Read more here: ￼ https://www.patreon.com/posts/63841347

Written as a musical companion to (and in conversation with) the Dan Jones chapter "Mixed Multitude" in the collection WE CRY JUSTICE (Poor People's Campaign) in 2021 as part of the We Cry Justice Arts Project. The poem "Red Sea" by Aurora Levins Morales also served as inspiration for some of the lyrics. 

May this song continue to be a prayer for collective liberation for the sake of an end to all systemic, state, and militarized violences from prisons to Palestine. 

Words and melody are original.

We Get There Together

Nishmat Kol Chai - Joey Weisenberg And The Hadar Ensemble

romemu | aly halpert and molly bajgot

Artist: Unknown
I learned at Adamah (Jewish Farming Fellowship) in 2014. The song was brought to the Isabella Freedman community from Cara Michelle Silverberg who learned it at The Art of Mentoring (a workshop from the Vermont Awareness School). **please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this info!

Sung at a song circle on April 13, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Learn to live your life with all your heart, and
All your soul and all your mind, and
Love all humankind as you would love yourself

Part 2:
Learn to live your life
With all your heart
And all your soul and mind and 
Love all humankind

Part 3:
We've got happy lives to live
We've got open arms to give
We've got hope down deep inside
Because in love we do reside

Learn To Live Your Life (Unknown)

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

Modah/Modeh Ani is a prayer said upon waking up in amazement that the spirit has returned from the dream world to the body! There are so many beautiful and joyful melodies for this prayer, but sometimes waking up and discovering oneself alive, while beautiful, is also kind of eerie and bizarre. Here's my slightly emo Modah Ani for you to try out when the right moment hits <3 

I thank you, vital and present Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, for you returned my spirit to me with compassion. Your faithfulness is abundant. 

מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקיים, שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה, רבה אמונתך
מודה אני לפניך רוח חי וקיימת שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה רבה אמונתיך

Modah/Modeh ani lefanekha/lefanayikh, Ruach/Melech chai v'Kayam/Kayemet, shehekhezart/a bi nishmati b'chemla raba emunatekha/emunatayikh.

Modah Ani (in Existential Dread)aka Emo-dah Ani

for the trans bodies, covid bodies, black & brown bodies, disabled and chronically ill bodies, gloriously fat bodies & all the bodies that have to forge their own beautiful path to wholeness.

this body is the earth that holds my bones
this body is the air that i breathe
this body is the water flowing at the shore
this body is the path that guides me home

this body, this body, this body sets me free

This Body

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)

Mi Chamocha 
Traditional Indian Melody
Arranged and Produced by Shir Yaakov Feit
Recorded by Sol Weiss, Margot Seigle & Aly Halpert

מִ י כָ מכָ ה בָ אֵ לִ ים ה'. מִ י כָ מכָ ה נֶאְ דָ ר בַ ּקדֶ ׁש. נורָ א תְ הִ ּלות
עשה פֶ לֶ א מַ לְ כּותְ ָך רָ אּו בָ נֶיָך. ּבוקֵ עַ יָם לִ פְ נֵי משֶ ה. זֶה אֵ לִ י
עָ נּו וְ אָ מְ רּו יְהֹוָ ה יִמְ לְך לְ עלָ ם וָ עֶ ד וְ נֶאֱ מַ ר. כ ִ י פָ דָ ה ה' אֶ ת
יַ עֲ קב. ּוגְ אָ לו מִ יַ ד חָ זָק מִ מֶ ּנּו בָ רּוְך אַ תָ ה יְהֹוָ ה גָ אַ ל יִ שרָ אֵ ל

Mi chamocha baeilim Adonai. Mi kamocha ne’dar bakodesh. Nora t’hilot
osei fele. Malchut’cha rau vanecha, bokeia yam lifnei Moshe, zeh eili anu
v’am’ru: Adonai yimloch l’olam va’ed. V’ne’e-mar: Ki fada Adonai et
Ya’akov, u’g’alo miyad chazak mimenu. Baruch atah Adonai, ga’al yisrael.

Who is like you, Adonai, among all powers of the world? Who
is like you, glorious in holiness, Awesome in praises, doing
wonders? You redeem the one who wrestles, and make us whole
in the face of what overwhelms

Mi Chamocha - Shir Yaakov

Artist: Saro Lynch-Thomason

Lyrics:
There are more waters rising
This I know, this I know
There are more waters rising
This I know
There are more waters rising
They will find their way to me
There are more waters rising
This I know, this I know
There are more waters rising
This I know

There are more fires burning...

There are more mountains falling...

I will wade through the waters
This I know, this I know
I will wade through the waters
This I know
I will wade through the waters
When they find their way to me
I will wade through the waters
This I know, this I know
I will wade through the waters
This I know

I will move with the fires...

I will rebuild the mountains...

*Note: Saro's lyrics are "I will walk through the fires" - I changed them to "I will move with the fires"

More Waters Rising (Saro Lynch-Thomason)

Grateful for this little melody coming to me from the pages of my siddur one summer morning.

Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishk’notecha Yisrael
How lovely are your tents [people of] Jacob; your sanctuaries [people of] Israel.

Modah Ani (in Existential Dread)aka Emo-dah Ani

Arielle Rivera Korman