This translation of the first paragraph of the Sh’ma intersperses close reading of the original Hebrew with meditative interpolations to expand on multiple meanings and ambiguities in the Hebrew, as well as in the translation itself. The reader is invited to use this as a starting point for personal meditation on the deep power and […]
Shema (1) – Listen and Love Read More »
Lev. 19:1-20:7 The portion Kedoshim begins: “And G-d spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation …” So this is an ideal opportunity to consider what Moses was told to share with us as a community. Kedoshim tih’yu – ‘you shall be holy’, or, more literally, as kedoshim is plural, ‘you shall be holinesses’,
Kedoshim 5774 – How can we ‘be holy’? Read More »
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey – 24 June 2012 BUY the sheet music (voice & pno) – $4.95 Psalm 150 not only completes Book 5 of the Psalms (tehillim), but is the last of all the Psalms. As such, its themes are particularly important as a summation – a vision – of what our
Halleluyah No. 1 (Psalm 150) Read More »
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 »
Y’varech’cha Adonai (May You Be Blessed) – Composition and audio © Alexander Massey, 3 July 2013 BUY the sheet music (solo & pno) – $4.95 BUY the sheet music (SATB & pno) – $11.25 (5 copies @ $2.25) The simple meaning I have always loved the sounds of this blessing (sometimes called the ‘Priestly Blessing’), whether
The Priestly Blessing (Y’varech’cha) Read More »
Solo – Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 2012 Duet – Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 2012 The sheet music is available in any key for £3.50 GBP (please contact me if you want a different key from the ones shown here) BUY the sheet music (solo & pno, Fmaj) – $4.95 BUY the
Tazria-Metzora (Lev 12:1-15:33) Thought, word and deed As my own personal response to a section of Torah that I find difficult to relate to in modern times, I have been looking at Tazria-Metzora through the lens of a traditional, but unrelated, teaching I learned from Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi1 (ZT”L), the founder of the 20th century Jewish
Tazria-Metzora 5773 – The three holy garments, and the personal touch Read More »
On Shabbat, we mark the completion of Creation, and the establishment of God, not humanity, as the Ruler of Creation. Psalm 93 – beginning with the words Adonai malach – is one of many affirmations of this in traditional Shabbat liturgy. When we sing Psalm 93, with full voices (not half-heartedly!), especially as a call
Adonai Malach (Ps 93) Read More »
Shel Silverstein’s children’s book, ‘The Giving Tree’1 has sold many millions of copies since 1964, but has been dogged by controversy ever since it first appeared. It is a tale of the relationship between the Tree and a boy, always able to magically communicate with one another, as the boy moves from childhood to old
It is a tree of life Read More »
Composition and recording © Alexander Massey – 14 March 2013 BUY the sheet music (3 vces) – $6.75 (3 copies @ $2.25) Who is like You among the gods, O God? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendour, doing wonders? A new song the redeemed sang to Your name at the shore