Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 25 Sept 2016 BUY the sheet music (solo lead sheet) – $3.95 BUY the sheet music (2 vces & guitar chords) – $4.50 (2 copies @ $2.25) Sh’ma Adonai koli ekra; v’choneini va’aneini. Hear, O Lord, when I call with my voice, and be gracious to me, and answer […]
Sh’ma Adonai Koli Ekra (Ps 27:7) Read More »
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 13 August 2015 BUY the sheet music (1 or 2 vces & pno/guit) – $4.95 The sheet music is also available as part of ‘Five Sacred Chants’. ןְטַהֵר לִבֵּנוּ לְעָבְדְּךָ בְּאֶמֶת V’taheir libeinu, l’ovd’cha b’emet. “Purify our hearts, that we may serve You in truth.” When, in the morning,
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey Sept 2014 BUY the sheet music (2 vces & pno/guit) – $4.50 (2 copies @ $2.25) I think of this chant as ‘sing as you fling’! At Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the new year, the whole community is encouraged to a place of flowing water, and to cast
In the previous parsha (Vayeshev), we have met Joseph with his multi-coloured robe, the envious brothers who sell him into slavery, and learn of their wicked deception of their father Jacob. In an interlude we hear of Tamar’s righteous deception of Judah. Returning to Joseph, after his swift rise to success in Egypt, Potiphar’s wife
Miketz, Dreams, Chanukah and Human Rights Read More »
We are told in the Torah: “On the first day you shall take the product of the beautiful tree, branches of palm trees, thick branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days” (Lev. 23:40) This has developed into the tradition of arba’a minim,
Sukkot matters (2): Finding meaning in the Four Species Read More »
The shaking of the Four Species, sometimes called ‘shaking the lulav’, has attracted a number of meanings over the course of Jewish history. One of these was the idea that all the four plants require water to grow, and this was a ritual to invoke the right amount of rain for the crops. I would
Sukkot matters (3): Finding meaning in shaking the lulav Read More »
Sukkot is a wonderful opportunity to reach back into our Jewish tradition, drawing upon ancient wisdom, at the same time as making new meanings for ourselves and contributing to the evolution of a living Judaism. I’m not going to give an exhaustive account of every detail, or of every ‘official’ version of the meanings of
Sukkot matters (1): Finding meaning in the sukkah Read More »
Listen/watch song on YouTube Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 15 February 2014 BUY the sheet music (2 vces) – $4.50 (2 copies @ $2.25) The fun of this song is all in the lyrics (printed below). First, the chorus loses more words each time it happens, and, by doing so, gradually reveals the differences between
Written and first performed for the Oxford Unitarians service at Harris Manchester College, Yom Hashoah 5774/2014 Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 23 January 2014 In English: In Hebrew: Essa Einai / I lift my eyes – BUY the sheet music (Eng & Heb) – $4.95 Many commentators have seen this psalm as expressing total
I lift my eyes to the mountains (Ps 121) Read More »
Oseh Shalom No. 2 – Composition and audio © Alexander Massey, 12 Sept 2012 BUY the sheet music (solo lead sheet) – $3.95 BUY the sheet music (2 vces & pno) – $6.75 (3 copies @ $2.25) I wrote this piece originally for the Yom Kippur Musaf service. This melody is based on musical motifs