Eit HaZamir (2016) is a collection of songs that my wife, Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus, and I co-wrote for various family simchas and life cycle events. Though we lovingly and purposefully composed these songs specifically for bothers, sisters, cousins, and friends, we recorded them knowing that others would find meaning in them as well. Over the years […]
Music
Two Hours with NFTY-SAR
This Shabbat I had a chance to spend two hours at a NFTY-SAR Kallah here in Atlanta. I left feeling really inspired. I think that’s because I had a chance to connect with some “old souls”– the NFTY-SAR song leaders. I arrived a few minutes before an afternoon song session was about to begin. The […]
Thank God for the Psalms
There are 150 Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. And I thank God for the psalms on what feels like a daily basis. Why? Because I am so glad that the faith tradition that I practice, teach, and represent has poetry at the heart of its sacred scripture. While reading this post here’s a song […]
Can anywhere be a holy place?
Check out this song of mine called “Jacob’s Journey” while you read this post. It’ll connect by paragraph 6: Awhile back I wrote about why I find such meaning in creating contexts that help others find and share their voices. The other day I found myself leafing through some reflective journaling prompts I used […]
Music for Peace, Music for Justice
Here’s a song I wrote called, “Seek Peace,” based on the same passage from Psalms as the photo above. It’s a good one to listen to while reading this post. I think about music a lot. One of the things I think about when I think about music is the idea that music is […]
I Live in a Silver Mine and I Call it Beggar’s Tomb
So I’m stuck on the Grateful Dead again. This morning I was listening to 2/13/70 and stumbled upon the acoustic part of the show. Maybe I was exhausted, or simply a bit more open, or maybe it was the beautiful vocals on the particular version, but Uncle John’s Band really spoke to me in […]