jewish magic anxiety relief

Niggunim

shavuos

For connecting with God or maybe just getting some work done in the library with earbuds in

Nigunim (ניגונים)

With the world on fire, it seemed time for a totally brooding, epic nigun.

Nighttime Nigun

Rising Song Records is excited to share the first single from Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe's forthcoming album Ruach Neshama. This collection of original songs celebrating the connection between music, nature, and Jewish wisdom will be available on digital platforms everywhere on Rosh Chodesh Elul (August 9, 2021).

Contribute to Ariel's crowdfunding campaign to get early access to the whole collection while directly supporting the talented artists who made this beautiful music: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rabbi-ariel-root-wolpe-s-rising-song-record#/

Listen to this single and the title track, "Ruach Neshama," on Bandcamp: https://arielrootwolpe.bandcamp.com/

All music composed by Ariel Root Wolpe, Hebrew text from Jewish liturgy and Tanakh.
Music direction by Joey Weisenberg and Ariel Root Wolpe
Harmony direction by Deborah Sacks Mintz
Produced by Joey Weisenberg

Recorded outside and in home-studios in Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, and Berkeley, CA.
Engineered by Joey Weisenberg and Jon Mitchell
Mixed and Mastered by Don Godwin
Artwork and Layout by Sol Yael Weiss.

Singers and Musicians:
Ariel Root Wolpe - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Kendra Root Wolpe - vocals
Deborah Sacks Mintz - vocals
Valerie Root Wolpe - vocals
Jon Mitchell - vocals, djembe
Joey Weisenberg - bass, percussion, guitar, baritone ukulele, piccolo, drum programming, vocals
Will Robertson - bass
Eliyahu Sills - flute
Rising Song Institute Vocalists: Rena Branson, Rebekka Goldsmith, Eitan Kantor, Gedalia Penner, Sam Tygiel, Batya Levine, Gayanne Geurin

www.arielwolpe.com
www.risingsong.org

A Project of Hadar's Rising Song Institute: Cultivating Jewish spiritual life through song.

Ruach Neshama

Waking Up Nigun

Waking Up Nigun - Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe

A new nigun for waiting for the bus, walking home late, for swirling wonderings!

Nigun Hamtanah

words from Isaiah 51:17 and 60:1
song by Hanna Tiferet

recorded by Aly Halpert, Sol Weiss, Molly Bajgot & Margot Seigle
Falls Village, CT April 2017

lyrics: 
awaken arise to the wholeness of your being
awaken arise to the beauty of your soul
Hitor’ri hit’or’ri ki va orekh
Kumi Ori

adamah 

IYAR - Awaken Arise

lean in

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, Rabbi Jill Hammer, 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 (Preview)

Archangel Meditation / Invocation: 
 
B'Shem Hashem 
B'Shem Hashem 

M'yimini Michael 
M'smoli Gavriel 
M'lfanai Uriel 
M'achorai Rafael 

V'al roshi 
V'al roshi 
Shechinat El 

Boachem L'Shalom 
Malachei Hashalom 
Malachei Elyon 

B'Shem Ima Ila'ah 
B'Shem Ima Ila'ah 


In the name of The Name
In the name of The Name 

On my right: Michael (Divine Messenger) 
On my left: Gabriel (Divine Strength)
In front of me: Uriel (Divine Light)
Behind me: Rafael (Divine Healing) 
Above my head: The Divine Presence of Shechina (She Who Dwells Within)

Come in Peace
Angels/ Messengers of Peace
Angels/Messengers of the most high 

In the name of the Cosmic Mother
In the name of the Cosmic Mother ....

(Angel / Messenger invocation repeats) 
 
B'Shem Ahava 
B'Shem Ahava 

In the name of Love
In the name of Love

- Adapted from traditional Jewish bedtime prayer & Shabbat evening Shalom Aleichem liturgy- 

(Listen before sleep or anytime to invoke peace, grounding, healing and presence)

Melody / arrangement by: Yael Schonzeit
Sruti, drum, vocals, recording: Yael Schonzeit 

Yaelillah.bandcamp.com 
Yaelschonzeit.com

Archangel Meditation / Invocation

Art by Brandon Boyd in Support of Standing Rock

Voice Memos

May I Be Empty/Full

Chabad nigun named after it's author, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn who was also known as the "Tzemach Tzedek," which means "sprout of justice."

Tzemach Tzedek Nigun

I wrote this song inspired by this quote from the Apocrypha, Book of Enoch (9:7) “The angels taught the daughters of men incantations, exorcisms, the cutting of roots, and revealed to them healing plants.”

The angels revealed to us healing plants (x2)
The angels taught the daughters the cutting of roots (x2)

Erez v'ezov
Levanah v'rimon
Shaked v'tamar
peygam v'shoom

Cedar and hyssop
frankincense and pomegrante
almond and date palm
rue and garlic

 I love this quote because it speaks to knowledge acquired through direct transmission, through relationship, specifically to “the daughters of men” (which we know means anyone without access to institutional power/gender non-conforming/trans/femmes) –  people who are identified by who they belong to and who are clearly transgressing by hanging out with and learning from angels.  It also suggests that this knowledge is always/still available to us; that even though it can feel like the healing wisdom and practices of our ancestors have been lost or purposely hidden from us,  we can access this knowledge by connecting with “angels.” Who are these angels who reveal and teach this stuff (and can I follow them on instagram and take a workshop?) I don’t know, but in my dreams sometimes they are the trees and flowers themselves, generously sharing their magic and beauty everywhere we look. (fyi, originally, in the Apocrypha, this was not actually a celebration of learning about healing from angels as you can imagine!)

you can read more about jewish plant magic here: https://dorimidnight.com/resources/jewish-plant-magic-rooting-in-resources/?fbclid=IwAR1edzpNKBZMTcivRU6TsePiQuoUGNrzxBMsButomfTNbErAHO2D1aqQc3A

Erez V'ezov

Tree Nigun by Noam Lerman, used at many Let My People Sing! gatherings.

Tree  Nigun - Noam Lerman

Nigunim

Return Nigun

kept this track for the chickens in the background

Little Song

Artist: Kate Sutherland

I learned this song at Let My People Sing 2019.

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

Part 1:
When I am waiting out a storm
I come back to my breath
When I am waiting out a storm
I come back to my heartbeat

Part 2:
Mmm, madeo, madeo
Mmm, madeo, madeo-o

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Waiting Out A Storm (Kate Sutherland)

written on the 1st of Nissan, 5780 // March 26th, 2020

The words for this song come from Earthseed: The Books of the Living out of Octavia Butler's Parable series. At a time when so much is rapidly changing around us, her words feel more present than ever.  I sought to try and write a song to capture this, and opened the book to a part in the story where a community member passes without time to do a proper burial.  Instead, this prayer is offered.  May this song offer some support and solace in a moment where there is so much loss without the ability to come together and properly mourn.

As wind,
As water,
As fire,
As life

God is Change.

God 
Is both creative and destructive,
Demanding and yielding,
Sculptor and clay.

original text:
As wind,
As water,
As fire,
As life,
God
Is both creative and destructive,
Demanding and yielding,
Sculptor and clay.
God is Infinite Potential:
God is Change.

dedicating this song to Edith Louise Goldberg, a"h, who I did not have the privilege to know but was dear to many and took her life on the very day this song came to life. may her memory be a blessing.

As Wind, As Water

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

This song came through the shock following a particularly cruel Zoombombing that disrupted a funeral. 

May we hold one another as we wind down the rocky mountain roads from the peaks of shock and heartbreak to the valleys of silence and peace.

Melody, Vocals, and Guitar by Arielle Korman

Comedown Nigun

Melody derived from the Ashkenazi trop (cantillation) for Eicha (the text we read on Tisha b'Av, a Jewish day of mourning)

Hebrew text from opening phrase of Eicha (sung in Ashkenazi trop, with Ashkenazi pronunciation)
אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָדָד, הָעִיר רַבָּתִי עָם--הָיְתָה, כְּאַלְמָנָה
Eicha yashva vadad, ha'ir rabasi am haysa k'almanah
[Translation: How is she sitting alone, the city who was once full of her people, how she is like a widow]

Oh weary one, lay your head down and rest your aching bones on the ground
Oh fearful one, lay your head down and let your body breathe on the ground
Oh hopeless one, lay your head down and rest your heavy heart on the ground
Oh yearning one, lay your head down and sing your song into the ground
Oh rageful one, lay your head down and let your tears flow into the ground
Oh weary one, lay your head down and rest your aching bones on the ground
Oh ANCIENT ONE, as we lay our heads down, please lay with us on the ground

Artwork from 14 Century German Book of Eicha

Yashva Vadad // Oh Weary One (a mourning lullabye for the weary)

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

Shtetl Wedding Nigun

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

Linke Fligl Nigun

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.