A Time In Israel

There is a time in Yisra’él

To keep watch upon the sun

A time for joy for many of us

And G!d I know I’m one

I’ve always been a teller

Selling to you on my knees

But there simply comes a time

To focus on what I need

Now the only thing a teller needs

Is a voice and lots of pluck

And I have always been satisfied

When I earned my buck

Dear parents take your children

To see the sun rise up and settle low

This is the rhythm G!d gives

Nice. Easy. Slow.

And children teach youur parents

There is much they have to learn

Life is more than closing at Nine

There is more than money to earn

There is a time in Yisra’él

To keep watch upon the sun

A time for joy for many of us

And G!d I know I’m one

American Rebbe

I often cry when I walk past synagogues

I only see a ruin

Men in black suits and fedoras

One a demagogue

Another who can sing in tune

Friendly faces in the crowd get fewer every day

Something I need to talk about

This is what I want to say

Where is an American Rebbe to pull us from this fate?

We need an American Rebbe to teach us what awaits

I am burdened by First World Americans

They feel they need to leave their roots

They go to court to fight the laws of G!d

See them in their Supreme Court suits

In these American synagogues

Men in black sway to and fro

At the podium stands the demagogue

Every other word he says is “No!”

Where is an American Rebbe to pull us from this fate?

We need an American Rebbe to teach us what awaits

I see them now walking home from the synagogues

From them I get strange looks

In reply I say to them “get your noses out of your books!”

We have a crisis to overcome

Can't you see we're losing touch?

We need the younger crowd

The ones you don't think listen much

Where is an American Rebbe to pull us from this fate?

We need an American Rebbe to teach us what awaits

Where is an American Rebbe to pull us from this fate?

We need an  American Rebbe to teach us what awaits

Build The Mic Again

We learned to be quiet because holiness calls
We wore silence like boys wear prayer shawls

We tuned our grief like a radio band

And here’s a signal you can’t withstand

Build the mic again — we’ve got lungs to use
Plug in the wires, light the fuse
Lost in books, we were buried alive
So we scream our song to prove we survived

We sang behind curtains and walls
Barely heard down synagogue halls

Now the speakers crackle with holy noise
Baht Qol’s back — we’re done being toys

Build the mic again — we’ve got lungs to use
Plug in the wires, light the fuse

It’s not rebellion — it’s return
It’s not anger — it’s what we learned
When truth was erased, we carved it in sound

Build the mic again — we’ve got lungs to use
Plug in the wires, light the fuse

Mic check, mic check — we’re still here.

Mic check, mic check — we won’t disappear.

Everybody Knows

I’ve been told that the dice are loaded

I’ve been told I never really cared

I’ve been told the competition is over

I’ve been told I never dared

Maybe so... but not a single bad guy lost

And not a single good guy won

Because everybody knows

That’s not how it is done

Noah knew the boat was leaking

He patched it what way he could

He managed to keep it sailing

In more or less the direction it should

Maybe every bad guy lost

But not a single good guy won

Because everybody knows

That’s not how it is done

I don’t need to search hard for my bottom

It will float like cork an dmeet me half-way

Am I the bad guy who lost

Am I the good guy who won

I don’t think I’m either because everybody knows

That’s not how it is done

Why is it always now or never

Why is it always me or you

When passions run so high

Does the spirit catch the flu?

Am I the bad guy who lost

Am I the good guy who won

I don’t think I’m either because everybody knows

That’s not how it is done

If I Fall From Grace With God

If I fall from grace with God,
And no repenting can redeem,
I will wander in a fog,
Burning off the steam.

They’ll say I broke the covenant,
They’ll say I fled the flame,
But I just can’t listen no more
To what they call the Name.

Chorus

Bury me by light of day beneath the Aron floor,
It’s you who says I’ve broken laws by walking past your door.
If I should fall from grace with God, well, I still know the tune —
The song that I sing still beneath the shattered moon.

The mezuzah stays on my gate,
Which I never lock that tight.
The angel at the border knows:
I’m here for only one more night.

They say the Shek’hinah leaves slow but fast,
Like embers in the rain —
I see her walking Tri-State streets
Drinking cheap champagne.

Bury me by light of day beneath the Aron floor,
It’s you who says I’ve broken laws by walking past your door.
If I should fall from grace with God, well, I still know the tune —
The song that I sing still  beneath the shattered moon.

Bridge

Let the shofar crack the sky,
Let my sins drift in the breeze —
I’ll trade my bagels for a boat
To sail those stormy seas.

I’m sure to fall from grace again,
By light of the shattered moon —
Just leave a note in Rashi script
While the black hats sing in tune.

I’m chasing down the mystery,
The lyrics after song —
Where every exile learns at last
They were at home all along.

Bury me by light of day beneath the Aron floor,
It’s you who says I’ve broken laws by walking past your door.
If I should fall from grace with God, well, I still know the tune —
The song that I sing still  beneath the shattered moon.

Frantic Friday

I’ve put the three o’clock meeting on Friday to an end

Nothing was happening because no one would bend

I have things to do for my sanity elsewhere

I brought it to an end because I need to prepare

Just another frantic Friday I await my day when I can say

It’s my don’t have to work day

Just another frantic Friday

It may be a bit early but I’m going insane

Another bottom line is just another drain

It always takes time to decide on the next dare

There are other things to do and to prepare

Just another frantic Friday I await my day when I can say

It’s my don’t have to work day

Just another frantic Friday

My Place

Working on teams work can make me lonely

And then I want

Shabbat

I’ve go my worries, my noise and my hurries

I really want

Shabbat

I listen to sirens and traffic in the city

Pushed back on the sidewalk

I’m clean but feeling gritty

No shine on my shoes

I need lights much brighter than here

To overcome my troubles to conquer my fear

Shabbat

No finer day than

Shabbat

No better way

Shabbat (Shabbat)

Everyone’s waiting for me

Why hang about and let my missions surround me

There are quiet roads

Shabbat

I know places that I am welcome

And that help me grow

Shabbat

This is the rhythm of a gentle lively nign

Dancing in a circle before I let Shabbat in

Banish what’s blue

I need lights much brighter than here

To overcome my troubles to conquer my fear

Shabbat

No finer day than

Shabbat

No better way

Shabbat (Shabbat)

Everyone’s waiting for me

Name of God

The Name of God is now a meme
  Do they even understand what mercy means?
Tehilim they rock when they pray
Sacred words become cliché

But a flame rises when I pray
I don’t keep silent cuz I  know what to say
I believe in grace even when my hair is curled
I still try to love this broken world

In the Name of God — not the Name you stole
Not the Name you think gives you control
This song’s for the voice you try to drown
The Name of God is rising now

I saw a girl wearing tsit tsit on the train
Whispering Shma like a holy refrain
When fedoras stared, she stood tall
And she carried heaven through the mall

[Bridge]
Don’t hand me hate wrapped in tradition
Don’t sell me shame dressed as law
You fear a God I can’t believe in
Mine still weeps for every flaw

In the Name of God — not the name you stole
Not the name you chant when breaking souls
This is for the flame you try to drown
The Name of God is rising now

Name of God, Name of Love
Name of Fire, Name of Dust
Name of God, still in our breath
Not your hate, not your death

Only the Bold Return

Come out, Miriam, don’t be afraid
They taught you to tremble, to weep and obey
But the fire in your questions never went away
And someone must walk toward the flame

They showed you the siddur, told you to bow
They built you a mechitzah, then made you vow
But they never said what becomes of the “how”
When the “why” is too heavy to name

Still—only the bold return
That’s what I’ve learned
Only the bold return
Only the bold return

You might’ve heard I daven with strange, broken songs
I dance with the doubters, I sit with the wrong
We might chant a bit too long—
But what’s wrong with a heart that burns?

So come on, Miriam, give me a sign
Crack one window, I’ll bring you some wine
The stained glass they hung was never divine—
It only muffled the yearn

But only the bold return
Yes, only the bold return
Only the bold return

You wore a white dress when they gave you a name
A gold-threaded tallit, never meant for shame
But no one explained how the breath and the blame
Might live in the same Alef line

Oh Miriam, they didn’t teach you what hunger could mean
They counted your mitzvot but left out your dreams
They sang of the palace—but not of the stream
That flows through the cracks in time

Some say Gan Eden’s for those who comply
But I saw a ladder cut straight through the sky
I’d rather wrestle with angels and ask “why?”
Than pretend I was never torn

You see, only the bold return
Only the bold return
Only the bold—
Only the bold return

They said your soul was too wild to bless
But did they ever ask why you wept at the press?
Or pray for the exile you carry in dress
And the Torah that burns in your chest?

Come out, come out, come out, Miriam—don’t be afraid
You don’t have to wait
Sooner or later, it’s fate—
And maybe you are the one

You know only the bold return
Only the bold return
Only the bold
Only the bold return

Self Portrait

The tables set the candle’s lt

For just a moment she will sit

But he mind plays tricks

She winds up a million miles away

Just then the fourth (the last one!) screams

Interrupting all her dreams

She rises slowly

Picking up the burdens of her day

In control she hides the tears

Thinking has it been ten years

Knowing it has the droplets fall

As she leaves the baby’s room

[Chorus]

Nu, she says

It’s been a week and I feel depleted

Nu, she says,

I’m glad You’re here now to help

And, she says,

I want Your songs sung here and repeated

Please, she says

Help me mend what’s torn

The Centre of Our Hearts (Holy Holy)

The sun is sinking low behind the ancient hills of gold

A story of a thousand years is waiting to be told

I lift my eyes up to the heights where mercy flows so free

And feel the spirit moving like a wind across the sea

[Verse]

My brothers and my sisters let us gather in a ring

To find the hidden melody that every soul can bring

The dust of all our traveling is falling from our feet

As every heart begins to find a holy steady beat

[Chorus]

Holy holy is the light that burns within the deep

A promise kept through all the nights the weary children sleep

Return again return again to where your journey starts

The flame is always burning in the center of our hearts

[Chorus]

Holy holy is the light that burns within the deep

A promise kept through all the nights the weary children sleep

Return again return again to where your journey starts

The flame is always burning in the center of our hearts

[Bridge]

Open up the gates of joy and let the healing in

Forgive the heavy burden and the places we have been

Sing a song of simple peace for every living thing

Until the very stones beneath our sandals start to sing

[Verse]

I see a vision of a world where kindness is the law

Where every person stands in silence filled with sacred awe

No more walls and no more fear just brothers hand in hand

Walking through the garden of a bright and promised land

[Verse]

The stars are coming out to witness what we have begun

To prove that in the darkness we can still become as one

Don't turn away from what you feel or shut the open door

For we have found the beauty we were always looking for

[Chorus]

Holy holy is the light that burns within the deep

A promise kept through all the nights the weary children sleep

Return again return again to where your journey starts

The flame is always burning in the center of our hearts

[Chorus]

Holy holy is the light that burns within the deep

A promise kept through all the nights the weary children sleep

Return again return again to where your journey starts

The flame is always burning in the center of our hearts

The Placid Green

Upon the placid green she stands

Looking upon the land

Stand close to see her tears drop

And the light held close in her hand

Waiting for her people to kiss away her tears

Standing there for years

Some say she is a prophet

Looking upon the bay

Others think she’s a saviour

Waiting for some day

Standing in  the ocean

Weather sun or rain

Feeling people’s pain

And now? The placid green is gone

The land has turned to rust

The weary statue still stands

Her tears lost in the dust

Standing in the harbour amid the plastic waste

Victim of the race

Liberty, she wonders, standing in the sun

Is loving everyone I have met

Liberty, she ponders, standing in the sun

Waiting for someone to come back home