Songs About the Woods

Here is a playlist for Tisha b’Av, the upcoming day of Jewish communal mourning, which falls on the evening of Wednesday, July 29th. For those who are able, Tisha b’Av is a day of fasting that mimics the traditional Jewish practices people take on when a loved one dies.  

On Tisha b’Av, we mourn the destruction of the ancient temple and other historic, ongoing, and contemporary catastrophes. On this day, we tap into communal grief, personal grief, and intergenerational grief, linking the past, the present, and souls all across the world.  We want this playlist to be a resource for people to tap into the holy communal energy of loss that is contained within the day of Tisha b’Av. 

 People sent us recordings of poems, laments, songs of sorrow and anger, and songs that have gotten folks through hard times. People sent traditional nigunim, wordless melodies, and kinot, traditional dirges and Hebrew poems said on days of mourning, that were written out of moments of devastation.

People sent recordings responding to and born of ongoing catastrophes— the ongoing destruction of the Temples of Black bodies in this country, mass death caused by COVID-19 and societal disregard for disabled people’s survival, the ongoing destruction of trans lives, People of Color, Indigenous people, and more. We are in the midst of an uprising against the ongoing and systemic murder of Black people on this land. 

Yehudah Webster, others at Jews for Racial and Economic Justice [JFREJ], and supporters have powerfully launched the #40DaysofTeshuvah campaign. For the 40 days leading into Tisha B’av, each evening, they are lifting up voices and shofars to the heavens, crying out for spiritual deliverance from this ongoing catastrophe, from these narrow straits.  This playlist begins with a soundbite of voices blending with a shofar from one of the #40daysofTeshuva actions.

In Eicha/Lamentations 1:16, through the prophet Jeremiah, G-d surveys a world so full of suffering and names the many parts of the landscape that causes G-d pain. עַל־אֵלֶּה אֲנִי בוֹכִיָּ֗ה עֵינִי, al eileh ani bokhiyah einai, for these things do my eyes weep! Tisha b’Av invites us to delve into our grief-- into our ancestors' suffering, into the endless wells of tears from our personal mourning, and into grief held by our communities and the entire world. Together we lament tragedies and together we hold and are held.

It was our honor to compile this collection of sounds, poetry, and song. These are songs community members have cried to, have written in grief, have found home in, and have called out to the skies with. This is a playlist that you can listen to in one sitting, or you can listen to it slowly.

You are welcome to start listening to it today to prepare yourself for Wednesday night, when Tisha b'Av begins with the chanting of Eicha/Lamentations. Or, you can wait to listen to it on Wednesday night or all day Thursday. This playlist is yours to be creative with, to share with friends or pod-mates, or to listen to alone as you space out or write or cry.

As we move through this time of COVID-19 and Uprising, may we give each other permission to hold, witness, and feel into our tears/rage/grief/love.Thank you for sharing these meditations, and thank you for helping to create this communal wail.

In Song & Solidarity,
Arielle Rivera Korman and R. Noam Lerman, on behalf of the LMPS team

Tisha b'Av ~ A Communal Wail

✨✨✨✨

jewish grounding

Pesach

Songs

Lila

Olam chesed yibaneh, yai dai dai עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִבָנֶה 

I will build this world from love... yai dai dai 
And you will build this world from love... yai dai dai 
And if we build this world from love... yai dai dai 
Then G-d will build this world from love... yai dai dai

Olam Chesed Yibaneh (Rabbi Menachem Creditor)

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

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)

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

we are good.
we are flawed.
we are the breath of an imperfect god.

returning to self. returning to source.
god is change. god is growth. the process, in all it's beauty and all it's mess, is god.

collage art by Chani Nicholas

we are good we are flawed

plains niggun

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

Tree  Nigun - Noam Lerman

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

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, 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 (Demo)

and in whose name? 
and at whose call? 
and by whose hand? 
and on whose land? 

and on which day? 
and by what laws? 
and with what trial? 
and in whose home? 

and by whose blood? 
and at what cost? 
and in whose gaze? 
and by whose loss? 

and in whose eyes?

For Justice

Origin:
Words are based on a poem by Wendell Berry
Melody is by Plum Village
This is a recording from NSP's Yom Kippur Community Singing Session in 2019

Words:
And when I rise
Let me rise
Like a bird, joyfully
And when I fall,
Let me fall
Like a leaf, gracefully,
And without regret

Singing Team - YK Melodies

When I Rise

Melody by Sol Yael Weiss, harmonies by Aly Halpert

Words brought by Batya Levine, text from the very end of the Shmoneh Esrei / Amidah (silent standing prayer in every Jewish service): Y'hiyu l'ratzon imrei fi v'hegyon libi lefanecha adonia tzuri v'goali

"May these words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be favored in your presence, eternal One, my rock and redeemer." 

Dedicated to Ratzon: Center for Healing and Resistance in Pittsburgh PA, and all of us working to build the world we know is possible.

Y'hiyu L'ratzon

how can I ...

be a little more soft today
feel a little more connected today
get a little more grounded today
be a little more free today 
___ a little more ____ today

A part of the melody inspired by and based on "Faith's Hymn" by Beautiful Chorus

How Can I

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)

Ana Adonai Hoshia Na (x2)
Ana Adonai Hatzlicha Na (x2)

O Hashem, please save us
O Mystery, grant us well-being

These are words from Hallel, which is a special prayer service on Rosh Chodesh and festivals (Pesach, Sukkot, Shavuot). Much of the service is focused on praise, but it includes this raw moment of crying out.

Ana Adonai Hoshia Na

I wrote this song in the midst of shock and grief at the murder and loss of Gabrielle Gottlieb from the Romemu community and the world. She was a fan of my music and was kind whenever I saw her, asking my family about me, and watching. 

Gabrielle was a healer, an energy worker, a woman deeply aware of the power that lies in the body. She wasn’t just gentle, just kind— she was a warrior. Gabrielle was running in the last moments of her life, trusting her guts, trusting her body, and trying with all she had to find safety and freedom. Her loss remains a gaping hole in the world, and justice has still not been served. 

In this song, I keep in mind those in abusive relationships, those in unsafe homes, those parenting themselves in treacherous environments, and those whose traumas of abuse and sexual assault are bubbling to the surface in this time. I commit to working to create systems to address harm and create circles of love and care wherever I dwell. 

A word about trusting the body— as someone with a chronic disability, trusting my body completely is no simple task. My body needs a lot of help to keep working! If you’re singing this song and find that these words don’t sit right in the moment, I hope they might serve in other moments. And if not, I love you and see that pain. I wrote these words in deep gratitude to that thing that sits deep, deep within my body, under even the parts of my body that need help to function— that gut instinct that keeps me safe with all its might. 

Thank you to my partner Noam Lerman for joining me in song and strength!

Lyrics:

Days when I don’t trust my family
Days when I don’t trust my friends
I trust my body, deep down in my core 

Days when I don’t trust my leaders
Days when I don’t trust my teachers 
I trust my body, deep down in my core 

Days when I don’t trust my lover
Days when I don’t trust my God
I trust my body, deep down in my core

Oh my body, oy oy oy oy 
Oh my body oy oy oy oy
I trust my body, my shaking body
I trust my body, deep down in my core

Oh my body, oy oy oy oy 
Oh my body oy oy oy oy
I trust my body, my brilliant body 
I trust my body, deep down in my core 

Oh my body, oy oy oy oy 
Oh my body oy oy oy oy
I trust my body, down in my kishkes 
I trust my body, deep down in my core

I Trust My Body

Poem by Lila Serene, translated by Lila & her mom Ana Goldenberg.
Melody by Margot Seigle
Recorded on the 24th of Iyar 5780 // Netzach shebe Yesod 
Yiddish pronunciation support from Noam Lerman 

This poem is about trusting the babies choosing to be conceived and born in this pandemic to be bringing with them the gifts and wisdom that are most needed.

naye lebn

dayne 
zise oygn farshpreyt
fris tsit fun eybikeyt arop
greyt, hungeric
oysgisn bagleybtkyte azoy vi honic dekn mid harts 
onton a bissle fargenign azoy vi vesne regn 
gebakt in der shmek fun frish likht
du bist punkt genoy gekumen aher 
biz a hor ven du kumft iz der merste veytikeyt
un ich tsuher zich 
hent aroysraysn tfilin fun lipn farstitert 
doziker beyner fartriknt megn beygn gehnuk niderik
kushn dos erd gehnuk tsertlekh
zayn bagrisn ba der mikdesh
fun vos du host gekumen aher tsulernen.

translation: 

new life.

Your 
Wide sweet eyes 
Fresh plucked from eternity 
Ready hungry 
pouring trust like syrup over tired hearts 
a sprinkling of joy like spring rain steeped in the scent of fresh light 
you are right on time
right when you're needed most 
and I am listening
palms pressing prayers through trembling lips
may these drying bones bend low enough 
to kiss this earth gently enough 
to be received at the altar 
of what you've come here to teach.

Naye Lebn

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

A song from the depths of grieving

www.madelynilana.com

https://madelynilana.bandcamp.com/album/awake-dreaming

May We All Receive The Healing We Need

This piece is an excerpt from my play Writing to Return: Letters of a Daughter in Exile.  I wrote this play for my late father, so the entire work is a mourning-lamentation-honoring of his life and death.

Dad,
Here I am
I am no longer hiding from you
I am the beautiful black symbol
encrypted over the white page
I am here
holding
my patterns for the
world to see
read me for who I am
I am also the Shadow
Light Dad,
See ALL that I am
See ALL of me and still love me

-
Luz Schreiber

Hineni by Luz Schreiber

stone by stone
tear by tear
we release
& create right here

what is gone we build upon

credits
this is a rough cut / pre-master recorded with R. Micah Shapiro (on engineering, djembe & harmony vox) in west philly.

Stone by Stone by Taya Mâ

"The Sky's Reply" by Joshua Blaine
LYRICS:
מִֽן־הַ֭מֵּצַ֥ר קָרָ֣אתִי יָּ֑הּ עָנָ֖נִי בַמֶּרְחָ֣ב יָֽהּ׃
Psalm 118:5

To You I call, feeling scared and small.
And You reply with the vastness of the sky!

English verse/translation inspired by-the English translation from Siddur HaKohanot: A Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook:
"I called to Yah from the narrow place, and was answered with the sky's wideness"

The Sky’s Reply by Josh Blaine

A recording of an action, repeated each of the 40 nights before Tisha b'Av 2020, in which the sounds of the shofar and the human voice blend in a cry out to the skies as a contribution to the Black Lives Matter movement and cries for justice in this time of uprising and the pandemic. Organized by Yehudah Webster, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and other supporters.

Recording by Hannah Roodman

40 Days of Teshuvah Grand Army Plaza Communal Wail

Nishmat Kol Chai - Joey Weisenberg

"Olam haba" is a concept in Jewish thought that translates to "the world to come." This song emerged from a weave of inspirations but began as a niggun (wordless melody) that came through me in the early days of quarantine after some beautiful ritual with my beloved to honor the closing of Shabbat. 

Shabbat offers a respite from time itself, a gift of ancestral wisdom that invites us to dream into the world we long to know. The song is a meditation on that dream, one of "such great love" (ahava raba) where we can sing our praises for all that is Holy and be in deep, inter-relational connection with one another and with the Earth. 

The other inspirations for this song were Rebekah Erev & nomy lamm's "Golden Dreams of Olam Haba" 5781 Jewish calendar and Lisa Littlebird's call for songs for the "The World We Are Dreaming" Fall 2020 Playlist (links to both below). 

LYRICS:
olam haba עולם הבא / ahava raba אהבה רבה
Hallel הלל‎ / Halleluyah  הַלְלוּיָהּ

The world we're dreaming of
One of such great love
Sing out, sing out in praise 2x

LINKS:
Golden Dreams of Olam Haba Calender: https://rebekaherevstudio.com/all/golden-dreams-of-olam-haba-the-world-to-come-5781-magical-planner
The World We Are Dreaming playlist: https://thebirdsings.com/fall2020-playlist/

Dreaming the World to Come (Joshua Blaine)

written by sol yael weiss & molly bajgot, sukkot 2018

mishpacha nigun

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.