For close to 10 years, Hadar’s Rising Song Intensive has been a gathering place for lovers of Jewish music to sing, study, and experience the depth that song has to offer our communities.

We’re saddened that the state of the world doesn’t allow us to gather in person during a year in which communal music is so desperately needed. Against that backdrop, we’re trying something new and exciting: A one-day virtual seminar for folks of all musical backgrounds to “gather” and create a space for musical expression, learning, and community.

An amazing line-up of musicians and educators--all of whom are included in his playlist--will share insights, ideas, and melodies that will be useful in your COVID-era living room and set the stage for post-COVID music-making.

From singing traditional tunes from a variety of Jewish cultures to hearing current creative voices, from the study of musical torah to the exploration of best practices for (virtual) collaboration, this year’s Rising Song Intensive will be a thrilling first for us and we want you in the “room”!

Our time together will finish with a livestream concert featuring Joey Weisenberg and members of the Hadar Ensemble. Sing with us from your own homes as we broadcast live from Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York on Wednesday, December 30, from 7:30-9:00 PM Eastern. Registration for the intensive also includes a ticket the concert.

More info here: https://www.hadar.org/programs/rising-song-intensive

Sounds from Faculty of the Virtual Rising Song Intensive

A classic niggun attributed to Rav Yisrael ben Eliezar, ZTsL, the Baal Shem Tov from the coming album "Candle Light: a collection of niggunim" at http://arielwolpe.com/rabbi

Sung by Ariel Root Wolpe, Nat Rosenzweig, and Jon Mitchell

Besht Niggun

I was so blessed to learn these piyutim from my uncle and family as a child and want to bring them to you all, adapted and arranged to be used as chants and congregational melodies in our sacred spaces.    

Many thanks to the phenomenal musicians, Uri Sharlin, Roger Mgrdichian, David Eisenberg and Ritchie Stein, and to my Uncle Shaul z"l who taught me so much.

Hallelu - Yah

Music by Chloe Pourmorady
Text from the Torah

Hamechadesh (Piano, Strings, Soft Waltz)

Some sounds from our 3rd Raza Circle in Jerusalem, exploring nigunim from the Chabad tradition.

Mittler Rebbe's Kapelia

This week I have been a participant in Hadar Institute's "Singing Communities Intensive."  100s of people gathered together at B'nai Jeshurun in Manhattan to sing, teach, learn and listen led by Joey Weisenberg and other amazing teachers.  Rabbi Aviva Richman, a teacher of Talmud at Hadar, integrates heart and song into her teaching and, as we begin The Book of Exodus, we discuss the role of music and song through chaos and into redemption.

Episode 85: Singing Through Chaos -  live from New York with Special Guest Rabbi Aviva Richman

Yah Echsof is a Chassidic song of longing sung on Friday night of Shabbos.
Recorded for a friend upon request for her birthday, and shared here for whomever may find it meaningful.
Artwork by Batya Levine


Translation (by Rabbi Zalman Schachter​-Shalomi):
Yah! How I long for 
the bliss of the Shabbat, united in secret ​
with Your own fervent wish. Give way to Your own 
deep desire to love us. 
May Sabbath in Torah 
be our sacred bliss. ​
Share​ Her with us 
who desire to please You- Our deep thirst for union 
be met with delight

Holy Presence
filli​ng all time and space! Keep safe who keep Shabbat in their longing all week.
Like a deer that seeks water by the banks of the river, ​
We seek Shabbat, the secret of Your sacred Name! 
Grant​ us all week long 
Her shimmerin​g Presence,​ So our hearts and our faith be pure service to You!

Warml​y embrace us 
with Your kind compassio​n, Quench quickly our thirst for Your unending Grace. Give us the bliss drink from Eden's own river. Your praises we sing with joy on our face.
Let Jacobs gift to us-
 ec​ho all week long Infusing our lives 
with a Shabbes-f​illed trace.

Hail Shabbat, delight
of our souls and our Spirits. Ecstasy life-thro​b 
am awed by Your love, Secure that Your caring grants safety and nurture- You feed us sweet nectar from Your Source above. As You embrace us 
with Mothering​ comfort-
In You I take refuge ​
and pledge You my love.

Yah Echsof - by Rebbe Aharon of Karlin

Ein Od (“There is No Other”)
Words: Aleinu prayer (Deuteronomy  4:39, Zechariah 14:9)

Open My Heart is an album of original Jewish devotional world music. 

The eclectic soundscape of this album reflects my mixed Ashkenazi, Yemenite, and Syrian-Turkish heritage, and my own diverse influence. On the album you’ll hear echoes of Chassidic devotional songs; the microtonal scales and instrumentation of Arab classical music; colors of jazz, funk, and Klezmer; Ashkenazi prayer modes; Sufi chanting; and rhythms that I learned playing in my hometown of New York with musicians from around the world. 

I combine these diverse elements into a unique Jewish World Music that is deep and prayerful, filled with aspiration and yearning, heartache and joy. This is music for listening, for singing together, and for praying.

This album was recorded live off the floor (with minimal overdubbing) in the sanctuary of the Germantown Jewish Centre, in Philadelphia, bringing together some of my favorite musicians/ spiritual artists for a 3-day immersive session and capturing the energy that can only from playing together live.

There’s an old Jewish saying that words expressed from the heart are received wholeheartedly. The songs on this album are the prayerful expressions of my heart. I hope that it will move you, and maybe even open your heart, as it has mine.

TRACKS: 

LECHU (“Come, Let Us Sing Joyously”) 
Words: Kabbalat Shabbat Liturgy, Psalms 95:1-3
Vocal Arrangement: Ayo Awosika, Yosef Goldman

SEFIRAT HA'OMER NIGGUN
Words: Liturgy for Counting the Omer
Music: Shir Yaakov Feit, Zach Fredman, Yosef Goldman
Musical Direction: Yosef Goldman, Joey Weisenberg

GESHER (“The Bridge”) 
Hebrew Words: Rabbi Nachman of Breslov; English Words: Yosef Goldman
Vocal Arrangement: Ayo Awosika

EIN OD (“There is No Other”)
Words: Aleinu prayer (Deuteronomy  4:39, Zechariah 14:9)


YEDID NEFESH (“Soul Mate”)
Words: Elazar Azikri, Shabbat Liturgy
Music: Traditional Sepharadi-Yerushalmi (Maqam Sigah)
Musical Direction: Zach Fredman

OPEN MY HEART
Words: Rami Shapiro, Yosef Goldman
Vocal Arrangement: Ayo Awosika


ELIYAHU HANAVI (“Elijah the Prophet”)
	Words: Liturgy for Havdalah
	Music: Annie Lewis & Yosef Goldman
(written for the bris of Shir Emet Goldman)

Shalom Aleichem ("Welcoming the Angels")
Words: Liturgy for Shabbat Evening Meal
Music Direction: Yosef Goldman & Joey Weisenberg

Ki Lo Na’eh ("To You All Praise is Due")
	Words: Passover Haggadah 


OPEN MY HEART WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING AND DOWNLOAD DECEMBER 3, FROM RISING SONG RECORDS
risingsong.org/buy

Produced by Yosef Goldman & Joey Weisenberg 
Music Composed by Yosef Goldman* 
Musical Direction by Yosef Goldman*
Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Don Godwin
CD Design/Layout: Lisa Weinberger, Masters Group Design

*Except where noted.


PERSONNEL: 
Yosef Goldman—Lead Vocals
Chava Mirel—Vocals
Deborah Sacks Mintz—Vocals
Megan Gould—Violin
Joey Weisenberg—Electric Guitar, Mandolin
Zach Fredman—Guitar, Oud
Uri Sharlin—Piano, Keyboards, Accordion
Daniel Ori—Double Bass, Electric Bass
Rich Stein—Percussion
Arturo Stable—Drums, Percussion

Special Guests: 
Dan Blacksberg—Trombone (#8)
Ertuğrul Erkişi—Tambur (#4,# 9) 
Aslıhan Erkişi—Classical Kemençe (#4,# 9) 
Don Godwin—Tuba (#8)
Annie Lewis—Lead Vocals (#7)
Micah Shapiro—Backing Vocals (#7)


Recorded live off the floor at Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia, April 2019

Filmed versions of some of these songs will be available on YouTube and at www.yosefgoldman.com, filmed by Shmulie Lowenstein.

Ein Od

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbi Elie Kaunfer,  President and CEO of the Hadar Institute (https://www.hadar.org/) on the topic of "Jewish Prayer & Independent Minyanim."

DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP

For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE:
https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library
https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Elie Kaunfer - Jewish Prayer & Independent Minyanim

From the Koydanover Chasidim, as transcribed in 1927 by AB Bernstein in "Musikalisher Pinkus" and sung by Joey Weisenberg. To explore this and many other nigunim in depth, and to learn how to sing and teach spiritual melodies, subscribe to the master class series The Art of the Nigun here: http://bit.ly/learn-nigunim

Koydanover Nigun - Joey Weisenberg

Hadar's Rising Song Institute cultivates Jewish spiritual life through song. Through Rising Song Records we produce excellent original Jewish music that is sung and played in communities worldwide.