Joy through music

Sitting around a camp fire at Camp Ramah Darom this summer, I heard this song of Joey Weisenberg.  In the last few years, his music has been spreading through the Jewish world like wildfire.  It pops up where you least expect it, bringing energy and focus.  His book on building singing communities has taught so many what we need to do to increase joyful participation in worship.  Here he takes a line from the prayerbook that few are familiar with and gives it new energy, new joy, new power.  If you can manage to listen without humming along, you might not be awake!

הַמְּאִירָה, הַמְּאִירָה הַמְּאִירָה לְאֶרֶץ וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ בָּרַחֲמִים הַמְּאִירָה, הַמְּאִירָה, הַמְּאִירָה לַאָרֶץ (וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ (וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ (וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ (וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ⁠ וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ (וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ) וְלַדָּרִים עָלֶיהָ בְּרַחֲמִים וּבְטּוּבָה מְחַדֶּשֶׁת בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד וּבְטּוּבָה מְחַדֶּשֶׁת מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרֵאשִׁית Hum ha-hum, aa-ha-a, ha-a-ha-a Hum ha-hum Ha-ha-a-ha-a-ha-a hum ha-hum, Ha-ha-a-ha-a-ha-a-hum Hame’irah, hame’irah, hame’irah la’aretz V’ladarim alehah b’rachamim Hame’irah, hame’irah, hame’irah la’aretz V’ladarim alehah (V’ladarim alehah) x3 V’ladarim alehah b’rachamim U’vtuvah mechadeshet b’chol yom tamid U’vtuvah mechadeshet ma’aseh b’reishit THE UNIVERSE BEGAN WITH A HUM. A hum… and then a bang. And each day it grew larger and larger and contained more and more. We cannot live each new day in the same way we lived the last, for we have all of the experiences and memories of the previous day filed away in our internal memory bank. And so each day is created anew, filled with new opportunities. And each day, we have the potential to become partners with God in the act of creation, adding to the world in a way that only you can...