Name: Tree Nigun - Noam Lerman by Let My People Sing!
Duration: 3 min 11 s
Description: Tree Nigun by Noam Lerman, used at many Let My People Sing! gatherings.

Slow Down/Feel Your Feet

Ayeka is a song based on the story of Cain and Abel, the first story of murder in our ancient texts, between the first brothers.

And Gd says to Cain after he has taken Abel’s life, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”

Hashem hears the ground shaking, hears the cries of every child, every world of a human who has been taken from us in the last 132 days.

Ayeka asks us to look at ourselves, at everything. At every Palestinian and Israeli death that is the result of occupation, apartheid, and colonization, because these systems keep no one safe. At how the world is expected to grind on, to look away from what’s happening in Gaza and the tens of thousands of people who no longer get to have their one wild and absolutely precious life. All for profit, for war, for oil, lining the pockets of Western powers who have never cared about using Jews and don’t mind making Palestinians disposable. Ayeka asks, where are we? And how do we find our humanity again?

meh asita
kol d’mei achicha
tzo’akim eylai min ha’adamah

מֶ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ ק֚וֹל דְּמֵ֣י אָחִ֔יךָ צֹעֲקִ֥ים אֵלַ֖י מִן־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה

(what have you done?
the voice of your brothers blood cries out to me from the ground)

ayeka,
ayeh achicha
ayeka

אַיֶּֽכָּה
אֵ֖י אָחִ֑יךָ
אַיֶּֽכָּה

(where are you? where is your brother? where are you?)

from the ground I
hear them calling
your brother’s blood
what can grow here
what have we done?

from the soil I
hear them crying
your sister’s blood
what can grow here
what have we done?

from the ground I
hear them calling
your sibling’s blood
what can grow here
what have we done?

from the soil I
hear them crying
our family’s blood
what can grow here
what have we done?
credits
released February 21, 2024
Music and English lyrics composed by Aly Halpert
Hebrew text from Tanakh
Music direction by Aly Halpert
Produced by Aly Halpert
Recorded at Tonal Park Studios on Piscataway land (Takoma Park, MD), January 3, 2024 / 22 Tevet 5784
Engineered, mixed & mastered by Don Godwin
Artwork by Jay Smith
Text chosen in consultation with Chana Rusanov

Singers and Musicians:
Aly Halpert - lead vocals, guitar, piano
Maia Kamil - vocals
Yoni Battat - vocals, viola
Jessie Reagan - cello
Sam Weisenberg - percussion

Ayeka

Download the EP. https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/another-side-of-the-freewheelin-bobbed-peacock-the-peacocks-sing-dylan

WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN
 It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
 If you don't know by now.
 An’ it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
 It don't matter anyhow.
 When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
 Look out your window and I’ll be gone
 You’re the reason I’m trav’lin’ on
 Don’t think twice, it’s all right
 
 It ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
 That light I never knowed
 An’ it ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
 I’m on the dark side of the road
 Still I wish there was somethin’ you would do or say
 To try and make me change my mind and stay
 We never did too much talkin’ anyway
 So don’t think twice, it’s all right
 
 It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal
 Like you never did before
 It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal
 I can’t hear you anymore
 I’m a-thinkin’ and a-wond’rin’ all the way down the road
 I once loved a woman, a child I’m told
 I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
 But don’t think twice, it’s all right
 
 I’m walkin’ down that long, lonesome road, babe
 Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
 But goodbye’s too good a word, gal
 So I’ll just say fare thee well
 I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
 You could have done better but I don’t mind
 You just kinda wasted my precious time
 But don’t think twice, it’s all right
Copyright © 1963 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991 by Special Rider Music

Reprising our Joan'n'Bob act ( see Diamonds and Rust Gareth-calway – Diamonds-and-rust) with a return fixture, Bob's trademark protest song against one of his early women. His second album but the first to feature a more or less complete sweep of his own songs, unlike the first which mainly showcased him as a performer of other people's. In other words, the real Dylan. Who was the discarded lover? Some internal evidence suggests this may even be pre-New York with its rustic setting of roosters and dark roads and sense of setting out and travelling' on in which case it might be a memory of some Mid Western affair rather than Suzi Rotolo but who knows. "You just kinda wasted my precious time" is pretty damning but mild compared to some of his later accusations and restless attacks on whoever was upsetting him at the time. We both bought this album about 8 years after it came out probably on the strength of Blowing in the Wind as one of those must have vinyl classic albums from one of the masters of folk rock and Americana and fellow architect of the 60s (with the Beatles) first heard as children but now understood as teenagers and were sent back to it recently by the brilliant film about Dylan's early years (up to 1966) 'A Complete Unknown' which ends with him roaring away from Pete Seeger type folk on a rocknroll motorbike. Around the time of Hendrix there was a rumour that Dylan couldn't really play guitar but made up for it with a unique dramatising voice and the poetry of the lyrics but one listen to the original will banish that thought: his guitar picking (honed by all those folk club performances) is astonishingly good and drives the song.. And contrary to most people's recall, this is not a solo track but has a band behind him playing drums, two bass guitars, piano and a second guitarist. Our version concentrates on the heart-yearning pretty tune. We have a female lead vocal, bass, percussion and add some vocal layers. On the liner notes Dylan protests that it isn't a (slow and easy going) love song. And so of course that's exactly the way we do it.

Don't Think Twice It's All Right (Dylan)

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

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

Nigunim, Vol. IV: Brooklyn Spirituals

Mozi's Nigun / Ana B'choakh by Joey Weisenberg

Tune: an adaptation of the song 'Galeh' by Moshe Shur
Concept from Joseph Berman, Words by Joseph Berman & Batya Levine for the Neilah service on Yom Kippur

Open, open up the gates for 
All who gather here
Open up the gates for
all who seek your presence

Open, open up the gates of
Kindness and compassion
Open up the gates of
Wholeness and peace 
 
Open, open up the gates of 
Freedom and justice
Open up the gates of
Liberation

Open, open up the gates of
Change and release
Open up the gates of 
Transformation

Open, open up the gates of 
Healing and forgiveness 
Open up the gates of
Reconciliation

Open, open up the gates of
Listening and patience 
Open up the gates of 
Humility 

Open, open up the gates of 
Prayer and wisdom 
Open up the gates of
Intuition

Open, open up the gates of 
Equity and honor
Open up the gates of
Dignity
 
Open, open up the gates of
Torah and blessing
Open up the gates of
Gratitude and learning 

Open, open up the gates of
Love and connection
Open up the gates of 
Giving and receiving

Open, open up the gates of 
Trust and pleasure
Open up the gates of
Abundance

Open, open up the gates of    
Joy and resilience 
Open up the gates of 
Liberation

Open Up the Gates - Melody: 'Galeh' by Moshe Shur// english words by Joseph Berman & Batya Levine

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

Makom Bina - Deborah Sacks Mintz

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)

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.

Tree Nigun - Noam Lerman

Let My People Sing!

Related tracks