During the 40s and 50s, my mother sang in Yiddish, Hebrew and six other languages. She was born in Vienna, where her father was a top chazan. Of her 9 grandchildren, 7 are musical, and of them 3 are professional musicians. I wonder if Shlomo had the nachis of hearing his children sing, too!
What beauty.
Love the image of a paper bag filled with fortunes...not the cookies!
O, yes. Always Joy. it's inspiring.
Rachel
“inconsistencies and serious joy.” -
when you write his bio, that’s your title.
Come to think of it,
That’s the title for mine as well.
That’s what Shlomo meant.
A week doesn’t go by
that I don’t sing his songs.
At shul, exercising, alone.
His chords are easy for guitar too,
So whenever I play I flip through
My falling apart song book of his early works.
When he performed
We suburban kids would find his sermonizing
Annoying styrofoam while he was tuning up,
His version of the corny banter of folksingers.
Only after he died did I start hearing the music
In the styrofoam.
In Israel there is a minyan that does sabbath services only to his melodies.
He invented American Jewish folk music.
I don’t think he wrote one original lyric.
They are all lifted from scripture or prayer.
Usually no more than two lines.
So whenever I read the services in Hebrew
At least once I find a phrase
that Shlomo put to music.
So in this way, he’s an eternal presence
in my prayers.
And like all good tunes,
they come to me any time just like that
no matter what I’m doing.
Sometimes I try to trace my thoughts
from the tune to what I’m doing.
What made me think of it?
Doesn’t matter.
Thanks, Esther, for this good short poem.
Shanah tovah,
Zev
Zev, thanks for this. Have you thought about being a guest writer for the Alte columns? You have many good stories.
Maybe all the pieces of paper had that written on them.
I like the idea (!!!)
He married my mom + step-dad.
(marriage didn't last but it was a great party!)
What a lovely thought for the new year. Shana tova!
I thought it was a bag of blessings. Perhaps having a fortune is a blessing as it implies that you have a future.
During the 40s and 50s, my mother sang in Yiddish, Hebrew and six other languages. She was born in Vienna, where her father was a top chazan. Of her 9 grandchildren, 7 are musical, and of them 3 are professional musicians. I wonder if Shlomo had the nachis of hearing his children sing, too!
Hi Deet, I wrote you last week following up on you suggestion that we have a zoom or FaceTime. I'd be happy to meet you. And this is a beautiful story
Another good way to start off the day -- reading a poem by Esther Cohen,
and getting a note from Louis Phillips xx
Post a picture of the paper message?
Will do