La’y’hudim ha’y’tah orah
v’simchah v’sason viykar

You have guided us through the darkness, illuminating the night.
You have lifted up our broken heart with your joy and your light.
(Esther 8:16 and Havdalah)

These words from the Book of Esther recall a moment of rejoicing after successfully navigating a most dangerous and harrowing passage. We sing these words at Havdalah as we move from the shelter of Shabbat into the work of our week, facing the challenges of this world with the faith that we are guided and blessed. We are grateful to the Holy One who guides us from within, and to the extraordinary people who are filled with the Divine Spirit and lead us through the darkness with their joy and inspiration.

(This chant was composed in honor of Rabbi Deborah Waxman.)

To hear the chants, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• Through the Darkness (melody)  
• Through the Darkness (harmony)  
• Through the Darkness (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Through the Darkness PDF. For the musical notation, click Through the Darkness notation PDF.

V’achar ha’aysh, Kol D’mama Dakah

And after the fire, a soft murmuring sound (1st Kings 19:12)

With the prophet Elijah we enter the storm. Through the wind, and the earthquake and the fire, we journey and are awakened to full aliveness. We are broken open. And then, in the silence we listen.

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• After the Fire (melody)  
• After the Fire (harmony)  
• After the Fire (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click After the Fire PDF. For the musical notation, click After the Fire notation PDF.

Hinay Makom iti

Right Here! There is a Place with Me. (Exodus 33:21)

When Moses asks to see God’s Glory, God answers with these words, directing Moses to a Place from which to see and know the Divine Presence. That place is here. In fact the word Makom (place) became a name of God. I hear God saying, “stand still upon the rock, the foundation of existence, and you will know Me. For that Place is with Me; I am there with you in the place of your stillness, your longing, your love.”

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• The Place (part 1)  
• The Place (part 2)  
• The Place (part 3)  
• The Place (mix)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click The Place PDF. For the musical notation, click The Place notation PDF.

Eicha yashva vadad

How she sits alone! (Lamentations 1:1)

How my heart has been broken by the cruelty of this world
How my heart has been broken by the beauty of this world
Eicha yashva vadad

On the 9th of Av, the day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple, we let our hearts break, and journey through that fissure into love. The Holy Ari teaches that on the afternoon of Tishab’Av, the Messiah is born. Out of the ashes of our grief, Messianic consciousness emerges to inspire us onward to wholeness.

I composed this chant for a Tishab’Av ritual. Between every repetition, each one in the sacred circle cried out a lament. We named our heartbreaks, both personal and communal: Suffering, inequality, cynicism, meanness, violence, poverty, injustice, abuse, apathy, hatred…

And then as the High Priest I dedicated it all, saying,
“And yet…. ALL OF THIS sends me
To kindness
To connection
To Compassion
and to the knowing of the preciousness of ALL LIFE.”

To hear the chant, use the audio players. To download a chant, right-click the note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

• Lament (melody)  
• Lament (harmony)  
• Lament (mix with round)  

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Lament PDF. For the musical notation, click Lament notation PDF.