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Arvit Tunes | נ​י​ג​ו​נ​י ע​ר​ב​י​ת

by Jonah Rank Liturgy

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1.
Mixing the Sky 02:03
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From a well full of blessings , The spirit of the world, The heartbeat of time, lifts up a brush To paint the night— Mixing the sky with our words, Opening gates with lessons learned, Transforming moments and letting time pass, Teaching us to know deeply, Taking the stars out of hiding spots, Setting them right where the earth stops and skies start , Creating, with love unceasing and breathing, The day and the night, Rolling the light into darkness, Rolling the darkness back into light, Removing day and bringing back night Night after night, Placing the day on one side, Placing the night right by its side, Nature commandeering an art so endearing, An art called life, Standing, waiting, becoming our world Again and again, each blessing, each evening. Barukh attah Adonai, HaMa’ariv Aravim. This song is an interpretive translation of the first blessing of what is officially Arvit (“the evening service”)—up until the last 5 words. The song is based on the idea that the word erev (עֶרֶב), meaning “evening,” literally means “mixture.” The erev does not begin once the sky is all dark but as the sky becomes a mixture of brighter and darker colors—often creating a reddish or yellowish or even purplish sunset. This song includes many metaphors that attempt to bring to life some of the Hebrew phrases that don’t translate easily into the English. If you’re not sure where a lyric in this song comes from, check out the original words in the Siddur. If you still can’t figure it out, talk about it with a neighbor, and, if they can’t figure it out either, let’s talk together! I’ll decode some a few of the less obvious metaphors in these footnotes. The word barukh (בָּרוּךְ) is usually translated as something like “Blessed” or “Praised,” when Jews say blessings. The word barukh has the same root as berekhah (בְּרֵכָה), meaning “well.” Many Jewish mystics think of God as a fountain of blessings. God’s four-letter-name (י-ה-ו-ה, spelled without dashes in holy texts) is related to the Hebrew root for “being” or “becoming.” The word olam (עוֹלָם) has many meanings—including “forever,” “world,” and “universe.” The Hebrew word raki’a (רָקִיעַ) means “firmament,” and, in the first chapter of the Torah, God effectively hammers out a firmament separating heavens and earth, creating the horizon where the world above meets the world below. Science back then was very—to put it kindly—different. The Hebrew word tzeva’ot (צְבָאוֹת) means “armies” and is said to be one of God’s names, probably referring to the idea of the angels in Heaven being God’s ‘army’ (since, way back when, gods went to war with each other). The metaphor does not ring as true for peaceniks today, but the idea that there is a divine force in the world that keeps everything in check accords well with the idea that nature is governed by certain scientific laws (physics, biology, astronomy)—some of which we do understand and some of which we don’t.
2.
Leaving Egypt Again 02:34
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released May 26, 2020

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Jonah Rank Liturgy Natick, Massachusetts

Rabbi Jonah Rank is a musician, writer, and teacher. At JonahRankLiturgy, Rabbi Jonah Rank posts recordings of traditional tunes for educational purposes as well as original tunes for lesser-sung texts--and then the occasional something else.

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