Dear Friends, It is with some trepidation and, I hope, humility that with this letter I embark on a new project that may engage me for some time…the idea for this project emerged during the course of my suffering the flu last week, and in my efforts to “sleep it off,” I had groggy half-asleep, half-awake moments when messages and tunes seemed to come to me, and of course flit away again. When I awoke fully, one thing stayed with me clearly: I could fulfill a service to our community, while drawing on my long-standing love of the Psalms, by committing myself to writing short reflections on various verses of the Psalms, and accompanying them with recordings (some my own, sometimes those of others) of these same verses.
I am proposing to do this approximately every other week, and if you are on the TBE email list, you will automatically get these reflections, with a link to a YouTube recording of the verse or verses of the Psalm for you to listen to (only if you chose to do so, of course).
Many congregations have recorded or live-stream access to their Shabbat services, and while I personally am not comfortable using such technology on Shabbat, I know that such access has been very comforting and healing to people who are sick or shut-in, or simply far away from their congregation, and cannot be with them regularly. It occurs to me that while this project can by no means take the place of your enjoying the company of our whole congregation, at least it can provide access to a few words of teaching on our sacred Psalms, and I hope that the melodies will provide solace, uplift, and companionship to your neshamot (your souls).
I welcome any feedback on this project, and of course you may write to the TBE office and request to be taken off the automatic list if you do not wish to receive any further Reflections.
In soul-friendship,
Cantor Shoshana Brown
Psalm 13
Let Freedom Ring Click here for a special and timely YouTube recording by Cantor Shoshana Brown
