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CHANUKAH MUSIC? PART 2!

12/19/2022 02:43:19 PM

Dec19

Last week I challenged you to "go on a hunt for Chanukah music that moves you either emotionally or spiritually". Every holiday provides so many opportunities for us to express our Judaism. There are rituals, there is food, there are sights, but for me, I don't feel I have fully taken in the holiday unless I have fully saturated my ears with the music. The sounds go straight from my ears to my heart. Yes, the Adam Sandler song is fun... but, it does little to fill my heart and soul. 

In case you didn't do any searching yourself, I want to provide a few selections you might enjoy. I hope that one of these brings you joy, uplifts you and enhances your celebration of Chanukah. I hope that at least one of these will feed your soul at least as much as latkes fill your belly! 

The first song is a very simple but sweet rendering of the opening words of the paragraph that is traditionally recited after lighting the Chanukah candles.  "Hanerot Hallalu" - "These Lights": This paragraph declares that these lights which we light are lit for purposes of holiness only and are not to be used as functional light.Hanerot Hallalu

The second song  is a poignant Yiddish song. The poem was written by Morris Rosenfeld who died in 1924. It is a haunting song as it ends with a question: 

Oh, you little lights!
Your stories
Awaken my pain;
It stirs something deep within my heart,
And with tears it asks:
“What will be now?..

 

I hope you enjoy this (one of many) performances by Ot Azoy Klezmerband. O, Ir Kleyne Lichtelech

And, for something a little lighter is a song called "The Hanukkah Dance" by the great Woody Guthrie. Follow this link to a performance by "Nefesh Mountain". You can read more about the song in the notes that appear under the video. 

Hanukkah Dance

Wishing you a MUSICAL CHANUKAH!! And I hope that these songs bring Chanukah to your soul!! 

   

 

 

 

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784