According to the Urban Dictionary: Hokey Pokey is "a satanic ritual which requires one to put the right foot in and then the right foot out.Put the right foor in and shake it all about. Do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around. And that's what it all about."
That this whole world is a narrow bridge is well-documented. The point of this information though, "the underlying principle—the main thing—is that there should not be any fear at all..."
In "Yener" (A Poshiter Yid), Lipa Schmeltzer asks people to focus less on others as a means of defining themselves.
In "Ich Bin Ich" (Ah Mechayeh!), Avraham Fried explains the words of the Heiliger Kotzker, "If I am me because you are you, and you are you because I am me, I am not and neither are you."
For a second I thought it would be fun to save this for a Monday Matchup with Schwebel, Scharf & Levine's "Pintele Yid". And I'm sure it would be fun. But this track deserves its own space to be heard and heard again.
While watching the promo for this new CD, I formed my opinion: this is Lipa's coming out party as a Jew-in-the-Heart. And you and I—Jews in the hands and feet and beard—can go to hell. Ah. But it turns out that there should be no hell in Lipa's world.
The present track is a stirring melody and message, based greatly on the essence of the Chassidus I've come to know. And while I disagree with a key premise presented by Lipa in his rebuttal to detractors of this song, I agree with the larger point: As a public figure I have a responsibility to measure my words. But who says I need to use YOUR measuring stick?
Lipa's WhatsApp rebuttal (in poetry-slam Yiddish): Download Here
From the very heavenly Strings of My Heart recording (1998)—8 tracks of surreal guitar riffing backed by heavy bass and bass drumming and complemented with flute. (Tracks are named after their wives and kids, I believe.)
Choni and I would spend hours covering this song—he on the vocal bass and guitar; me on the whistle flute and table drum, climaxing in the drum gem at 2:27.
We, of course, love this incredible piano performance for what it is: an incredible piano performance. But we share this with you for the pianist's recent display of pure and powerful Jewish pride:
The Times of Israel reports:
Last Saturday night, Kissin received Israeli citizenship. Though Kissin, 42, has no plans to reside permanently in
Israel, the Moscow native was granted approval by senior government officials
for his citizenship request, which he filed for last year.
“If I, as a human being and artist represent anything in the
world, it is my Jewish people, and therefore Israel is the only state on our
planet which I want to represent with my art and all my public activities, no
matter where I live.”
“When Israel’s enemies try to disrupt concerts of the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra or the Jerusalem Quartet, I want them to come and make
troubles at my concerts, too: because Israel’s case is my case, Israel’s
enemies are my enemies, and I do not want to be spared of the troubles which
Israeli musicians encounter when they represent the Jewish State beyond its
borders.” MORE
Piccolo, piccolo, what do you say?
I say: Bass and Cello, come out to play!
Bass and cello, bass and cello, what do you say?
I say: violin let's make Avi's day!
Contrast this—music, harmony, arrangements, Avrohom Rosenberg's restraint—with today's choirs and choirleaders. If you need to appreciate this more.
It is a challenge to select a TTT and stand by it. There are many songs that are okay and just not excellent; others are so off the beatin' path that it's unfair to bring them in just to beat them down. And sometimes you remember a song on a mainstream and otherwise successful musical experiment that sounds like this. And as you begin uploading, it plays. And as it plays you realize: Wow. This is actually terrible! Fantastic!
Question: Is the more devoted talmid the one who sounds as if he is the rav, or the one who sounds like himself, thereby spreading the voice of the rav? Stam.
This song is called "Vi dan boord?" ("Where's your beard?"). It quotes Pirkei Avos: Do not stare at the pitcher but what is inside it; a new pitcher can hold old wine; an amateur can have deep skills. In this song, the reflection asks equally: Yid, where's your beard? And beard, where's your Yid?
Several of the cantorial blockbusters from R' Shlomo Carlebach were not mainstreamed by him but by his young friend and admirer, R' Shlomo Simcha Sufrin. Included in the several: Keser Yitnu Lecha and Moshe v'aharon.
Last year, Shlomo Simcha teamed up with the Nafshenu Orchestra for a wedding-style-album* of all Carlebach songs. Typically a recipe for mediocrity, this formula works very, very well, when the "wedding singer" happens to be Shlomo Simcha, and the "wedding" is Shlomo Carlebach.
My so far favorite. Hinei Yamim Ba'im:
*This is when a collection of well-known songs are recorded with over-the-top arrangements by one of the popular wedding orchestras, usually as a means of promoting said orchestra to girls' in high school productions and middle-aged men in Kosher Gyms.
On this, the last day of the Chassidic calendar, Chassidim study the last portion of the last section of Sefer HaTanya, in which the Alter Rebbe pleads with us to value the davening connection. He used these words:
הוכח תוכיח את עמיתך, אפילו מאה פעמים
[It is written,] “You shall surely reprove your comrade” — “even one hundred times,”add our Sages, taking up the hint offered by the repetitive form of the Hebrew verb.
ולזאת לא אוכל להתאפק ולהחריש מלזעוק עוד, בקול ענות חלושה
Therefore, writes the Alter Rebbe, I cannot contain myself and cannot refrain from crying out yet again, in a voice betraying [pained] weakness.
במטותא מינייכו ברחמין נפישין
I plead with you out of deep compassion,
חוסו נא על נפשותיכם, והשמרו והזהרו מאד מאד על התורה ועל העבודה שבלב, זו תפלה בכוונה
have pity on your souls. Take care, be extremely vigilant, concerning the study of Torah and the service of the heart, which is prayer4 with proper intent.
להתחיל כולם יחד כאחד, מלה במלה, ולא זה בכה וזה בכה, וזה דומם וזה משיח שיחה בטלה, ה׳ ישמרנו
All should begin [the prayers] in unison, as one, word by word, not one person here and another elsewhere, one mute and the other idly chatting, may G‑d protect us.
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In very different words:
We need you and your tefilla. Each and every Yid can bring the Geula.
Not sure why the Frierdiker Rebbe's photo is featured in this video. Today is the Day of Redemption of the second Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber, known after his passing as The Mitteler (Middle) Rebbe.
I am prepared for the fallout of my TTTing someone's idol this morning. Track culled from BT Rock, a collection of "songs from the spiritual journey" by Sam Glaser.
*Now an acronym for Tunes we'll Talk about this Tuesday.
UPDATE: A number of people mentioned that they were concerned with the title of this post. In my haste to post and run, I did not delve into the possible meaning. It is, unfortunately, quite humorous. The matchup was certainly not supposed to be Yaakov meeting Eisav.
AnonyMrs. and I recently read The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner, wherein this sad story is recapped.
From Wikipedia: The eviction of Israeli civilians and military from Yamit and the Sinai peninsula is considered as a precedent for Israel's policy of land for peace, exemplified in the Oslo Accords, the Gaza Disengagement, and the now-shelved Realignment plan. When all is said and done we pray to know that peace will come one day and we'll remember.
Between writing very well and rocking very hard, it can be forgotten that Moshav has a stellar album of all Hebrew songs called "Malachim - Angels".
The first stanza, translated rockily:
Angels are watching over you, On your journeys out and in
The day before I left, My father sat me down, "I have to have a word with you before you leave this town. There are good people out there, and some are bad and dim, It doesn't matter who you walk with— walk with Elokim"
As Ber says: "It's on an album called 'The Best of the Best', by one of those B-listers whose just been in Jewish music forever." Gideon Levine. Who is Gideon Levine? Related to Dov Levine? Or to Showlom LaVine? This is he:
What a great song. No idea how it popped into my head, but glad it did.
Do you already know that I have a special place in my ears and heart for Yehuda? He was quite original before it was popular and was thus quite popular originally. And he composes and arranges and plays his own stuff, I think. But, ya know, there's also This Tuesday Tune to discuss.
For demonstration purposes only. Image may not reflect what Yehuda! currently looks like.
What, you thought this was a simple nursery rhyme? Did you not realize this was a classical composition by one of the greatest Romantic Period composers [and I quote from Wikipedia]?
This is my dare: listen twice and don't catch yourself whistling or humming the tune for the rest of the day.
