186 - A Song for Song

More changes are taking place at my shul, Beth Emet The Free Synagogue. Last Shabbat we said good-bye to Cantor Jeffrey Klepper, who has been with us for 18 years. He is following his wife Deanna to Boston where she is a new professor at Boston University. It was another evening of bittersweetness, made more so by the Beth Emet Adult Choir and musicians playing violin and mandolin, flute and saxophone, and string bass. Jeff has been called “one of the stars in the constellation of contemporary Jewish music.” He is a gifted composer and possesses a truly beautiful neshama - soul. Rabbi Knobel related a story from a visit to France where, in a Sephardic synagogue, the congregation sang Jeff’s melody for “Shalom Rav.” When questioned, the officiating rabbi could only say that the melody had come “mi-Sinai…from Sinai.” We had always suspected as much of Jeff’s melodies.

The psalm I wrote is based on a teaching of Reb Nachman of Breslov:
“There are ten basic types of melodies, and these are the foundation of true joy.”

One Hundred Eighty-Six

A Song for Song
For the Chief Musician,
with Guitar and Hand Drum

And I will write for You ten melodies,
Sounding notes from heaven’s assembly:
Suns and stars, moons and comets,
Shining spheres of song to bless You.

Joy will I write, ten ballads composed
To drive out daily sorrows,
And heal our fragile souls,
To bind up bodies wounded and in pain.

Pluck the strings with me, Creator,
Let us count out the rhythms of life;
Renew me and make me Your instrument,
Singing new songs.