Non Komo Muestro Salvador

Ein Kelohenu: For those of you who are still waiting for Placido Domingo (see Placido Domingo Comes to B'nai Israel) to come to Congregation B'nai Israel - your wait is over!

Which is to say - he's not coming. As many (those of you who read past the headline) but not all of you know, that was a Purim 'til it's Pesach PURIM SPOOF.

Alas, this year, too, Elijah the Prophet (lehavdil) did not appear to appear at Abq Jew's seder to announce the coming of the Messiah - although one never knows.

The wine in Elijah's Cup had disappeared by morning.

Where is the Messiah now? As Abq Jew has blogged (see If You Build It, He Will Come):

And - in case you were wondering - Abq Jew knows exactly where the Messiah is at this exact moment - although he, all Israel, and indeed, the whole world still do not know when he will undertake his sacred mission.  From the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a: 

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi asked Elijah, "When will the Messiah come?" "Go and ask him himself." "Where is he sitting?" "At the gates of Rome." "What will identify him?" "He is sitting among the poor lepers. While all of them untie all their bandages at once, and re-bandage them together, the Messiah unties and re-bandages each bandage one-by-one, saying 'I might be needed, so I must not be delayed.'" 

Speedily, dear G-d, in our days!

For those of you who are still waiting for Ahuva Batz (see Ahuva Batz Comes to B'nai Israel) to come to Congregation B'nai Israel - your wait is also over!

Which is to say - she came, she sang, she conquered.

What did Ahuva sing? Yom Tov Hallel. Yom Tov Musaf. Eighth Day Haftorah. But the standout was her Hebrew + Ladino rendition of Ein Kelohenu.

Of Ein Kelohenu, Wikipedia tells us:

Ein Keloheinu ("There is none like our God") is a well known Jewish hymn. 

Ein Keloheinu is sometimes chanted at the end of the morning service (shacharit). In the Ashkenazi tradition outside of Israel, it is only said at the end of Shabbat and festival services, towards the end of the Mussaf service, immediately before a Talmudic lesson on the making of the Temple incense.  

However, in the Land of Israel, as well as in all Sephardi weekday morning prayer services it is said daily. In some other regional traditions it is used elsewhere in the liturgy, but it seems to be known worldwide. 

Now, it turns out (one YouTubes, one learns) that Ahuva's Hebrew + Ladino version of Ein Kelohenu did not originate with her. But it was nevertheless absolutely delightful.

Here are the Ladino lyrics, which Abq Jew took from a text provided for Nisim Behar's May 2014 Bar Mitzvah at Keter Torah Synagogue, in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Ein Kelohenu 

Non komo muestro Dio, Non komo muestro Senyor,
Non komo muestro Rey, Non komo muestro Salvador. 

Quien komo muestro Dio, Quien komo muestro Senyor,
Quien komo muestro Rey, Quien komo muestro Salvador. 

Loaremos a muestro Dio, Loaremos a muestro Senyor,
Loaremos a muestro Rey, Loaremos a muestro Salvador. 

Bendicho muestro Dio, Bendicho muestro Senyor,
Bendicho muestro Rey, Bendicho muestro Salvador. 

Tu sos muestro Dio, Tu sos muestro Senyor.
Tu sos muestro Rey, Tu sos muestro Salvador. 

Ein Kelohenu in Ladino Nissim Behar’s Bar Mitzvah Keter Torah Synagogue West Bloomfield, MI, Parashat Behar,  May 10, 2014

But wait! There's more!

We Ashkenazim usually end our singing of Ein Kelohenu with the semi-verse

אתה הוא שהקטירו אבותינו לפניך את קטרת הסמים

You are the one before whom our fathers burned the incense of spice

Abq Jew has always found that ending ... somewhat lame. He was therefore thrilled to discover (one Googles, one learns) that Sephardim have a different, way more exciting ending - Psalms 102:14.

Abq Jew will (Billy Nader) speak more of The Appointed Time is Come in a future blog.

But for now, let's enjoy the Hebrew + Ladino Ein Kelohenu performed by Lika Eshkenazi & Dulce Canto (which inexplicably does not close with the אתה תקום verse).

Note: One Googles, one learns.
But in this case, Abq Jew was unable to find out much about Lika Eshkenazi -
except that she lives in Sofia and performs (with Dulce Canto) in Hungary,
Italy, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Israel. And there is this bio,
which Abq Jew can only partially translate.
Do you know more? Let Abq Jew know!

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!

Good Shabbos, New Mexico!

Inspiring Shefa Gold

New Mexico's Rabbi: As you may recall from Lost Jewish Tribe Discovered and other seminal Abq Jew blog posts, there are just about twenty-four (24) ordained rabbis who currently reside in the Land of Enchantment.

Of those rabbis who bless our state with their presence, one and only one has been recognized by the Jewish Daily Forward as one of America's Most Inspiring Rabbis.

Mazeltov, Rabbi Shefa Gold!

In January, Abq Jew (see Mishkan Chants Shefa) said:

When it comes to Hebrew chant, no one can beat Rabbi Shefa Gold.

And on her website, Rabbi Shefa said:

Chant is a path for all of us who lead with our hearts, who are determined to seek out the truth that is buried deep beneath the ground of our lives, and who have made a commitment to live that truth, from moment to moment, breath to breath, ‘one little bit at a time.’

In the March 27 issue, Forward Editor Jane Eisner said of the entire group of 33 Men and Women Who Move Us:

These stories of inspiring rabbis could not come at a better time. In the few short months since the dawn of 2015, the Jewish world has been stunned by terror, torn apart by partisan bickering, confronted with resurgent anti-Semitism in some communities and a seeping apathy in others. 

Read these stories, and that troubling present melts in the face of genuine spiritual leadership and grace. Thanks to hundreds of nominations by our readers, we’ve identified 33 of the most inspiring men and women from North America who are defining and redefining what it means to be a rabbi in the 21st century.

The Forward cited Shelley Goldberg's words in their appreciation of Rabbi Shefa's work:

I completed a two-year chant leadership program called Kol Zimra with Rabbi Shefa Gold in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her unique style allowed me to connect with Hashem (God) and the divine essence within myself. 

Through repetition of sacred text, chanting took me to a place where I could reframe and recontextualize my life’s experiences so as to live a more balanced and rich life. Rabbi Gold’s ability to treat each student as an individual and want the best for them is a rare gift. 

Thanks to her, I have made chanting an ongoing part of my daily life and have shared it with others.

Sometime toward the beginning of Pesach, Abq Jew (wearing his eLink Webmaster's hat) received a modest note from Rabbi Shefa. The note humbly said:

I am a rabbi living in Jemez Springs. I have recently been named one of the 33 most inspiring rabbis in America by The Jewish Forward. I teach all over the world. I'll be teaching a meditation retreat this summer in Jemez Springs and would like NM Jews to know about this. 

Abq Jew did take note of this note; he immediately thought, "That's nice." But it was Pesach, and the news got lost in the Pesachdik sauce. But as we say,

כִּי בָא מוֹעֵד

The appointed time is come

So here is some information about Rabbi Shefa's Ecstatic Meditation Retreat.

Ecstatic Meditation Retreat

A week of Hebrew Chant and Deep Silence

with Rabbi Shefa Gold    •    August 10–16, 2015

in the Fitzgerald Center in beautiful Jemez Springs, New Mexico

The essence of faith is an awareness of the vastness of Infinity.   — Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

The Jewish practice of Devekut inspires us to open to the vastness of the Infinite, while releasing the content of thought, moment to moment. During this week of chant and silence we will connect to the Divine through the Earth, Water, Fire and Air in the glorious setting of the Jemez Mountains.

The retreat will take place at the Fitzgerald Center in beautiful Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Easily accessible from both Albuquerque and Santa Fe. All participants will enjoy private accommodations.

Questions? Contact Shefa@windstream.net

And once again -

Mazeltov, Rabbi Shefa Gold!

The Walk of Life

Dire Straits in Jewish Mode: Farblunget, farmisht, farklempt, Farxiga, farshimmelt, fartik. Yes, Abq Jew knows you've seen the Farxiga commercial.

And Abq Jew hears you cry, "What the heck is that song?" And Abq Jew answers:

Walk of Life   Dire Straits   1985

And Abq Jew further hears you cry, "What does this song Walk of Life mean?" And Abq Jew hears your pain and answers: No one is entirely sure, and everyone has a different explanation. Therefore, let us examine the text we have received.

Abq Jew says

Whoever has not explained
the following symbolic lyrics
(on Passover or whenever)
has not fulfilled his duty.

Oldies, goldies

One opinion states that "oldies, goldies" must refer to Golda Meir, of blessed memory, and lehavdil Goldie Hawn. Here the term "lehavdil" (to distinguish between; to separate) is used as shorthand for "to separate the dead from the living," which, according to Jewish custom (minhag Patchogue) we must always do.

In fact, it is Jewish custom not to hang pictures of living friends and relatives on the same wall as pictures of those who have already left the building. What to do when one of a pair of photos in one frame (see above) has departed, while the other has not?

The majority opinion states that "better you should just remove the picture from the wall until the time that G-d will choose."  Abq Jew has (he believes) resolved this issue with a black, squiggly line.

Be-Bop-A-Lula

Be-Bop-A-Lula is, says Wikipedia, a rockabilly song first recorded in 1956 by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps.

The writing of the song is credited to Gene Vincent and his manager, Bill "Sheriff Tex" Davis. Evidently the song originated in 1955, when Vincent was recuperating from a motorcycle accident at the US Navy hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. 

"Be-Bop-A-Lula" has been covered by numerous and varied artists. The Everly Brothers released a version only two years after Vincent's, on their 1958 self-titled debut album, and they included it as part of the setlist at their Royal Albert Hall reunion concert in 1983. English rocker Cliff Richard covered the song for his own debut album, Cliff, in 1959. Vincent's rockabilly colleague Jerry Lee Lewis recorded it for the 1971 album Monsters, and Carl Perkins offered his own take in 1996 on the album The Man & The Legend. 

The Beatles played the song regularly during their early years, and a raucous live version (complete with guest vocals) can be heard on Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962. John Lennon later recorded the song for his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll, and it was used as the B-side for the Apple single release of "Ya Ya" in Germany later that year. Paul McCartney performed an acoustic version on the 1991 live album Unplugged (The Official Bootleg). 

What I Say

What I Say is an American Rhythm and blues song, by Ray Charles released in 1959.

As single divided into two parts, it was one of the first Soul songs. The composition was improvised one evening late in 1958 when Charles, his orchestra, and backup singers had played their entire set list at a show and still had time left; the response from many audiences was so enthusiastic that Charles announced to his producer that he was going to record it.

I Got A Woman

I Got A Woman is a song co-written and recorded by American R&B / soul musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December 1954.

The song builds on "It Must Be Jesus" by the Southern Tones, which Ray Charles was listening to on the radio while on the road with his band in the summer of 1954. 

He and a member of his band, trumpeter Renald Richard, penned a song that was built along a gospel-frenetic pace with secular lyrics and a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues (R&B) background. 

The song would be one of the prototypes for what later became termed as "soul music" after Charles released "What'd I Say" nearly five years later.

I Got A Woman has been covered by many artists, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Anneke van Giersbergen, and Ricky Nelson.

Down in the tunnels

The peshat (simple explanation) is that this is a reference to, as the British say, busking in the Underground. Or, as New Yorkers say, panhandling in the subway. But there is a remez (hint), a derash  (metaphor), and, perhaps, a sod (secret) as well, as Abq Jew will soon explain.

The song about the sweet loving woman

"My Sweet Lovin' Woman" is a song written by American blues musician Robert Nighthawk (1909-1967) under his given name, Robert McCollum.

The song about the knife

Mack the Knife or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", originally "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", is, Wikipedia tells us,

a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. 

In the best known English translation, from the Marc Blitzstein 1954 version of The Threepenny Opera, which played Off-Broadway for over six years, the words are:

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear,
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack-knife has Macheath dear
And he keeps it out of sight.

Blitzstein's translation provides the basis for most of the popular versions we know today, including those by Louis Armstrong (1956) and Bobby Darin (1959; Darin's lyrics differ slightly), and most subsequent swing versions. 

Weill's widow, Lotte Lenya, the star of both the original 1928 German production and the 1954 Blitzstein Broadway version, was present in the studio during Armstrong's recording. He spontaneously added her name to the lyrics, which already named several of Macheath's female victims. 

Abq Jew notes with sadistic pleasure the ubiquity of happy, upbeat sweetheart murder ballads involving knives.

Banks of the Ohio, Pretty Polly, Tom Dooley, or one of their ilk may be the song referenced; but Abq Jew has loved Mack the Knife since he went with Peterson High's CSF (California Scholarship Federation) to a performance of The Threepenny Opera at a way-off-off-Broadway theater on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf in 1968.

And although "Banks of the Ohio" is a great tune for Adon Olam, Abq Jew thinks "Mack the Knife" is better.

Although many of Walk of Life's remaining lyrics are clear and understandable, there remain two important but unanswered questions.

1. Who is "Johnny"?

There is strong support for the conjecture that "Johnny" is anybody - any musician struggling to do what it takes to make a living, make a life, and / or make a statement. Which includes just about any musician who has been or will be born.

But one Walk of Life exegete has promoted a different interpretation. In his view, "Johnny" is none other than John Lennon.

In this interpretation, "Down in the tunnels trying to make it pay" refers to the early days of the Beatles - the Cavern Club in Liverpool, and the Kaiserkeller ("Cellar") in Hamburg. And yes, in those days the Beatles' repertoire included songs listed above.

2. What is the message of "Walk of Life"?

Here is a deep and multifaceted question to which Walk of Life provides a simple answer:

And after all the violence and double talk
There's just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life

Mark Freuder Knopfler was born on 12 August 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland,
to an English mother, Louisa Mary, and a Jewish-Hungarian father,
Erwin Knopfler ... His father was an architect and a chess player,
whose anti-fascist sympathies and Jewish parentage forced him
to flee from his native Hungary in 1939 ....

Abq Jew firmly believes that Mark Knofler (who wrote the song) is entirely within the Jewish teaching first expressed in Deuteronomy 30:19 -

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed

1985

1993

2006

Especially on Pesach ...

G-d wants us to sing & dance!

Hag Sameach, New Mexico!

Good Yontif, Albuquerque!

A Zissen Pesach, World!

Fun on Pesach: 2015 Edition

Just A Few Things: To brighten and enliven your Passover observance, (perhaps) even more than Skyping with the kids and grandkids.

Gambling Away The Hametz

Here is a story from the New Jersey Jewish News that is so tragic it almost makes Abq Jew want to cry. But definitely to laugh first.

Rabbi gambles away congregation’s “hametz” 

Passover ritual backfires as clergy succumbs to "March Madness"

Amy Ha'aretz of Belltower, NJ, taking a break from cleaning the house ahead of the Jewish
holiday of Passover, said she hopes her synagogue's rabbi would have a good explanation
for why he gambled away food items entrusted to him by the syangogue in a largely
symbolic sale on behalf of an underdog college basketball team. (NJJN photo)

April 1, 2015 

A New Jersey synagogue is claiming its now former rabbi gambled away thousands of dollars in food entrusted to him by congregants as part of a pre-Passover ritual. 

Lawyers for the congregation say Rabbi Richard Leytzan of Temple Beth Frankel in Belltower placed an unspecified bet on Gonzaga last Sunday in its game against Duke in the quarterfinals of the NCCA men’s basketball tournament. For collateral, Leytzan put up the value of the foodstuffs entrusted him by congregants in a ritual known as “selling the hametz.”

. . . .

According to synagogue officials, the rabbi convinced a bookmaker that the pasta, stale bread, and warm beer stored in cabinets throughout the community were worth thousands of dollars. Using this collateral, Leytzan allegedly placed a substantial bet on the Zags to defeat the Blue Devils and advance to the basketball tournament’s so-called “Final Four.” 

Google Exodus

What would Passover be without Aish's 2011 Google Exodus? Still the best Pesach video on the Internet.

Passover Rhapsody

Although Aish's 2012 Passover Rhapsody comes close!

Passover: Breaking News

And Aish's 2013 Passover: Breaking News ain't too shabby.

Technion Passover Rube Goldberg Machine

New this year! The Passover Rube Goldberg Machine! From the Technion in Haifa.

Youngsters! You can learn (you should forgive the expression) about Rube Goldberg and his machines here and here and here!

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!

Good Shabbos, New Mexico!

A Zissen Pesach, World!