Music and audio © Alexander Massey 24 August 2021
Download the free sheet music here (voice & guitar)
A simple blessing suitable for many occasions. Other than the title, Baruch Atah, B’ruchah At, this song is entirely in English.
Hebrew blessings for people have historically always been in the masculine. In more recent times, there have been moves to transcend the masculine framework for Jewish liturgy in God names and blessings. This started with alternating with feminine language forms. And now, thankfully, there is the wonderful Non-Binary Hebrew Project, and the Adding Our Voices (AOV) Initiative, a musical project in which I have played a role as composer, transcriber, editor and proofreader.
For this song, I have adapted text from: Deut 28:3-4, 6, Gen 12:3, 2. The chorus uses both masculine and feminine forms of blessing, with the idea of using a merism (a combination of two contrasting parts of the whole refer to the whole) to make the lyric inclusive of all genders (and not just these two).
Blessed shall you be in the city,
and blessed shall you be in the field.
blessed shall be the fruit of your body,
blessed shall be the fruit of your land.
[Chorus]
Baruch atah, blessed shall you (m.) be;
B’ruchah at, you (f.) shall be blessed.
Blessed shall you be in your goings,
blessed shall you be in your comings
I will bless those who bless you,
and you shall be blessed.