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The Adding Our Voices: Jewish Feminist and Gender-Inclusive Jewish Music Initiative, Documents the history, composers and music for posterity and pushes the paradigm of gender-inclusion in our times! Learn more here. Kindly use the yellow donate button on the upper right of this page to donate to support the Music Fund for this project as many of our composers are artists who cannot afford the costs of documenting their work and getting it out widely to help advance this cause. Below please find lyrics, artist bios, websites, and song background statements. Foundation donation information, contact rebgoldie@gmail.com. Enjoy and thank you for supporting Adding Our Voices!
Order of Concert
Goldie Milgram, Co-host
Batya Diamond
Laura Copel
Caron Dale
Lealiza Lee
Abby Lyons
Jacqueline L. Marx
Sarah Myerson
Geela Rayzel Raphael, Co-host
Aviva Rosenbloom
Lisa B. Segal
Lori Sumberg
1. BATYA DIAMOND, CARILLON (We Won’t Go Back)
© 2022 Diamond/Gundell/Wilson
This is not a song of surrender
This is not a funeral march
But a ripple in a well, the echo of a bell
Tolling from the trouble in my heart
Feels like the world is winding backwards
All around winds of anger blow
The river’s rising quickly, too deep to wade to safety
Now get on board, let’s everybody row
We won’t go back to Babylon
Where we were forced to sing
May we become a carillon
Let freedom ring, let freedom ring
This is not a song of Halleluyahs
Some truths are not self-evident at all
Many voices with one cry, “it’s my body—I decide”
We rock the boat, we rise, and will not fall
SONG BACKGROUND: “Carillon (We Won’t Go Back)” began to arise in me when I learned of the leaked Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. My heart turned to the psalms, feeling into the grief and oppression expressed in Psalm 137, “…by the rivers of Babylon.” Sadness and grief flowed into anger and defiance, and as the words and music poured out I imagined a chorus of defenders of reproductive freedom marching and singing this song.
I realized that the recording of “Carillon” called out for a voice other than mine, and connected with Tiffany T’Zelle, a powerful, Black woman singer who sings songs of empowerment. We hope that you will sing with us and share the message! -Batya Diamond
BATYA DIAMOND is a Kohenet/Hebrew Priestess, songwriter, and activist based on Wampanoag land known as Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Batya leads all types of rituals, weaving original music and ancient wisdom with accessible teachings and powerful messages--in English and Hebrew. Batya’s latest CD is “Infinite Wisdom: Chants of the Divine Feminine.”
batyadiamond.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/c/BatyaDiamondMusic
2. LAURA COPEL, THE STRANGER
You know what it’s like to be the stranger
You know what it’s like to walk alone
All doors are closed, no one gets close
You know what it’s like to be afraid
You know what it’s like to be the stranger
So open up your arms! Let the strangers in
Justify their trust, let the work begin
Open up your heart, open up your door
They won't be strangers anymore
Some people may look different and speak with different words
But look into the mirror and listen to yourself
Your people all were strangers in the land not long ago
You know how it feels down in your soul
Remember how it feels to be the stranger
:
Open up your arms, let the strangers in
Justify their trust, let the work begin
Open up your heart, open up your door
They won’t be strangers anymore
They won’t be strangers anymore
Our people all were strangers in the land not long ago
We know how it feels down in our souls,
We remember how it feels to be the stranger
Open up your arms, let the strangers in
Justify their trust, let the work begin
Open up your heart, open up your door
They won’t be strangers anymore
SONG BACKGROUND: I wrote "The Stranger" as a commentary on the immigration crisis. My lyrics are based on Torah text in the book of Exodus that states: "You shall not oppress a stranger for you know the soul of a stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt."
Laura Copel is a singer/songwriter/educator based in New York's Hudson Valley. Trained as both a musician and a computer programmer, Laura is a musical lay leader at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Laura co-founded their Tefilah Band, Sh'ma Na Na, in which she plays flute, piano and guitar. Her debut album, If We Had Wings, addresses spirituality, wonder, gratitude, and current events through a Jewish lens. Laura's songs encourage adults and children alike to be the best that they can be by trying to leave the world a little better than they found it.
3. CARON DALE, IM EIN ANI LI, Hebrew lyrics by Hillel 2,300 years ago
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what will become of me?
If not now, if not now, ooo – ooo
Can you tell me, can you tell me when?
Im ein ani li, mi li?
U'ch'she'ani, l'atzmi mah ani?
V'im lo achshav, ay ma-tye
If not now, can you tell me when?
We care for those dear to us
While we cry out for the stranger
But we can’t make a difference at arm’s length
We can help those far and near to us
With one voice, we are the changers
na’aseh b’yachad is our strength
na’aseh b’yachad is our strength
Caron Dale is a songwriter, singer and spiritual leader. She is founder and lead singer of Lox & Vodka, the renowned klezmer, Jewish and American music ensemble. As Cantor for Hevrat Shalom Congregation in Rockville, Maryland and The Residence at Thomas Circle in Washington, DC, Caron brings her joie de vivre to every Service she leads. Through music and prayer, she endeavors to bring each congregant into the moment and the place, hamakom, to help them on their journey to where they need to be. Caron is a solo artist, workshop leader, wedding and b’nai mitzvah officiant and Cantorial Troubadour across the country. Plus, she is founder and executive of Chords of Courage, a non-profit dedicated to using songwriting as a catalyst for social change.
4. LEALIZA LEE, WE AMERICANS
Daddy why’d you have to go
I waited for you at home
As you climbed up into the smoke
Going from floor to floor
Going from floor to floor
You left a message on the phone
You said, We don’t leave our people behind
We’re Americans, that’s not what we do
Some day I’ll come for you as sure as the sky is blue
We don’t leave anyone behind
Twenty years to the day
I know why I feel this way
It’s a slap in the face
My God, my heart aches
As our leaders run away
We Americans still say
We don’t leave our people behind
We’re Americans, that’s not what we do
Someday I’ll come for you as sure as the sky is blue
We don’t leave anyone behind
Went down to New York Harbor
Searched God’s sky
Yearning to breathe free
I found that torch that guides me home
And cried
We Americans
We Americans
We Americans
We don’t leave our people behind
We’re Americans, that’s not what we do
Someday I’ll come for you as sure as the sky is blue
We don’t leave anyone behind
We don’t leave anyone behind
We don’t leave anyone behind
al tash'iyr af echad meachor--Don't leave anyone behind!
SONG BACKGROUND: On September 11 2021, which was Shabbat, I remember emotions running high over how our disorganized exit from Afghanistan contrasted with rescue workers’ unified “don’t leave anyone behind” attitude about the Twin Towers. Out of the conversation my husband and I had that day, the song quickly emerged; it was completed on September 12. Because of the timeliness of the issue and my need to say something, I channeled that need into releasing the song as quickly as possible. I was especially pleased with the minor chord at the end that left a sense of longing. The following year, I felt a shift in energy. After prolonged lockdowns, many people seemed to be longing for more uplifting messages. I added the bridge, which includes the quote “Yearning to breathe free,” from Jewish writer Emma Lazarus’ Great Colossus, from which the Statue of Liberty inscription is excerpted. I felt the bridge, fueled by that quote, created the evolution of a hopeful nature in the song and I changed the ending chord to major.
Lealiza Lee Whether singing well-known favorites or ear-provoking originals, Lealiza aspires to offer intimate vocals that carry the listener into other worlds through songs that hold to no single genre. She has performed intimate house concerts, and at festivals, and Carnegie Hall. Over the past year Lealiza released songs from Ukraine on YouTube. During lockdowns, Lealiza changed her focus from live performance of traditional foreign language folk songs to re-imagining cover songs and writing songs in English. In the summer of 2022, she recorded selected new songs at Abbey Road Studios, and her next album will be out in 2023. Lealiza has studied voice with Curt Peters, Traditional Ladino Song with Ramon Tasat, songs from Judeo-Arabic traditions with Moshe Tessone, and Flamenco with Alfonso Cid. She serves mainly at Michigan’s Adat Shalom Synagogue. Lealiza resides in the Detroit area where she was trained by Cantor Daniel Gross.
5. ABBE LYONS, SINGING TZEDEK TZEDEK TIRDOF BY SUE HOROWITZ (adapted and performed with permission from the composer)
Chorus: Tzedek tzedek tzedek tirdof 2x
We rise for true equality, we are marching in the street
We rise for human dignity, we are prayin’ with our feet
Chorus: Tzedek tzedek tzedek tirdof 2x
We rise for those without a voice, we pledge to be an ally
We rise for those without a choice, we will not stand idly by
Chorus: Tzedek tzedek tzedek tirdof 2x
We all have a part, you and me
Can’t do it all alone, we need community
And none of us are free until we all are free
We are created b’tzelem elohim
Chorus: Tzedek tzedek tzedek tirdof 2x
We rise to meet the stranger, we make a freedom call
We rise together, justice, justice for us all
Chorus: Tzedek tzedek tzedek tirdof 2x
Sue Horowitz, original song composer video of this song: https://youtu.be/AXmeq2Rq9x4
SONG BACKGROUND: I want to clarify that although lyrics below conform correctly to what I sang and what I put into the chat, that I did make two changes from Sue’s original lyrics.
Original: We rise for inequality
As sung: We rise for true equality
Original: And no one is free
As sung: And none of us are free
Abbe Lyons (performer, adaptor) is a cantor, poet, liturgist and composer. She has also worked in the healing arts and nonprofit sectors. Abbe splits her time between Hillel at Ithaca College, Hillel at Binghamton, and teaching Jewish liturgical music, Hebrew prayer skills and music theory on the ALEPH Ordination Program faculty.
SUE HOROWITZ is a singer-songwriter with a story to tell. Her music is included in congregational worship, and settings for tzedakah, hope, and healing. Sue is the founder and creator of the Jewish Songwriting Cooperative retreat, as she loves to lead songwriting workshops. Her style is authentic and intimate, with a clear voice and her own guitar accompaniment. Sue's warm engaging presence and spiritual music attract listeners of all ages.
www.suehorowitz.com
6. JACQUELINE L. MARX, YOUKARIST
This is my body. It’s not yours to kill.
This my blood. It’s not yours to spill.
This is my son. I raised him to respect you, body and soul
This is my daughter. If she says “no,” it’s no.
First they came for our ovaries,
But I was past the fertile age.
Then they came for the rainbow folks
But I lay safely in a self-made cage.
Then they came for the tan, black and brown
But peach, pink, and apricot blends right down (CHORUS)
Zeh ha-guf sheli: lo bishvil’chem lishbor!
Zeh ha-dam sheli: lo bishvil’chem lish’pokh!
Zeh b’ni: limad’ti oto l’kaved chayekh
Zot biti: im hee tisrav: zeh LO!
V 2:
Then they came for the children of Isaac and Ishmael
So I hid among the children of Esau…
…not for protection from the marching knell
But to leave something bare they’d want even more well
When they passed me, I began to yell (CHORUS)
BRIDGE
There was no one left to talk to. There was no one left to hear.
No one to love, no one to hold to hold.
The muddy silence was so clear.
There was no one left for laughin’.
There was no one left to cry.
Is there anyone left to pray to?
There’s a bigger price to pay than a fear to die
FINAL CHORUS
This is my body. It never was yours to kill
This is my blood. I will never give it to you to spill.
This is my country. I know we are better, we must be better.
This is my daughter.
This is my daughter.
This is my daughter
If she says no….
Jacqueline L. Marx is a cantor who tutors b’nai mitzvah students and teaches Hebrew enrichment at Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, NC, where she lives with her family in an enchanted forest. During the High Holidays, she serves as the cantor at B’nai Sholom Congregation in Bristol, TN.
Reformjudaism.org/author/cantor-jacqueline-l-marx
Go-out-in-joy-ki-vsimcha-teitzeiu.mailchimpsites.com
jcortn.org where I am spiritual leader until 1231
reformjudaism.org/author/cantor-jacqueline-l-marx
7. SARAH MYERSON, STAND UP 4 MEDICARE
They do it in Australia, they do it in Austria,
They do it in Italia, they do it in Slovakia:
Universal health care! They do!
Medicare for me, Medicare for you,
Medicare for all 'cause it's the right thing to do.
Medicare for you, Medicare for me,
Medicare for all in a democracy.
Stand up for Medicare!
They have it in Finland, they have it in Iceland,
They have it in Ireland, they have it in the Netherlands,
They have it in New Zealand, they have it in Switzerland:
Universal health care! (They have it!)
Medicare for me, Medicare for you,
Medicare for all 'cause it's the right thing to do.
Medicare for you, Medicare for me,
Medicare for all in a democracy.
Stand up for Medicare!
Mexico and Turkey, South Korea and Japan
Already have a universal health care plan.
Why don't we, in the Land of the Free?
Have we become a plutocracy?
Medicare for me, Medicare for you,
Medicare for all 'cause it's the right thing to do.
Medicare for you, Medicare for me,
Medicare for all in a democracy.
Stand up for Medicare!
SONG BACKGROUND: In 2017, Justice Democrats ran a campaign to get Members of Congress to publicly commit to fighting for HR 676 (single-payer healthcare). There was a parallel call for artists to put the issue out there in the cultural sphere, and that's how I came to write this song, Stand Up For Medicare. Every political campaign needs good, catchy music! While HR 676 didn't pass, there was more serious discussion of single-payer healthcare in the 2020 presidential election (at least in the Democratic primary) than there had been in previous election cycles. I am still hopeful that someday we will be able to guarantee affordable health care for everyone in the USA.
Sarah Myerson is a cantor who serves the community of Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn. She has served Masorti, Conservative, Reform, and Renewal communities in New York, Massachusetts and Israel. Sarah has studied Yiddish in depth and offers Yiddish song workshops with Ethel Raim at Yiddish New York and at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. She writes and performs new compositions, for example with Jewish spiritual music duo Shekedina, and freelances as a musician, speaker, educator and Yiddish dance leader. Sarah Myerson holds Cantorial Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
8. GEELA RAYZEL RAPHAEL, WOMEN WEAVING
Women Weaving
also achieving
freedom from the chains that bind
Women playing
We're also praying
to see moonlight in the night that blinds.
Chorus:
We're the women
and we're not waiting
we're the motion
Alive! Alive!
We're the laughter
flooding the ocean
sparking emotion
Alive! Alive!
Women weaving threads of scarlet
Women sewing friendships gold,
All the tapestries are changing
Patterns growing brightly bold. (Chorus)
We're the candles
We're the fire
But we won't be the flames of the sacrifice;
Passion fuels a burning desire
Like the sweet soul of Havdalah spice. (Chorus)
Women working
The planets rebirthing
With aches and pains and bloodstained dreams
Women leading, loving and needing
Hesed soon on angels' wings.
BRIDGE
We're in transition
We sense our mission
We have a vision of the work to be done;
We'll be singing, forever bringing
Joy now, and in the world to come. (Chorus)
Women wanting, society's taunting
Our spirit's desire to dance in space.
Souls are yearning
Shechinah returning
Creating a world blessed with grace.
Women healing, begging appealing
Women pleading with all our kin,
Join us now our voices rising
Help this tikkun olam begin. (Chorus)
We're the women
and we're not waiting
we're the motion
Alive! Alive!
We're the laughter
flooding the ocean
sparking emotion
Alive! Alive!
SONG BACKGROUND: To put this song in context, it was 1985-86, I was living in Toronto after spending a fantastic year in Israel. We had discovered Shechinah and I had started to write songs. This is one of my early songs. It was about writing music for the movement of the Jewish feminist rebellion. I sang with the Rebel Maidels at the time, my group in Toronto. After the decision overturning Roe v. Wade came down, I realized it's a 30 year old song that's still needed.
Geela Rayzel Raphael is a rabbi and pioneer in the genre of Jewish feminist music. Also known as “Reb Rayzel,” she is a co-founder of the Adding Our Voices Gender-Inclusion Initiative. Her Jewish music was initially inspired by Torah study of women of the Bible and her first song, Miriam, “felt like a mystical experience of Divine Revelation.” Geela Rayzel has been writing and collecting Jewish feminist music since the 1980s. She is a concert performer, songwriter and musical liturgist, playwright, recording artist, and author of children’s books. Geela Rayzel helped to develop Shabbat Unplugged—featuring musical Shabbat and Havdalah services. She is also a founder and member of the Jewish feminist a Capella group MIRAJ.
9. AVIVA ROSENBLOOM, TAKE ACTION
When you’re feeling down, you’re feeling lonely,
And you think everything you’ve been doing is a cinch to turn out wrong
When you hate the hard life we’ve been living
And you think that you’re weak though you know you are very strong
What’s the use of living like you’re dying ?
Never lovin’ or leavin’ or learnin’ how to find a better way?
Better to be shoutin’ than be cryin’,
To be liftin’ your voice in the song of a brighter day.
When it’s hopeless, you feel helpless,
Well you know just what to do:
Look into your mirror
And Shechinah’s shining through!
We’re all dealing with discrimination
Against Jews, against LGBT folks, against POCs - oy vey!
Join the marches, sign all the petitions,
And lift up your voice in the song of a brighter day.
It’s not hopeless, you’re not helpless,
Yeah you know just what to do:
Postcard, call the voters
Equal rights for me and you. For everybody…
(Instrumental Break)
If we work together, we have power,
Fight for tzedek: we’re told : Justice justice, is important to pursue,
Vote for gun restrictions: ban those weapons,
So school kids can live free of fear, and adults can too.
It’s not hopeless, don’t feel helpless
Yeah you know just what to do
Look into that mirror
Esther’s there, and Miriam too
We have power, working all together,
So lift up your voice and you’ll show it,
And tell everybody you know it
Believe in yourself, and you’ll bring on that brighter day!
BACKGROUND: Based on Aviva Rosenbloom, Believe in Yourself, arr. Tamara Kline, ASCAP
Aviva K. Rosenbloom “As the daughter of a cantor, I have always sung Jewish songs, but I only started composing my own music when I felt that there was something missing. I became the cantor of Temple Israel (Hollywood, CA) in 1976, just when the Feminist movement began to take hold. We started a women’s group there and began to create Feminist Shabbat services, so I started to write the missing songs! Our Bat Kol group was among those who created the Brit Bat ceremony for newborn girls. We created the Simchat Chochmah ceremony with Savina Teuval for women attaining the age of 60 years, and later I held one for myself with a minyan of important women in my life participating. Attending the first ever conference on Jewish Women’s Spirituality in 1984 also had a big influence upon me.” Aviva K. Rosenbloom trained privately for the cantorate with Cantor William Sharlin.
10. LISA B. SEGAL SINGING ‘OUR POWER’ BY RENA BRANSON (sung with permission of the composer) with words from From Amos 5:24
We will not underestimate our power any longer.
We know that together we are strong (x2)
Like drops of water shape the rocks
As they rush down the falls
We know that together we are strong
We will not…..
Mishpat (let justice)
Underestimate….
v'yigal (roll down)
Our power…..
ka'mayim (like waters)
Any longer..
We know….
u'tzedakah (and righteousness)
That together….
eitan (like an ever-flowing/mighty)
We are strong…
k’nachal (like a stream)
Lisa B. Segal (performing) has served as Cantorial Director of the Academy for Jewish Religion. She is a founding member of congregation Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where she has served as cantor for over 19 years.With her unique voice and energy, Lisa leads Shabbat, holiday, and High Holy Day services and observances. She creates and leads all ranges of life cycle events, composes music, teaches and leads community events, and regularly performs in concerts, on Facebook, and on bimahs beyond her synagogue. Lisa B. Segal holds Cantorial Ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion
Rena Branson (Composer) is a Jewish composer, ritual leader, and educator who uplifts personal and collective healing through song. She is the founder of A Queer Nigun Project, which organizes monthly singing events for LGBTQIA+ folks (now on Zoom) and sends Jewish spiritual audio content to people who are incarcerated in NYC jails. She also organizes ritual and community events with Linke Fligl, a queer Jewish farm! Rena composes original compositions and traditional Hasidic melodies.
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/renabranson
Website: https://www.renabranson.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbQuMa61Qo6aGPHwaLz97EA
11. Keep on Marching by Lori Sumberg
Chazak chazak…do not despair
v’nitchazek…keep on marching.
Chazak chazak…we do not despair
v’nitchazek…we keep on marching.
Chazak chazak…do not despair
v’nitchazek…keep on marching.
….keep on hoping
….keep on believing
….keep on singing
SONG BACKGROUND: Rabbi Goldie Milgram and I were talking about the New Jewish Activism Concert and she told me she envisioned a song that would unify the voices of the concert. That night, I dreamt we were walking together in the desert and I woke up singing this song. It can be sung when feeling fatigued or discouraged to give yourself and others inspiration and encouragement, to gather energy and express Jewish solidarity. Additional kavannot can be added (keep voting, praying, etc…).
Lori Sumberg, is a singer-songwriter/guitarist who has served as a cantorial soloist in Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues and has produced albums of her original music. Also a chaplain, she has written a Jewish pastoral care guide for Chaplains that includes her original tkhines. Lori resides in her hometown of Larchmont, NY where she serves as an educator and music specialist.
Adding Our Voices (AOV) is a feminist-model social change initiative that invites, documents,...
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