Music for the Days of Awe 2010/5771
Rosh Hashanah Greeting 5771
To you and all whom you hold dear, a very happy New Year. May peace, hope and love abound. May the world with joy resound. As 5771 comes round, L’shanah Tovah!
Music to the traditional Ashkenazic High Holiday Ma’ariv (evening prayer) mode. Text by Sylvia F. Goldstein.
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Hava Nashira
Hava Nashira, Shir Hallelujah! (Come, let us sing a song of praise!)
This melody, composed by Josh Nelson Music (BMI) is a 3-part canon that gives a new feel to a familiar and inspiring phrase and reminds us of the power that is ours when we raise our voice in song.
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Shehu Noteh Shamayim
This version of the verses “She-hu Noteh Shamayim” – “…the One who spreads out the heavens” [found in Aleinu and recited at the conclusion of each service] is a majestic, wonderful melody adapted from a traditional Sephardic rendering of Shirat Ya-yam ( The Song at the Sea which the Israelites sang upon escaping from Egypt and successfully crossing the Sea of Reeds in the Book of Exodus). The song was set and adapted by Cantor Richard Botton.
Holy Ground
The place we are standing can be holy ground. This moment can be holy time. We need only take notice. This is the overriding message of this song and is a central theme to these Days of Awe. Woody Guthrie (a native of Coney Island) wrote this song in 1954 and Frank London and the Klezmatics set it to music 5 decades later. It contains a prominent verse from Exodus when Moses encounters the Burning Bush.
Inspired by the melody and the message of this piece, we adapted this text to carry us through the three central themes of Musaf for Rosh Hashanah, Malchuyot (God’s sovereignty), Zichronot (Remembrance) and Shofarot (the Shofar blasts), while holding on to Guthrie’s original message: If we allow it to be, the place we are standing is indeed “holy ground”. Adapted and shared with us by Cantor Lisa B. Segal of Kolot Chayeinu and further adapted by Carter/Ribnick/Burhenne.
Shalom Shalom LaRachok v’LaKarov
p. 2 Shalom Shalom LaRachok v’Lakarov—Shalom (Peace) Shalom (Peace) to those far off and to those who are near. Taken from the book of Isaiah, these welcoming words are a part of the Haftorah for Yom Kippur, and they are the first words we see in our Machzor, Lev Shalem. It is our hope and prayer that the services we share at the Park Slope Jewish Center will be welcoming and full and filled with Shalom for those who easily walk into our doors and those whose journey here has been long and difficult. To those who have come from afar and those who are close by, we say Shalom, welcome. These words are set to a majestic and beautiful Sephardic rendering of Shirat Hayam (the Song recounting the Crossing of the Sea of Reeds following the Exodus from Egypt).
Shalom Shalom LaRachok V’LaKarov
Additional Music: