Entering a new lunar month, heading to Moab, Utah to ride trails and bless the moon,
Interpreting Psalm 81: A Psalm to Sing Again and Help us Gather-in
Harninu – Why not? Why not sing
For God’s sake, from the core, voice our strength, voice our joy,
Echo the shouts of our ancestors
Noah's 'Land ho!'
Abraham’s: ‘Here I am!’ Sarah’s laughter.
Rebecca’s: ‘What am I?’
Jacob’s: ‘Wow, I, I did not realize that…’
Hillel’s: ‘If not now, when!’
Lift the dusking of a new day’s song from within
Beat it out like a drum, shake it like a tambourine, or finger it gently like harp-strings.
Fill it with breath, as if you are bringing the new moon to life
Taking hold of the shining lunar sliver, swelling, like sound
waves through a shofar
Freeing it from shadows
To celebrate this day!
That’s just the way it is
When you’re part of the band, and you are,
eventually you’ve got to make some noise.
At first, it rings foreign in the ears.
The notes go way back, to Egypt’s Nile, to Sinai’s wild
Until the patterns emerge in space-time
And the melody works its way into your shoulders,
Loosening the weights and the knots and the knocks
We’ve been carrying around all year long.
Tzurrus – sorrow and stress, rocks of ages…there they go.
Even the hidden pains, clouding your blind spots,
Come rolling down like thunder
Like the waters freed from the rock
Leaving only honey.
Leave the rebellion for another day.
Today, be the sweetness in the air. Selah!
What’s that? Come on, now, stop protesting.
Open your mouth, and let Wonder fill it
With a new line, a new song.
‘This year it can be different. This year it will be different.’
No-One wants your “same old” service.
Open your mouth and taste a new turn of phrase
To name holy in this moment, this ever-present present.
Turn your kvetch into a stretch[1], stretch that stiff neck.
No sense stumbling on old stones that you yourself can lift.
Turn ‘em ‘round and ‘round,
It’s all there. Kisses sweet as honey.
Pucker up and sing.
[1] An expression learned from Rabbi Marcia Prager, who adds, “and your Oy into Joy.”