This is a new High Holy Day season meditative song on tshuva by my friend and musical collaborator David Franklin. David suggested taking selected phrases from two of my prayer poems, combining them into one song. I fell in love with his musical expression, especially the instrumental and nigun woven in, but felt that the words as originally written needed revision. We spent quite a while adjusting the words to my satisfaction, as well as selecting the Hebrew. Thanks to CCAR Press for their support of this project. Listen to the song by clicking on the triangle in the bar below. Click here to open a YouTube video of David singing this piece. Follow along with the words, beneath the download link. The sheet music PDF is our gift to you.
Return Home To Yourself
Quiet the mind to hear the Voice,
Quiet the heart to hear the Soul,
Quiet the self, make space for Ein Sof.
Shuvi shuv, shuvi shuv
Lech l’cha v’shuv habieita
Lech l’cha v’shuv habieita
Return home
To yourself
Even if you have never been there,
If you feel like a stranger to yourself.
Shuvi shuv, shuvi shuv
Lech l’cha v’shuv habieita
Lech l’cha v’shuv habieita
Surrender fear and despair to hope and adventure.
Remind us of who we are
And who we may become.
Shuvi shuv, shuvi shuv
Lech l’cha v’shuv habieita
Lech l’cha v’shuv habieita
“Return Home to Yourself,” words by Alden Solovy, music by David Franklin, is based on excerpts from “These Barriers” by Alden Solovy from These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah © 2023, Central Conference of American Rabbis and “The Season of Return” by Alden Solovy from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day © 2017, Central Conference of American Rabbis. Used by permission of the CCAR. All rights reserved.
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Please check out Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe and These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”
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