“Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Freedom; stayed on Justice, stayed on Peace: Hallelujah!” –Sweet Honey and the Rock These words punctuated our extraordinary Shabbat this past weekend. To listen, click the hyperlink. Forty of us spent the day in Montgomery, Alabama exploring the evolution of slavery in America. Each stopping point along the way brought us closer to the chronicle of slavery’s true evolution; and allowed each of us to sift through our own identity as Jews encountering this narrative. Montgomery, Al was both the most active slave trading port in the south, and the birthplace of the civil rights movement. Our conversation began with an outline of Bryan Stevenson’s four institutions of slavery evolution: slavery itself, the racial terrorism that gave rise to violent lynching’s, slave leasing and criminal execution following slavery’s “legal” end; the Jim Crow era and finally, mass incarceration. We sparked memories of growing up in the segregated and then newly … [Read more...]

Each week, we sing Shalom Aleichem, during our community Shabbos candlelighting. These words call forward the מלאכי עליון –malachei eloyon, Angels of the Most High. We call them forth with a blessing of peace; welcome them into our midst in peace, request from them a blessing of peace upon us, and then send them out once more, to depart in peace and return the following Shabbat. This text is a 17th century Z’mira, or Shabbos table song, composed in Tzfat by a kabbalist. The Talmudic story below, a tale of the Shabbos angels, one good, one bad, likely serves as the inspiration for our song: Two ministering angels accompany a person on Shabbat evening from the synagogue to home, one good angel and one evil angel. When they reach home and find a lamp burning and a Shabbos table set, the good angel says: May it be Your will that it shall be like this for another Shabbat. The evil angel answers against his will: Amen. If the person’s home is not prepared for Shabbat in that manner, the evil … [Read more...]

The air is electric and filled with anticipation. Although there is music playing in the background, your ears barely register the sound. A hush falls over the room; and there she is- your bride. She is stunning; she looks aglow; radiant with joy as she walks toward you. You feel your heart fill with happiness, more than you could have ever imagined. You stomp on the glass, and the crowd erupts with joyous calls of laughter and song. This sacred moment is the inspiration for Lcha Dodi. Shlomo Alkabetz, a 16th century kabbalist, wrote this liturgical poem as an acrostic. The text is rich with quotes from the Torah, prophets and imagery of nature and creation. One of my favorite verses of all times comes from this text: הִתְעורְרִי הִתְעורְרִי כִּי בָא אורֵךְ קוּמִי אורִי עוּרִי עוּרִי שיר דַּבֵּרִי כְּבוד ה' עָלַיִךְ נִגְלָה Hitor’ri, hitor’ri, ki va oreich, kumi ori. Uri, uri shir daberi! K’vod Adonai ala-yich nig-lah! Arise; awake your light has come! Arise, shine awake and sing: the … [Read more...]

“The most direct means for attaching ourselves to God…is through music and song. Even if you can’t sing well, sing. Sing to yourself; sing in the privacy of your own home. But sing.” –Rebbe Nachman of Breslov Rebbe Nachman of Breslov is one of our great Hasidic masters. He lived during the 18th century, and his teachings speak towards finding healing out of crisis and suffering and developing a sense of joy and connection to God in everyday living. One of the most primal vehicles for seeking this kind of spiritual connection is song. Rebbe Nachman is not the only Rabbi to teach us that song can help us to express our thoughts or most especially, our prayers, in a deep and meaningful way. Abraham Joshua Heschel uses gematria; a system of assigning a numeric value to Hebrew letters and words to explain the interwoven bonds between prayer and song. The numeric value of the letters that constitute the Hebrew word for song; shira; is the same as the numeric value of the word tefillah; … [Read more...]

Kol Haneshama T’halel Yah! Let every soul praise God! -Psalm 150 I love this psalm because it lists all of the various synagogue instruments we use to pray and bless God: horns, harps, timbrels, lutes, cymbals, dancing, and pipes. If only each of us could play each of these instruments as our vehicle for connecting to God. Taking a closer at the text, we realize that there is no singular way to reach God. Those of us who are able may choose to express ourselves physically through instruments or dance, or song. However, this is not where the text ends. Neshama, “soul” also means “breath”! Playing all of these instruments, or expressing ourselves through dance or song is lovely, but concluding the list of instruments with neshama-breath helps us understand that to connect to God, we only need to access our breath. Our breath becomes a holy instrument: Let all that breathes praise God! In this instance, something that seems insurmountable or exclusive becomes simple and inclusive. We all … [Read more...]