Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 16 Feb 2017: V’asu li mikdash v’shochanti b’tocham. Recording with English words: “We’ll make You a holy home, and You will live with us.” Buy the sheet music: $2.25 (approx. £1.80), minimum 4 copies…
Category: Torah
Miketz, Dreams, Chanukah and Human Rights
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…
Shema (1) – Listen and Love
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…
Kedoshim 5774 – How can we ‘be holy’?
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 –…
Tagged with: holiness code
I lift my eyes to the mountains (Ps 121)
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: Many commentators have seen this psalm as expressing total confidence in…
Tagged with: audio, Behar, funeral, Jewish art song, memorials, song, yizkor, Yom HaShoah, Yom Kippur
The Priestly Blessing (Y’varech’cha)
Y’varech’cha Adonai (May You Be Blessed) – Composition and audio © Alexander Massey, 3 July 2013 The simple meaning I have always loved the sounds of this blessing (sometimes called the ‘Priestly Blessing’), whether in Hebrew or English. The verbal repetitions,…
Tazria-Metzora 5773 – The three holy garments, and the personal touch
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…
It is a tree of life
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…
Tagged with: etz chayim
Mi Chamocha No. 1
Composition and recording © Alexander Massey – 14 March 2013 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…
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Shema (2) – Love and Follow
This translation of the second 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…