Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat
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Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat An Etz Chayim Fifth Friday SHABBAT SERVICE Kabbalat Shabbat • I Am a Rock • L’chu N’ran’nah • Shiru l’Adonai • 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) L’Cha Dodi (to Feelin’ Groovy) Bar’chu • Creation: So Long Frank Lloyd Wright • Revelation: The Sound of Silence Sh’ma & v’Ahavta • Redemption: The Boxer Hashkiveynu / Lay Us Down: Bridge Over Troubled Water Amidah (“Avodah”/Service) • Avot v’Imahot: Under African Skies • G’vurot: Slip Slidin’ Away • K’dushat haShem: Kathy’s Song + My Little Town • K’dushat Shabbat: How Can You Live in the Northeast? • R’Tzeih: Silent Eyes • Shalom: Peace Like a River Healing Prayer: Homeward Bound Aleynu Congregation Etz Chayim Palo Alto, CA Mourners’ Kaddish: April Come Rabbi Chaim Koritzinsky Birchot Hamishpachah / Parents Bless their Children: Mother and Child Reunion, Father and Daughter Closing: Adon Olam to Scarborough Fair Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/2020 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 1 Kavannah for Our Service From Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall, by Simon & Garfunkel (Songwriters: Paul Simon | lyrics: ©Universal Music Publishing Group) Through the corridors of sleep So I'll continue to continue to pretend Past shadows dark and deep My life will never end My mind dances and leaps in confusion And flowers never bend I don't know what is real With the rainfall I can't touch what I feel And I hide behind the shield of my illusion The mirror on my wall So I'll continue to continue to pretend Casts an image dark and small My life will never end But I'm not sure at all it's my reflection And flowers never bend I am blinded by the light With the rainfall Of God and truth and right And I wander in the night without direction Etz Chayim’s first virtual Fifth Friday Shabbat service features 5 songs and 13 song lyrics presented as poems by Simon & Garfunkel. These selections have a unique poignancy for this time in which we are beginning to emerge from our shelter-at-home isolation on the road toward a renewal of our in-person social and communal lives. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are known for their deep and introspective lyrics, creative rhythms, and stunning harmonies. Art Garfunkel is of Romanian Jewish descent. His singing career began as a seven-year-old in his family’s Queens, NY synagogue. While he did not love Hebrew, he loved singing with the rabbi on Saturday mornings and mimicking the sound of Hebrew prayers. In a 2015 interview with The Times of Israel he referred to his voice as a “gift from G0d.” Paul Simon was descended from Eastern European Jews and named after Pinkas Seeman, his grandfather, who was a tailor from Ukraine. While attending Queens College, Simon was president of their chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, an international Jewish fraternity. The emotional arc of this service begins in isolation with a spare version of I Am a Rock, shifts into the joy of Kabbalat Shabbat so that we are Feelin’ Groovy together, and returns to this theme as the tune for L’Cha Dodi. We will utilize a trio of S&G’s best known and most evocative songs within the S’hma service (The Sound of Silence, The Boxer, and Bridge Over Troubled Waters. For the Amidah we offer a series of lyrics by these artists as reflective readings. The service will conclude with Adon Olam sung to the tune of Scarborough Fair, a song that interweaves longing for a festive celebration with memories of special times. This Simon & Garfunkel Fifth Friday Shabbat Service was made possible by the collective efforts of Etz Chayim congregants. Special thanks to Naomi Temes and Ken Abrams who served as co-coordinators with Naomi focusing on musical direction and Ken on production of the pre-recorded musical and vocal accompaniment. Melissa Dinwiddie and Mitch Slomiak prepared this special siddur. The kavannot (intentions) were written by Mitch Slomiak with guidance from Rabbi Chaim. Ron Shipper made it all work in a Zoom virtual environment and supported every facet of the service. ‘Yasher koach’ to all the congregants who participated in leading songs, whether virtually or in real-time. Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 2 Kabbalat Shabbat Kavannah During Kabbalat Shabbat we experience an energetic shift, transitioning from our inDiviDual workaDay lives to a deeply restful “Palace in Time” markeD by our communal gathering. For this particular communal gathering we near the end of our period of isolating ourselves from one another anD prepare to graDually reintegrate from the virtual to the physical experience of community. Within this Kabbalat Shabbat we will transition from the challenges of isolation to the joyfulness of full-throateD community. I Am a Rock excerpts, by Simon & Garfunkel (Songwriters: Paul Simon | lyrics: ©Universal Music Publishing Group) A winter's day In a deep and dark December I am alone Gazing from my window to the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow I am a rock I am an island I've built walls A fortress deep and mighty That none may penetrate I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain It's laughter and it's loving I disdain I am a rock I am an island I have my books And my poetry to protect me I am shielded in my armor Hiding in my room, safe within my womb I touch no one and no one touches me I am a rock I am an island And a rock feels no pain And an island never cries Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 3 L'chu N'ran'nah + Shiru lAd0nay Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 4 The 59th Street Bridge Song (aka Feelin’ Groovy) by Simon & Garfunkel (Songwriters: Paul Simon | lyrics: ©Universal Music Publishing Group) Slow down, you move too fast You got to make the morning last Just kicking down the cobblestones Looking for fun and feeling groovy Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy Hello lamppost, what'cha knowing I've come to watch your flowers growin' Ain't you got no rhymes for me? Doo-ait-n-doo-doo, feeling groovy Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep Let the morningtime drop all its petals on me Life, I love you, all is groovy Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 5 L'cha Dodi (sung to the tune of The 59th Street Bridge Song, aka Feelin’ Groovy) (Note: This means that a beat 1 or 3 occurs during a rest: - . We don’t sing on that beat.) REFRAIN: L’chah dodi li - krat kallah, Let's go greet the Bride my friend, p’ney Shabbat n’ - kab’lah. Let's go meet Shabbat once again. Shamor v’zachor b’dibbur echad Guard and remember in one Divine Word - Hishmi’anu El ham’yuchad Our Unique G0d caused us to hear Ad0nay echad ush’mo echad Adonay is One and G0d's Name is One - L’Shem ul’tiferet v’lit’hilah. Wow! the fame and the beauty and praise! REPEAT REFRAIN Likrat Shabbat l’chu v’nel’cha Let’s get up and go to welcome Shabbat - Ki hi m’kor hab’rachah. For She is the source of blessing. Merosh mikedem n’suchah Poured forth, primeval, preceding all – - Sof ma’aseh, b’machashavah t’chilah. Last created, conceived first. REPEAT REFRAIN We rise and face west towards where the sunset ushers in Shabbat Bo’i v’shalom ateret ba’lah Come in peace, Crown of your Husband, – Gam b’simchah uv’tzoholah Come in joy and in song and in dance. Toch emuney am s’gulah. Among the faithful ones of your people - ↓Bo’i ↑challah — ↓Bo’i ↑challah! Come in, Bride! Come in, Bride! REPEAT REFRAIN Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 6 Bar'chu CREATION So Long Frank Lloyd Wright, excerpts, by Simon & Garfunkel (Songwriters: Paul Simon | lyrics: © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group) Architects may come and Architects may go and Never change Y0ur point of view When I run dry I stop awhile and think of Y0u Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 7 REVELATION Kavannah While The Sound of Silence will certainly evoke the loneliness of sheltering in place, the lyrics take us on a journey of revelation. “Hear my worDs that I might teach you.…The worDs of the prophets are written on the subway halls anD tenement halls.” The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel (Songwriters: Paul Simon | lyrics: © Universal Music Publishing Group) Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone 'Neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silence And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence "Fools," said I, "You do not know Silence, like a cancer, grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you" But my words, like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells, of silence (continued on next page) Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 8 And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls" And whispered in the sounds of silence Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 9 SH'MA You may remain seated or stand, as is your custom Simon & Garfunkel Shabbat, 5/29/20 • Shabbat Evening Service, page 10 REDEMPTION Kavannah This emotionally evocative song can be vieweD as the journey of a man crying out “in his anger anD his shame” as he opens himself to the possibility of redemption.