Hello friends,

I've been thinking a lot about the past, the present, and the future. It's the month of ELUL, the time in the Jewish calendar leading up to the high holidays, which is a time of deep reflection, communal forgiveness seeking, and transformation. There's so many things to be reflecting on this at this time in our political landscape, as violence and genocide continues in Gaza, as the election prospects brings up many fears for a lot of us, and new grief seems to stack on top of old grief every day. I started to write this song a few months ago when it all felt so unbearable and when I started to question what it would take for us to repair the past so we can transform in the present, so that we can heal the future. I was thinking about generational trauma and how to heal these wounds so we can be more present. I also was thinking a lot about what healing even is and what it means. I think like grief, healing ebbs and flows. It shows up when it needs to and shakes the body and forces us to slow down and re-evaluate ourselves and our lives. It reminds us of the suffering that has occurred, but it also speaks to our capacity to love and care about the world and others. If we didn't love, we wouldn't feel grief.

The other things I've been thinking about now that I'm preparing for the Days of Awe, and the work of T’Shuvah (meaning “repentence” or “returning”), is how to repair what's been broken. How to show up for each other to make amends. To say, I know we missed the mark. How can we start again? In order to transform, we have to be ok with confronting the uncomfortable truths. We have to be willing to let go of some things.

In this song, I've included some Hebrew prayers that are recited in the daily weekday recitations of the Amidah. The amidah is the part of the prayer service when we stand (amidah means standing), to make petitions to god. Asking for forgiveness for our errors, re-committing daily to do better and offer repair. I've been thinking a lot about these daily prayers as a way of acknowledging how human I am. And that when we let ourselves be humble and recognize all the ways in which we have or could mess up, we are also allowing ourselves to be open-hearted and capable of great change.

I hope you enjoy this song, and if you have any thoughts on these themes of transformation, repair, returning to ourselves and healing, please I would love to hear from you!! What does Feel free to contact me personally or maybe play this song for a friend if you feel so inclined. I'll be adding some more layers to this song hopefully soon and intend to release it as a mastered track at some point, but I wanted to share with y'all to have the first listen :)

Until next time, I’m wishing everyone lots of gentleness and care amidst the seasonal, global, and personal transitions in our days ahead.

love love love,

-Em