Songbook is music to the ears of Reform
Songbook is music to the ears of Reform – article in the Jewish Chronicle by Simon Rocker, 14 July 2011 – read here.
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Yotzeir Or
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 22 June 2011 BUY the sheet music (vce & pno, + optional instruements) – $4.95 The Yotzeir Or blessing is a reminder to live joyfully and gratefully, to raise our voices in song, and our feet in dance. This nigun was shaped with that in mind – and heart. In
“If male, is he circumcised?” Covenant, community, compassion and conscience [2011/2016]
[I am addressing the question of circumcision in Judaism by looking at Liberal Judaism UK. Please bear in mind as you read this article, that I believe that the Liberal Jewish movement plays a vital role in the ethical awareness of the Jewish people, and has done much good to challenge and update Judaism, not
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Seven Triptychs on the Sh’ma
The Rabbis juxtaposed the three separate paragraphs of the Sh’ma, because they touched on so many themes and layers of meaning central to Judaism. Reading the Sh’ma therefore enables us to fulfill the commandment to study Torah (Berachot 60b). For about a year and a half, I have studied the Sh’ma closely, as well as
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Tradition
What weight should we give to the voices from the past? After all, we don’t do exactly what was done in the past, not least because we cannot know for sure what was done, but also because conscience, common sense, or new knowledge to which the Rabbis did not have access persuade us to do
Lashon Hakodesh
Hebrew has a structure of correspondences between words by their root (shoresh) that provides layers of subtlety and multiple meanings. Comparison of passages that use words similarly or in special ways gives scholars opportunity for a range of interpretations. In kabbalistic thought, the letters themselves have meanings, and gematria (numerology) provides another relatedness between words and phrases
Nachamu Nachamu Nigun
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 8 March 2011 BUY the sheet music (1 or 2 vces & pno) – $4.95 The music for this came to me in the week of Tisha B’Av (the 9th of the month of Av), the day that marks many sadnesses for the Jewish people – the date it
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Yonah’s Nigun
© Alexander Massey 9 Oct 2008 BUY the sheet music (2-4 vce round) – $2.25 I wrote this originally as a musical meditation to prepare for leading Mincha (the afternoon service) at Yom Kippur 5769 (2008) with the London Ruach Chavurah community (Jewish Renewal). Some commentators on the Book of Jonah have said that the
Limmud Nigun
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 1 September 2008 BUY the sheet music – $1.95 (lead sheet) I wrote this after coming back home from my first ever experience of a Limmud conference, camping in a field in the heart of the English countryside, where I heard the most amazing gig that mixed Israeli and
Tree of Life Nigun
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 4 May 2007 BUY the sheet music (lead sheet, optional pno part) – $1.95 This nigun was written to mirror the movement of the angels on Jacob’s ladder, ascending and descending between earth and heaven (Gen 28:10-19). I originally thought of the melody spanning 10 pitches (B to D),
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