Dear Congregation Beth Ohr,
This Shabbat, as we prepare to farewell the secular year 2017 and begin 2018, our Torah reading cycle also reflects endings and beginnings. We finish reading the first book of the Torah, Genesis (Bereshit), and would begin reading the second book, Exodus (Shemot), Saturday afternoon.
The Torah portion, Vayhi ("and he lived"), opens with our patriarch Jacob nearing his death. He gathers his descendants, now known as B'nei Yisra'el, for parting words of blessing and instructions. At the end of the portion, we reach the passing of the next generation, with the death of Jacob's son Joseph. Joseph also is aware of his approaching passing, and is able to gather the family together to share his final wishes.
It is not always the way, neither in Torah nor in real life, that our dear ones pass on at an advanced age with foreknowledge, time to reflect, and the loving embrace of family. Our matriarch Rachel, for example, dies directly after the birth of her second child.
This week I recorded a song in tribute to another matriarch, Dr. Natalia Bagramjan, who passed away unexpectedly this week. She was like a mother to my husband Ilya, and an important figure in Riga's healthcare sector, having opened a major medical clinic when she was only 26 or so, which outlasted the Soviet Union and is still in successful operation today. Natalia's family was from Armenia, so I chose the song HaFinjan, which is based on an Armenian folk tune called Hingala.
You'll here both melodies in this arrangement, as well as the first verse in Hebrew of the Israeli version.
CLICK HERE to listen to HaFinjan-Hingala
Arranged and recorded by Cantor Sarah Myerson (voice, tin whistle, banjolele)
Hingala: traditional Armenian folktune
HaFinjan: melody by Moshe Wilenski
(based on Hingala), lyrics by Haim Heffer
The cool wind blows,
we'll add a chip to the campfire,
and thus in scarlet
it will rise in the flames like a sacrifice.
the fire flickers,
its song rises up
the coffee pot spins, spins around.
Ilya and I are going to Latvia for Natalia's funeral, leaving January 1 and returning Sunday January 7. I look forward to connecting when we return.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Sarah Myerson
Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism