This Tuesday I am heading off to attend a silent meditation retreat led by my friend and colleague Rabbi James  Jacobsen-Maisels. Years ago this song, Silence, was literally "delivered" to me in whole from somewhere beyond my conscious mind. The song itself is a meditation, and I invite you to close your eyes, breath slowly and deeply, and receive it as I did, in quiet contemplation. 
Blessings for a light-filled Hanukkah.

Silence
Music/Lyrics Mark Novak and angelic shlichim

Once upon a time there was the silence
Hope was still a memory of future days ahead
The waters parted company in silence
And heaven kissed the earth so softly snuggled in her bed.

The quiet desert moon reflects the silence
Stories of the stars are heard in whispers over time
Remember how we captured life in silence
Drifting off to sleep to images and rhymes.

Talking is more often done in silence
The thoughts between the lines speak louder than our words
Embarrassingly adolescent silence
Truth is left unspoken, trembling like a bird.

I recall in refuge I took silent
So I could hear the beating of my heart reveal my name
Where myth is woven peacefully in silence
Eyes meet eyes meet ancient eyes - come dance before the flame

G!d is resting comfortably in silence.
Patiently he waits for us - take comfort, let him in
Beauty is revealed to us in silence
Returns us to the place where we can all renew again

In Silence
          Silence
                  Silence.



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My late rebbe, R' Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, zt"l, (זכר צדיק לברכה) was a master storyteller. He taught, in the name of Abraham Joshua Heschel zt"l: "a mayse is a story in which the soul surprises the mind". "A Year of Stories" is dedicated to his memory. I invite you to forward the link to these stories so that they find their way into the hearts of other listeners and tellers.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
If you would like to be added to the growing list of 
"Year of Stories" followers, let me know at [email protected], 
with "Year of Stories" in the subject line.

Ah, all those Greek gods to bow down to. 

Next month many of my colleagues and I will be gathering in a hotel outside of Boulder, Colorado for Ohalla, what my wife Renée calls a "rabbinic convention for unconventional rabbis". Years ago at the Tuesday night cabaret I, along with three others I will refer to as my "crew", perfomed a rap about Shabbat. Reb Zalman sat watching, totally perplexed, and at one point during the rap I jokingly feared for my future, saying, "I can see my teudah (ordination document) going up in flames as I speak." 
Lucky for me, Reb Zalman liked my davvening and storytelling!

If you like the rap and you'd like a copy, it's available on iTunes for 99 cents. What a deal! Lyrics below. Enjoy!

If You’re A Maccabbee (Hanukkah Rap) Music & Lyrics by Mark Novak

Let me tell you a story about days of old
When the nights were long and the days were cold

Alexander the Great was the king you see
Of the land of Judea where the Jews were free
To live and worship the only God
Adonai Eloheynu Adonai Echad

Now Alexander the Great despite his royal fame
Grew old and died, ending his reign
A new king arrived upon the scene
A real pain in the tuchus, if you know what I mean

He gathered together all of the Jews and said
“Listen closely ‘cause I got bad news.”

Now this King Antiochus, he thought he was wise
He said, “You can’t observe Shabbat or be circumcised
You have to pray to great Greek Gods Israel
And sacrifice pigs - they squeal!”

Bow down to idols of stone indeed 
That’s not being Jewish it’s plain to see
But many Jews were afraid to disobey the king’s order
They’d be put to death like a lamb to the slaughter

There was a righteous man in Modin town named
Mattathias, he refused to bow down
he smashed the idols, cried passionately
“Whoever’s for the Lord our God follow me!”

Chorus
If you’re a Macabee then your’re a hammer...

I know you know what happens next in the story 
there are armies and fighting and it gets kind of gory
Antiuchus’ army gets cut down to size
By Judah and the Maccabbees, the good guys!

Then there’s the cleansing of the temple and the search for oil
For the ner tamid, would triumph be spoiled?
Of oil they could only find one jar
They looked here, there, near, and far.

It’s a solid fact, a moment of mystery
Nes, Gadol, Haya, Sham  - that’s history.

Chorus

One last point for your edification
Hanukkah’s the time for your rededication
Be a modern Maccabbee - stand tall
And hammer a world of peace and justice for all.

Chorus

My late rebbe, R' Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, zt"l, (זכר צדיק לברכה) was a master storyteller. He taught: "a good story is one where the mind surprises the heart". "A Year of Stories" is dedicated to his memory. I invite you to forward the link to these stories so that they find their way into the hearts of other listeners and tellers.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Please consider offering a tax deductible donation to DC's Jewish Renewal community, 
Minyan Oneg Shabbat. Thank you.
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If you would like to be added to the growing list of 
"Year of Stories" followers, let me know at [email protected], 
with "Year of Stories" in the subject line.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Be Happy - It's Sukkot  
Music: Bobby McFerrin  Lyriucs: Mark Novak


Here’s a little song I wrote
About the festival of Sukkot
Be Happy - It’s Sukkot

You take the lulav and the etrog too
You shake em shake em shake em that’s what you do
Be Happy - It’s Sukkot

(chorus) Oy Oy Oy...
Oy oy Hodu LaShem (2x)
Ki Tov
Oy Oy Oy...
Oy oy Ki L’olam (2x) Chasdo

We march around the congregation
7 hakafot in celebration
Be Happy - It’s Sukkot 

We eat our meals out under the sky
In the sukkahs we build and if you ask me why I’ll tell you 
Be Happy - It’s Sukkot 
(chorus)

We greet and honor our ushpizin 
from Abraham to David and in between
Be Happy, It’s Sukkot

And should our minhag be egalitarian
We welcome Sarah, Rachel, Esther, Abigail, and Miriam
Be Happy, It’s Sukkot  
(chorus)

V'samach'ta V'cha'ge'cha V'ha'yi'ta Ach Sameach

Be Happy It's Sukkot (with apologies to Bobby McFerrin)   
©Mark Novak 2014    

We still get the newspaper delivered every day. I have been lobbying lately for subscribing to only the digital edition of the paper in order to save the lives of a few trees (OMG, could I be reading newspapers made from the same trees that the JNF planted in my name when I was in Hebrew school??)
In any case, my daughter Kaziah nixed the idea, because it would make it far too difficult and far too time consuming for her to read the 2 pages of comics that she consumes in the Washington Post every day. And my wife Renée likes to cut out recipes from the Food section, which let's face it, cannot be done on a computer regardless of its' cut and paste options.
I must admit that I need the paper too. Otherwise, I couldn't say that we "get the paper" every day and, I wouldn't have the obituaries to read.
Does anyone know whether it is true or an urban myth that would-be renters in NYC read the obits and then pounce on the apartments that the now deceased left unoccupied? Can anyone confirm or put to rest this idle roomer? (sic, pun intended, or sick pun, intended)
Either way, the obits hold a certain fascination for me. And becuase of what what published in today's paper, I got to meet three people whose lives would otherwise have gone unnoticed and unappreciated by yours truly. What makes it all the more lovely is that all three were music lovers.

The picture above is of Lambert Bartak (pretty darn close to Bartok don't you think?) who died last Tuesday, November 5th, at the age of 94. For over a half century Mr. Bartak was the organist at Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium, entertaining the crowds for the College World Series.
Bartak also played the organ for minor league baseball's Omaha Royals from 1973 to 2002. In 1988, he was ejected from a game when he played the theme song from "The Mickey Mouse Club" during an onfield argument between the Royals' manager and an umpire over a call. Talk about the power of music!

Al Johnson died on October 26. He was only 65 (Uh-oh, I just turned 60 last week), and I wonder if any of you recall his 1960's rhythm and blues vocal group called the Unifics, because I sure don't. But Mr. Johnson went on to produce and arrange for Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, and Jean Carne. I just love the truth of what he had to say about love songs: "For something that causes so much pleasure, love causes a whole lot of pain. Love songs allow you to experience the emotion without having to do the roadwork or, if you have been through the mill, make you feel that it was somehow for a worthy cause." I'll say.

The third person I had the privilege to meet today is Chana Mlotek, who died at her home in the Bronx on November 4. Music archivist at YIVO, she was an impassioned collector of Yiddish songs. Isaac Beshavis Singer once called Chana and her husband Joseph, "the Sherlock Holmeses of Yiddish folk songs." In 1970 the couple began writing a column in the Jewish Daily Forward called "Perl Fun Der Yiddishe Poezie" ("Pearls of Yiddish Poetry") One section of their column, "Readers Recall Songs," asked readers to submit small portions of songs they remembered from their youth. The Mloteks would then research and identify these songs and write about them.  One of the most memorable letters came from a man who had been in a concentration camp.  A boy there sang, "My Yiddishe Mame," and the Nazi officer was so moved that he told the guard to give the Jews another bowl of soup.  A week after the letter was published in the column, a writer wrote that he was the boy who sang the sentimental song, and a week after that, another letter came from someone who said, "I was there too."
As an enthomusicologist and folklorist, Chana said that songs were powerful stimulants to retrospection. "There's a song everybody loves."  She wrote her first research paper on a song called, "The Beard" in which a wife asks her husband why he cut off his beard because she no longer recognizes him.   "I found it to be a poem by Mikhl Gordon from 1868," Chana said, "It went through many different translations and melodies. When a songs is transmitted orally like that, it becomes folkloric." (BTW, my family folklore has it that many years ago my father-in-law came home having shaved off his beard. My late mother-in-law told him, "If you shave it again, don't bother coming home") 


Lambert Bartak, Al Johnson, Chana Mlotek and my late mother-in-law Randy Brachfeld. 


May their memories be for a blessing.

Hanging to my left on the wall in my office is this card:
 
                "Those Who Sing Pray Twice."

Like most of what I am surrounded by (G!d forbid this should ever include the loved ones in my life), I take little day to day notice of. But I couldn't help gain some new insight into what this quote may mean in the light of this week's Torah portion, Parshat Chukat.

The most famous instance that we find B'nai Yisrael breaking into spontaneous song is after its perilous flight from Egypt and its subsequent crossing of the sea. 
The Song of the Sea begins:  
אָז יָשִׁיר-מֹשֶׁה וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת-הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת  (Exodus 15:1)
Then sang Moshe, and all the Israelites with him, this song...

So too in Pasrhat Chukat do we find Israel breaking into song after another act of Divine salvation, this time from the hands of the Amalekites (disguised, according to Rashi, as Cannanites):אָז יָשִׁיר יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֶת-הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת  (Numbers 21:17)
Then did Israel sing this song....(doo-daa, doo-da)

What is the connection? A line from Psalms gave me a clue:
לַיהוָה הַיְשׁוּעָה עַל-עַמְּךָ בִרְכָתֶךָ סֶּלָה.  (Psalms 3:9)
Rescue is the Lord's! On Your people your blessing (Alter translation)

The midrash on this psalm helped me understand somethng new. Midrash Tehillim unpacks this line to mean “for all the miracles you do for us it is our obligation to sing songs for you” According to the midrash then, a blessing = a song.     


As the card says:
                                      "Those Who Sing Pray Twice."

In a more modern context, from where does spontaneous song arise? In a beautiful interview, Roseanne Cash, the daughter of the legendary musician and songwriter Johnny Cash, comments on her music writing process:

"I think that when you're in that creative zone, you're tapping into the collective unconscious, and that there's a field there. I think that's the unified field, that creative vast unconsciousness full of beauty and love. And when you're in the zone, as a writer, as a painter, as a cook--any creative endeavor--you can draw on it. Sometimes I feel like the songs are already out there...
It's not that way with all of them...(but) some of them are infused with the radiance of truth, and those are the ones that I think come from that unified field, from God, from what I think of as God. That doesn't mean I'm extra special, by the way. That means everyone has access to it."

Collective unconscious, unified field, שמע ישראל. B'nai Yisrael breaks into song after rescue because it is for them, as it is for me, a moment in which my senses are in a heightened state of awareness. I'm more tuned in, and channel provides better reception. I'm in the zone.


May we all be blessed to sing our song, whether it rise up in times of plenty or in times of trouble. And may our songs be drawn from the Infinite well, a song that in turn draws us back to our source. 



                                        "Those Who Sing Pray Twice."

Reb Zalman speaks of prayer as a spritiual tool that is useful in helping us to recalibrate. I take that to mean that the insight gained from prayer guides me to re-member who and what G!d intended for me upon conception (Hmmm....G!d's or mine?)  
A few weeks ago I planted a number of broccoli seeds, which are now 1 1/2 inches tall and reaching towards the light, awaitng their transplanting upon spring's arrival. How does the broccoli seeed know what it is and what it will become? What do I have to learn from its wisdom? Perhaps part of the answer lies in Hanna Tiferet's beautiful song "Planting Seeds". 
On this Shabbas, may we all be reminded of who we are.