Dear Community,
This week, KHN member Debra Brosan invited the Elul group* to think creatively about Elul through modern song. Our task was to make a playlist of songs that would inspire us to be better, braver, and more in touch with the Divine in the coming year.
The Alter Rebbe did not have access to Spotify, but he did understand the importance of music. He once said, "There are gates in heaven that cannot be unlocked except by melody and song." I think about this quote whenever I feel moved by a song, which is often, and especially when the song makes me feel closer to the Divine.
What does it mean to feel closer to the Divine? For me, it is a sense of connection in the world, to all humanity, to all life on the planet. It's a feeling of gratitude and wonder. It is a feeling of awe and humility. It usually comes with goosebumps or tears.
It's difficult to explain in words, but music does a better job. It's the feeling I get when I hear the first swell of music to "Do You Realize" by The Flaming Lips after the band counts to three. It's the recognition I hear of my own humanity, my failings and my disappointments sung by Paul Simon in "American Tune":
I don’t know a soul whose not be battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not be shattered
Or driven to its knees
As I’ve mentioned many times, I feel strongly about Johnny's Cash's Torah. In particular, Cash's "Daddy Sang Bass" has been a very important song to me for a long time. I love the song's depiction of the afterlife and the dream/hope/prayer that the ones we love will be waiting for us after we die. And until we join them, singing seems to help our troubled souls:
‘cause singing seems to help a troubled soul
one of these days, and it won’t be long
I’ll rejoin them in a song
I’m going to rejoin the family circle at the throne
What does all of this have to do with Elul? It's the feeling that arises in me when I listen to each song. It's a mixture of prayers: prayers of longing and disappointment, alarms bells and wake up calls, prayers asking for connection, and prayers of unending love and gratitude. The themes found in each song closely resemble the themes in many of our ancient psalms.
A psalm is a song and many of these songs are psalms.
So here is my list in full. I’ve also included a Spotify link to listen to each song.
Rabbi Janine’s Elul Mix 5784:
Tom Petty – Wake Up Time
Paul Simon – American Tune
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Johnny Cash – Daddy Sang Bass
George Harrison – My Sweet Lord
Natalie Merchant – Kind & Generous
Carl Carlton – Everlasting Love
Annie Lennox – Why
John Boutte – My Life
The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize?
Louis Armstrong – What a Wonderful World
This week I also wanted to give you some notes on the first five songs and why they made the list. Next week I'll return the final five.
Tom Petty – Wake Up Time
The practice of blowing the shofar every day of Elul (except on Shabbat) is meant to serve as a wake up call. Petty knows that sometimes in life you follow the wrong path, it takes you away from what is truly important. And then suddenly, it’s time to take stock. Suddenly, it’s Elul, and it’s time to wake up to your life.
Who could have seen
you’d be so hard to please somehow? …
you’re just a poor boy a long way from home
and it’s wake up time.
Paul Simon – American Tune
Mistaken. Confused. Misused. Forsaken. I hear in Simon’s song the vulnerability and disappointment that can surface during Elul. The work of teshuvah/returning can bring out our feelings of vulnerability, disappointment, and our fears of our own mortality.
I don’t know a soul whose not be battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not be shattered
Or driven to its knees
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
More Elul appropriate questions: What is life all about? Can we ever escape the rat race? Can we change? Is anyone listening?
Well I’ve never prayed
but tonight I’m on my knees
I need to hear some sounds that
recognize the pain in me …
but the airwaves are clean
and there’s nobody singing to me now
Johnny Cash – Daddy Sang Bass
As I’ve mentioned many times, I feel strongly about Johnny's Cash's Torah.
‘cause singing seems to help a troubled soul
one of these days, and it won’t be long
I’ll rejoin them in a song
I’m going to rejoin the family circle at the throne
George Harrison – My Sweet Lord
Mizmor l’David? No, mizmor l'George! Move aside King David, because what Harrison did here is write a modern day psalm. What a beautiful pouring out of love and longing for the Divine.
I really want to see you, Lord
but it takes so long, my Lord (Hallelu Yah)
my sweet Lord (Hallelu Yah) …
I really want to know you (Hallelu Yah)
I really want to go with you (Hallelu Yah)
I really want to show you Lord
that it won't take long, my lord (Hallelu Yah)
What are your songs? I'd love to know.
Wishing you a Shabbas of sweet melodies.
Good Shabbas,
Rabbi Janine Jankovitz
