Two years ago, many of us were enraged by what was, at the time, new transphobic legislation.  LMPS members reached out to trangender Jews to create this playlist.  To uplift the beautiful bold trans song-writers in our Jewish communities, whose holy voices are rarely uplifted and affirmed as song and prayer leaders.

Trans Day of Resilience/Remembrance just passed on November 20th. TDOR is a day to honor the murdered lives of trans people who have been stolen from us too soon from around the world due to transphobic violence.  Trans Day of Resilience/Remembrance is also a day to acknowledge and celebrate the LIVING BREATHING lives and souls of trans people, to support their/our sustenance and thriving in this transphobic world which places so many barriers and stumbling blocks in the way of trans folks' basic survival.

Since the beginning of this pandemic, so many people have lost their jobs, and found themselves in unstable living conditions that make survival more challenging.  The majority of trans people around the world, especially Black trans people and other trans people of color, were already experiencing job discrimination, and thus joblessness, lack of healthcare, and unstable living conditions.  Since the pandemic began, we have lost trans siblings to suicide, and many trans people have been struggling so, so hard to have access to stable living conditions and food and life.

Listen and belt these songs out. Listen and belt out the wisdom that comes from trans people.  And please participate in mutual aid that directly contributes to trans people's sustenance and resilience.


With love,
R' Noam Lerman, on behalf of the LMPS team

https://translifeline.org/
https://tdor.co/




Artwork by Micah Bazant
https://www.micahbazant.com/

Transgender Heart Songs to Bring Courage: songs by and for blessed trans people

Rosh Chodesh Singing Circle

Protest Songs

Selections from songs that we learned at the Shefa School during the 2015-2016 school year!

Kol Ha'Olam Kulo

Kosi R’vaya
My cup runneth over

Psalm 23
tune by Shefa Gold. 

recording by margot seigle, ilana lerman & michelle citrin around a campfire in the woods in mendham, nj
2016

Kosi R'vaya

Ozi v’Zimrat Yah - melody by Rabbi Shefa Gold  
Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah (Psalm 118:14 and Exodus 15:2)
My Strength (balanced) with the Song of G!d will be my salvation.

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Ozi Vizimrat Yah

Light is Returning - by Charlie Murphy, 1980s Pagan songwriter
Light is returning,
even though this is the darkest hour.
No one can hold back,
the dawn.

Light Is Returning

Aish Tamid - melody by Shefa Gold (Remix with Which Side are you On)
Which side are you on - by Florence Reece- activist and organizer, a poet and songwriter- in 1931.  It was intended specifically as a song to be sung by the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky.  It was revived during the Civil Rights movement, with verses changed and updated to fit the times. 

Aish tamid tukad al hamizbayach; lo tichbeh
Fire always shall be kept burning on the altar; it shall not go out. (Leviticus 6:6)

Which Side are you On? Which Side are you On my people?
Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016

Aish Tamid

Courage - adapted from the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement, sung as protesters were being taken to jail and as a way to learn people's’ names in the jail cells. 
Courage, my friend, you do not walk along. 
We will, walk with you, and sing your spirit home.

Courage

By Request

Singing The Spirit Home

This Little Light of Mine

lyrics by Avis Burgeson Christiansen, tune written by composer and teacher Harry Dixon Loes circa 1920, and later popularized as a civil rights anthem in the 1950s and 60s. 

Recorded in Detroit, MI December 30th, 2016 by Helen Bennett, Matt Goldfield, Dorit Price-Levine, Avigail Ruth, Margot Seigle, Laynie Solomen, Abby Weiss, Sarah Wolk, & Zahara Zahav

lyrics:
this little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
this little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
this little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

all around the world...

everywhere i go...

or Chadash al tzion ta-ir
or Chadash al tzion ta-ir
or Chadash al tzion ta-ir 
v’nizkeh chulanu m’hayra l’oro*

this little light...

(*translation: Shine a New Light on Zion, and may all of us soon be worthy of enlightenment.)

TEVET - This Little Light Of Mine

Melody by IfNotNow member Arielle Korman and her father, Jerome Korman. This English translation is by Arielle. 
Rabbi Hillel, Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Ancestors 1:14. 
?אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי? וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי? וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתַי

Im ein ani li, mi li? 
Uchshe’ani l’atzmi ma ani? 
V’im lo achshav, ematai?
Im lo achshav, ematai?

If I am not for me, who will be? 
If I am just for me, what does that make me? 
And if not now, then when? 
If not now, then when

Im Lo Achshav / If Not Now

This song was born while contending with stories of sexual assault and survival, from generation to generation— from grandma to me— holding the awe and weight of still being here. The English was completed when the US announced its war on  brilliant and bold  transgender and transsexual bodies-souls—minds—humans.

photo by Micah Bazant.

Chords (with capo)
Am Am Dm Dm G  G Am Am

Am Am Dm Dm C E Am Am 

Am Am Dm Dm C E Am Am

Am Am Dm Dm C E Am Am 

Am (fingerpick directly into) C G Dm Am

Am (fingerpick) C G Am Am 

Am (fingerpick) C G Dm Am 

Am (fingerpick) C G Am Am

L'dor Vador We Endure by Noam Lerman

This Is My Body This Is My Life by Shana Salzberg

Itai Gal: music, keyboards, production, lead vocals, English translations
Jeremy Orenstein: guitar, percussion, vocals
Pádraig Donworth: trumpet, vocals
Lyrics from liturgy and the Book of Esther
You are the first and last. Other than You, we have no king or redeemer.

Lift Us! by Itai Gal

Negro Spiritual reinterpreted by Koach Baruch Frazier

Be With Me by Koach Baruch Frazier

This recording was made in community with the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir NYC

Healing Is Possible by Orion Johnstone

Elohai Neshama by Sol Weiss

JEWISH COMMUNAL SINGING FOR HEALING AND LIBERATION
Let My People Sing! is a cultural project expanding the ancient and transformative practice of Jewish communal singing. We gather in multi-racial, multicultural and genderful Jewish community, uplifting songs and leaders historically and ongoingly pushed to the margins. Together, we transmit and reclaim diasporic Jewish singing traditions, celebrate original music emerging from our communities, and create heart-centered gatherings where we can all be leaders and learners of song.