Singing My Heart Out
It's dark and raining and early on Tuesday morning. I've managed to get the kids to school on time and my phone is connected to the car and I'm listening to my Daily Jay -a short audio piece of wisdom and meditation from Jay Shetty. It's become a great part of my morning routine.
When Jay finished, and I was feeling calm, inspired and ready for the day, by forces beyond my understanding, a song began to play. (My limited tech knowledge suggests that I have some music stored on my phone and it randomly plays it??) so the song choices are limited to the purchases I made in between the CDs of my twenties (remember them?!?!) and the music streaming subscription playlists we have all come to know and rely on today, enabling us to listen to pretty much anything we want, on demand.
As the instrumental introduction started, I was transported back to my childhood, to the assembly of my religion school at Finchley Reform Synagogue, being taught the lyrics and singing my heart out. I loved this song so much that I even asked for the sheet music and tried to master it on the piano, or at least sing the right words in the right order on the right note...
I turned the volume up and started singing my heart out once again.
The lyrics are still as powerful and poignant today as they were then. Singing them as a middle aged mum of three kids, they take on a new meaning.
The words, the music, the song are so uplifting and I am grateful for the magic of my car to deliver me safely home, and for Apple CarPlay to engulf me in uplifting music.
It occurs to me this could be a twenty first century shacharit - Jewish morning prayer practice; a little piece of learning, a song, a prayer, gratitude to start the day.
Yesterday marked twelve years since the passing of Debbie Friedman who wrote the song I sang my heart out to this morning. There are plenty of people who feel the enormity of grief in her passing much more than me, There are plenty of people who's stories of being inspired by her are much deeper and have further reach than this one.
Nevertheless I wanted to write this little piece in homage to the great, wonderful Debbie Friedman who inspired us in Finchley, across generations and across the Jewish world (and most likely beyond too).
Here is a video (one of the many I've found on YouTube) of the wonderful 'And The Youth Shall See Visions', and I'll close with Debbie's beautiful inspiring powerful words- in invite you to sing along and sing your heart out!
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Childhood was for fantasies, for nursery rhymes and toys. The world was much too busy to understand small girls and boys. As I grew up, I came to learn that life was not a game, That heroes were just people that we called another name.
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions, And our hopes shall rise up to the sky. We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow. Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
Now I’m grown, the years have passed, I’ve come to understand: There are choices to be made and my life’s at my command. I cannot have a future ’til I embrace my past. I promise to pursue the challenge, time is going fast.
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions, And our hopes shall rise up to the sky. We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow. Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
Today’s the day I take my stand, the future’s mine to hold. Commitments that I make today are dreams from days of old. I have to make the way for generations come and go. I have to teach them what I’ve learned so they will come to know.
That the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions, And our hopes shall rise up to the sky. We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life. Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
