Sukkot 5781

Lila

Part 1:
Swaying body, swaying soul
Swaying body, swaying soul

Part 2:
Move to the rhythm of your heart,
Move to the rhythm of your soul

Lyrics and melody by Theresa Martin and Christine Kick

Theresa Martin's Album

Swaying Body, Swaying Soul

A powerful contemporary spiritual with a unique and compelling rhythmic arrangement from Sweet Honey In the Rock founding singer Ysaye Barnwell.

Caint No One Know by Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock

This song was born out of John O'Donohue's poem, "For Someone Awakening to the Trauma of Her Past"; it has come through me in a season when the long buried wounds of past trauma have surfaced, inviting healing and renewal. "Only you know where the casket of pain is interred," John O'Donohue wrote. "You will have to scrape through all the layers of covering and according to your readiness, everything will open." 

May this song bring you healing, too.

Part One: 
As your tears fall over that wounded place,
may they wash away your fears and free your heart

Part Two:
I am coming home, I am coming home,
this body now, a meadow -- gentle, my love.

Awakening

This one (chorus) came through in Northeast Missouri while singing with a couple people and (verses) in California outside the house I grew up in, standing at the foot of a great Monterey Cyprus tree (not a Redwood!) and watching some vines climb up the brick outside of the house.

Chorus:
Sister you are not too far holding
I need your strength to carry on

Verse 1:
Our bodies are bound like the vines on the side of a house somewhere deep in the heart of the earth

Verse 2:
Our roots intertwine like the Redwood tree somewhere deep in the soil in the soul of the earth

Sister, You Are Not Too Far for Holding

Your Heart Knows the Way

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

This melody is for liturgy that praises the eternal attribute of lovingkindess. 
This recording shows two different places it can be used, in liturgy that shares this core message. The first is in Hallel (a praise section of liturgy reserved for holidays and new moons) and the second is found in Psukei D'zimra on Shabbat & Festivals (the consistant praise section of liturgy that has special additions on shabbos & holidays, such as this song!)

Hodu Ladonia from Hallel (added section of praise for holidays & new moon)

hodu ladonai ki tov ki l'olam chasdo(leader) 
hodu ladonai ki tov ki l'olam chasdo (congregation responds) 
yomar na yisrael ki l'olam chasdo (leader)
hodu ladonai ki tov ki l'olam chasdo (cong. responds) 
yomar na beit aharon ki l'olam chasdo (leader)
hodu ladonai ki tov ki l'olam chasdo (cong. responds) 
yomru na yirei adonai ki l'olam chasdo (leader)
hodu ladonai ki tov ki l'olam chasdo (cong. responds)

Translation:
LEADER: give gratitude to hashem (spirit/g!d/life force/etc.), because they are good, because their chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal 
CONGREGATION: give gratitude to hashem (spirit/g!d/life force/etc.), because they are good, because their chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal!
LEADER: let yisrael(our people/g?d wrestlers) please say: their chesed (lovingkindness)is eternal!
CONG: give gratitude to hashem (spirit/g!d/life force/etc.), because they are good, because their chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal!
LEADER: Let the house of Aharon (the priests/witches/magic weavers/spirit workers) please say: their chesed (lovingkindness)is eternal!
CONG: give gratitude to hashem (spirit/g!d/life force/etc.), because they are good, because their chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal!
LEADER: Let those who are in fear/awe of YHVH (existence/hashem/all time and space)please say: their chesed (lovingkindness)is eternal!
CONGREGATION: give gratitude to hashem (spirit/g!d/life force/etc.), because they are good, because their chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal!

Hodu Ladonai from Psukei D'zimra on Shabbat & Yom Tov (festivals)

hodu ladonai ki tov ki l'olam chasdo
hodu lei'lohei ha'elohim ki l'olam chasdo
hodu l'adonai ha'adonim ki l'olam chasdo
l'osai nifla'ot gedolot levado ki l'olam chasdo
l'osai ha'shamayim bi'tvunah ki l'olam chasdo
l'roka ha'aretz al ha'mayim ki l'olam chasdo
l'oseai orim gedolim ki l'olam chasdo
et ha'shemesh l'memshelet bayom ki l'olam chasdo
* [the liturgy continues, but this recording ends with these words, I've included the next line in the liturgy because they are liturgically linked, but there are more verses after that as well]
et ha'yareach v'kochavim l'memsilot ba'laila, ki l'olam chasdo 
(and it continues on...)

Translation: 
offer gratitude to YHVH (existance/g?d/life force...) because they are good, because their chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal
offer gratitude to the unifying power that is within all powers, because it's chesed (lovingkindness) is eternal
offer gratitude to the *boss* (in a positive sense of the word) of all bosses, because their chesed is eternal
to the one who is responsible for miracles and wonder, because their chesed is eternal
to the one weaves the heavens with understanding, because their chesed is eternal
to the spreading of earth over waters, because their chesed is eternal
to the former of great light/luminaries/illumination, because their chesed is eternal
the sun that reigns in the day,  because their chesed is eternal
[this song ends with the words above, but I included the next line because liturgically they go together]
the moon and stars that reign at night,  because their chesed is eternal


**** All translations are the way that I understand this liturgy, in which I strive to stay to true to the words, and include my own understanding of them ****

Hodu Ladonai (liturgy from Hallel & Shabbat/Yom Tov)

Origin:
Melody by Nava Tehila
Sung by Batya Levine
Art by Naomi Weintraub & Etai Rogers-Fett

Tishrei Nigun - Nava Tehila

A scrappy recording of this original nigun, recorded at Linke Fligl Sukkos in 2018.

Shtetl Wedding Nigun

ולא היתה חצר בירושלים שאינה מאירה מאור בית השואבה
V'lo hayta chatzer b'yerushalayim she'eina me'eira mei'or Beit Hashoeva
"[From the worn-out pants and belts of the priests they made wicks and with them they kindled the lamps.] And there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illuminated by the light of the Beit Hashoevah." -Mishna Sukkah, 5:3 (Mishna = the oldest written code of Jewish law, also has a lot of stories in it)

Simchat Beit Hashoeva = ancient water-drawing festival that took place over Sukkot

Sung with Margot Seigle and chickens at Linke Fligl, 10/1/20

Or Beit Hashoeva (R' Shir Yaakov Feit/Mishna Sukkah 5:3)

Rena Branson