#adon olam

[essaressellwye]

I don't know who needs to hear this but Adon Olam fits the tune of "99 Luftballons."

Also "Jolene"

[alessandro113]

Adon Olam

open.spotify.com/track/6htScL0k4M4it6nbkpfTJF

[jessicalprice]

You actually can sing “Adon Olam” to any melody.

[lostthenfoundmyself]

I’m back on campus and have been engaging in my college’s Jewish community more than last year. It’s been really great to have people I can just talk with, without worrying or overthinking everything. At one event we are ice cream together and sat on a circle on the grass and just talked.

One of the seniors started up a reform/reconstructionist/secular group that meets on Shabbat at the same time as the conservative and orthodox minyans. We don’t have enough for a minyan yet, but we discussed the Torah portion and its relevancy and looked at some articles that interpreted one of the lines in a trans-friendly light, and then sang Adon Olam to the tune of a pop song I don’t know.

The classes I went to last year haven’t started up yet, but at Shabbat dinner the Hillel’s Rabbi taught me how to do the handwashing and blessing, so I did that for the first time.

So it’s been good. Really good.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I need to stop having epiphanies that absolutely shatter my constitution at the most random of times and for the weirdest of reasons.

This time, I was listening to a song, and part of the lyrics were just, "Thank You, HaShem," and this realization just hit me.

When I was younger, I was told to "just be thankful" as this form of toxic positivity so that I would be quiet about certain things. For the longest, it made me almost resent being thankful to g-d because I associated that with ignoring the sheer level of pain I always felt.

Just hearing them sing out "thank You, HaShem" made me reflect on that. I blamed g-d for certain things because people almost shunned my feelings away so that g-d could magic them away Himself. But that's not His fault. Thanking g-d means something different to me now. Thanking g-d means thanking Him for being there. He's my constant companion. He'd be the first One I would nudge on the shoulder after seeing something funny to ask, "did you see that?!". He hears my broken Hebrew as I pray with my people* - he heard the first time I sang Adon Olam perfectly, and heard when I started to remember the morning prayers. He's found no fault in my body; He turns His eye to my mind and does not shun away my suffering. And I don't need Him to magic away my past or my current pain and ailments because I don't need that. I need healing, and g-d knows I'll eventually figure that out in (albeit a long and painful) way.

I used to resent being thankful in that way because it came across to me as "just say 'thank you' and stop burdening us with the problems we don't care about." But now I'm realizing that isn't g-d's fault and He wants me to burden Him with these issues.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Jewish Song of the Day #56: Adon Olam

Comments:

Guys guys guys you have no idea how excited I am about the fact that this album is now out!!!

I first saw this teaser at the beginning of March and was so stoked that it would be coming out soon and now it's HERE!

About Kedmah:

Kedmah is an ensemble of musicians and prayer leaders excavating the power and beauty of Mizrahi Jewish expression through ancient poetry and song. Their debut album, Simu Lev, is currently in production, and this video of “Adon Olam” is the first glimpse of the project.

Led by Rabbi Yosef Goldman and Yoni Avi Battat, Kedmah honors the artists’ Iraqi, Syrian, and Yemenite ancestry in conversation with their intersecting musical influences. Their interactive performances, workshops, and recordings allow listeners to experience the spiritual and emotional depth of Middle Eastern piyyut (liturgical poetry) and the ages-old tradition of Arab melodies that adorn them. Part educational initiative, part performance group, the social and pedagogical impact of this project is strengthened by a commitment to musical creativity, historical accuracy, spirituality, and public performance at the highest level.

I hope you enjoy — I know I am!!

Edit: it seems I jumped the gun, just a bit. They have a few songs out, but the full album comes out April 9th. Get excited!!

[jewish-culture-is]

Singing random Jewish prayers and songs on the subway, like the four questions, adon olam, aleinu, the before and after Torah prayers, the shema, and others. But sometimes I mess up the words especially if it’s too loud. The prayers are just comforting and sound nice.

.

[narcolepticgnome]

I'm on a cruise, and they provided things for a Shabbat service. I led the candle lighting, Shema, Mi Camocha, kaddish, and Oseh Shalom. Then this kid tried to lead Adon Olam (one I don't really know; my shul seldom does it) and faltered since he hadn't done it since his bar mitzvah. An old guy took over, singing it loudly with a gorgeous baritone voice. It was really meaningful. I'm glad I went.

Shabbat Shalom, everyone.

[ofpd]

wait i gotta choose an adon olam melody

leading musaf tmrw and was not informed of this until this afternoon lol

[greenflower21]

Rip Hunter you would have loved Wrapunzel

Rip Echo you would have loved Yehuda unsalted Matzos

Rip Tech you would have loved Daf Yomi

Rip Omega you would have loved the Hebrew school Purim Spiel

Rip Wrecker you would have loved throwing candy and lifting people on chairs

Rip Crosshair you would have loved Lag B’omer

Rip Rex you would have loved Jewish Geography

Rip Phee you would have loved searching for the affikomen on Pesach

Rip Batcher you would have loved eating the affikomen on Pesach

Rip Cody you would have loved the Rebbe

Rip Fives you would have loved the book of Daniel

Rip Wolffe you would have loved Lazar Wolffe

Rip Kix you would have loved “Mi Sheberach” by Debbie Friedman

Rip Soup clone you would have loved matzo balls

Rip Howzer you would have loved Nefesh Mountain

RIP Jesse you would have loved AEpi

Rip Boba you would have loved Adon Olam to the tune of Yankee Doodle

Rip Ventress you would have loved the tale of Yael and Sisera

Rip Fennec you would have loved starting arguments on Jumblr

Rip Obi Wan you would have loved Eicha

Rip Qui Gon you would have loved Mordechai Kaplan

Rip Yoda you would have loved Kollel

Rip Mace Windu you would have loved the ADL

Rip Plo Koon you would have loved the reform rabbis on TikTok

Rip Bo Katan you would have loved Yentl

Rip Satine you would have loved Art Scroll

Rip Korkie you would have loved the Prince of Egypt

Rip Din you would have loved the tunnels under 770

Rip Grogu you would have loved tot Shabbat

Rip Quinlan you would have loved Jswipe

Rip Padme you would have loved Hey Alma

Rip Thrawn you would have loved the conspiracies about the menorah being in the Vatican’s basement

Rip Zeb you would have loved wrapping tefillin in front of Kallus

Rip Kanan you would have loved drunken Zemirot

Rip Hera you would have loved JCC moms

Rip Dooku you would have loved the Essenes

… anyway, me and @labelma came up with these and I think we’re hilarious geniuses

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crw1UgN8lUM

So the first cool thing about this chant is that it uses non-binary Hebrew.  I have to admit, I’m fascinated by the Nonbinary Hebrew Project, and I’m glad that composers are starting to use its grammar innovations.  Cantor Ze’evi Tovlev has done some amazing work in that regard, and now Batya Diamond has come out with this.  I love the way the nonbinary Hebrew works here, because the aspect of the Adon Olam stanza that’s been changed refers to the gender of the Divine, not the worshipper.  It makes sense; who are we to say that the Divine should be limited by any human notions of gender, much less confined to only one of those notions?

I also like the use of YAH rather than Adonai.  As I teach my Hebrew students, “Adonai,” means “my lord.”  YAH is more of a nickname, and it places us on a little bit of a more even footing, making us a little closer to being partners with the Divine rather than servants.  It’s certainly not a new notion in Jewish prayer -- my siddur has a sidebar on that topic by none other than the eminently distinguished Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik -- and I like the way that people are starting to take this idea seriously in music.

[lyracreek]

me 6 months ago: okay I've googled "Hebrew Songs" and listened to a couple. I don't really think these are doing anything for me but that's okay

me now: I've got to start compiling my favorite renditions of Adon Olam in a playlist. God my Spotify Wrapped is going to be interesting this year

[buffleheadcabin]

Trio Mandili - Adon Olam

Gospel Sunday

[paulinedorchester]

Hymnody, in the Protestant/Anglican sense, isn’t really a thing in Judaism (although there have been attempts to introduce it). When Jews in the English-speaking world use the word hymn, we’re usually referring to a strophic, possibly rhyming and scanning, litany-like passage, often of Medieval origin, that has achieved a set place in the liturgy — i.e., not something that’s interpolated because it suits the occasion — and is usually sung. One of the most durable of these is Adon Olam, whose text is often attributed to Solomon ibn’Gabriol (Iberian Peninsula, ca. 1021 – by 1058 C.E.). In the tradition I come from, it’s most typically found at the end of a morning Sabbath or weekday morning service; but on Friday evening my choir sang it as the after-sermon anthem. We used a setting by Cantor Charles Osborne. Here is a Zoom performance by Cantor Osborne conducting his own choir, that of Temple Sinai Congregation, Toronto. (I’ve been trying for several days now to embed that video or do it as a video post, and Tumblr is having none of it, so this will have to do.) I think we were better, to be honest, but this is pretty good.

Here is a translation of the text, attributed to Frederick da Sola Mendes (British, 1850-1927). It’s surprisingly literal, considering that it’s singable:

The Lord of all, who reigned supreme Ere first creation’s form was framed; When all was finished by His will His name Almighty was proclaimed.

He is my God, my Savior He, To whom I turn in sorrow's hour, My banner proud, my refuge sure, Who hears and answers with His power.

Then in His hand myself I lay, And, trusting, sleep and wake with cheer; My soul and body are His care; The Lord doth guard, I have no fear.