The C-Saw - A New Niggun

Re'eh 5784: An opportunity to choose, to switch momentum, and to start anew

The C-Saw Niggun (click me!)

The C-Saw Niggun - Coleen Dieker and Josh Warshawsky (starts a few seconds in)

I’m so excited to share with all of you on this list a very early sneak peek of the opening track for the new album! Not yet mixed, just the raw audio and energy from our live recording back in June. It’s the C-Saw Niggun. Coleen Dieker and I challenged ourselves to write a melody with just one chord: C. How could we move, how could we lift up, how could we ground ourselves, all from the same simple fulcrum? May it invigorate you and help you orient yourself as we move into the month of Elul and the High Holidays! Much more music and content coming soon so stick around, and let me know what you think!

Here is some Torah from a few years back that is still sticking with me today:

This week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, begins with a powerful choice:

רְאֵה אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה׃

See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: (Deut. 11:26)

A blessing and a curse - a fork in the road lies before us. And it seems so daunting to confront this choice and not know which path to take. Rather than focusing on the choice, The Vilna Ga’on (HaGaon Rabbenu Eliyahu, 1720-1797) focuses on how we get there - those five words that precede this choice. Perhaps there is more here in this single sentence intro than meets the eye. He says:

And notice that it says “Re’eh” (See) in the singular, so that a person will not say, “Who am I that I alone should choose a good path, if the whole world is behaving badly?!: That is why it says “Re’eh” in the singular, i.e. see what is before you: you do good yourself and don’t supervise/watch over the rest of the world. 

“Anochi” (I) - So that a person will not say: “How can I stand up against my evil inclination and its trickery?!” Anochi (God) will be with you as a support and a helper, like it says in the Talmud (Kiddushin 30): The inclination of human beings is attempting to overtake them every day, but the Holy One is there helping them. 

“Noten” (Give) - And it doesn’t say “gave,” rather it says “give” in the present tense, because there is always a chance/opportunity for humans to choose a good path, as it is written, “And until the day of their death God waits for them to return, and if they return, God immediately accepts them.” 

“Lifneichem” (Before you) - And if a person were to say: “How can I discern a good path from a bad path? Everything is covered and hidden!” Rather the Torah comes and announces: “Lifneichem.” It is before you. Look and search out, listen and see with a discerning eye at all of the things that are happening to the nation and all will become clear before you. 

“Hayom” (This day) - Lest a person say: “What repair/correction is there for me? If I am so dirty with sin, what am I to do with all of the transgressions I have done up to this point?!” Therefore it is written, “Hayom” - Every day should be in your eyes like new, and you can begin again that day. One who has repented is like a newborn child.

As we move next week into the month of Elul, we must remember the message of this teaching: Each day we have the opportunity to start anew. Each day we have the personal responsibility to make a change, no matter what the rest of the world is doing. We are not alone in this responsibility - we have God’s presence with us, and we can feel it when we bring goodness into the world. We are in this together, and we have this whole beautiful community with us along the way. There is always time, and there is no time like the present. 

What will you choose to do today?

Shabbat Shalom,

Josh