands that healed now [cruel into fist]
What happened to your light, where did you go I do not know?

I search your eyes
But to my surprise
In the void I see hate 
A truth I can not avoid

The one I loved
Where did you go?
The betrayal
The unbearable pain
Haunted by memories of love I have towards you
Stranger overtime
I don’t know you anymore
The face is the same
But the soul fell through

You danced with darkness
It left its mark
Now you walk in circles
Lost in the dark
Was it pain
Was it rage
Was it time’s cruel theft
What twisted the beauty that you once kept
Suffering and confusion is all you left

[It's cruel into fist not curl into fist. It's not a typo. It's kind of a play on words.]

Monica-Betrayal

For Pittsburgh and Squirrel Hill. In service of our healing and collective freedom in the midst of intense white nationalist violence in the form of transphobia, racism, sexism, and anti-semitism.  As a reminder that more police and "security" do not make us safer, especially for those of us who hold multiple targeted identities.  We will only win when we are all together.

Lyrics:
we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we sing for justice, and wholeness

we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we know that we are not alone
right here we are home

you have taken a universe
you have taken a mountain
our voices echo in the hills

they will not divide us
we will not abide this
we know that together we'll be free
mourning tragedy
our safety is with each other

we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we sing for justice, and wholeness

we are a beautiful people
though our hearts are broken
we know that we are not alone
right here we are home

toch emunei am segulah (repeated)

hebrew translation: 
from lecha dodi, a prayer greeting shabbes:
among those who hold faith, a treasured nation

gratitude to Chana Rusanov for hebrew lyrics and translation.
gratitude for Rachel Beck for leading me on my own journey against anti-semitism for seven years now
gratitude for Dove Kent, JFREJ, and so so many other brilliant teachers leading us towards solidarity
gratitude for our allies who take the time and effort to see the realities of systemic anti-semitism
gratitude for life, for existence, and the capacity to heal.

Aly Halpert's Album

Beautiful People (Toch Emunei)

Artist: Peter McKenna
I learned it from Adamah (Jewish Farming Fellowship) in 2014. 

Sung at a song circle on January 1, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
There is so much magnificence in the ocean
The waves are comin' in
Waves are comin' in

Part 2:
Wash me away
So that all that's left is love
Great Spirit

Part 3:
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Part 4:
Hallelu, Hallelujah (x3)

Magnificence (Peter McKenna)

Music: Miriam Margles
Words: Ary Solomon
I learned at Hava Nashira (singing retreat at OSRUI in Wisconsin) from Noam Katz. Original words are in Hebrew (zeh hayom asah adonai nagilah v'nis'm'cha vo) and have been changed (not a translation).

Sung at a song circle on July 20, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Raise your eyes look up to the sky
Feel the rain as it falls down

*Note: I originally thought the music was by Noam Katz - thank you Baci Weiler for the correction!

Raise Your Eyes (Music: Miriam Margles, Lyrics: Ary Solomon)

Written in 2003 for a dear friend's wedding, it has since then, been sung for baby blessings, funerals, at the closing of groups, and even at other people's weddings.

Hold You in Our Circle

Artist: Sol Weiss

I learned this song from Sol at Let My People Sing 2019. They taught it during the trans/non-binary/queer mikveh just before we all jumped in.

Sung at a song circle on September 15, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Great waters, great waters
Pour over me
For I am your child
Make me yours again

(Second verse:
Great waters, great waters
Pour over me
Heal my broken places
Make me whole again)

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Great Waters (Sol Weiss)

Sung with chickens at Linke Fligl, 10/1/20
http://linkefligl.com/

Linke Fligl Nigun

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

threshold

molly bajgot | original music

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