(54Mosaics) Click Play to hear this week’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for v’Zot haBracha, NotReady4U2Die (Eulogy for a Shepherd).

As this song reflects the completion of this past year’s Torah cycle, this is the last new post on 54Mosaics for the immediate future.  We’ll repeat the 5776 cycle and add some new stuff here and there.  Thanks for following along. Hoping it inspires you to make some Torah, music, and other creativity of your own . . . 

Thanks to Automatic Toys and Robby Helperin for their awesome songwriting and musicianship on this one and to Kevin Feller for producing/engineering.  

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Photo – Courtesy of Dawn Hudson

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Question: v'zot habracha 5777 - How does one prepare for the death of a loved one?

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. - Devarim 34:5

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Click Play to hear Shep’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for Haazinu, The Witnesses.

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Photo – Courtesy of Steve Hillebrand, USFWS

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Note:  Next week’s post will be the 54th and final post for a bit.

(54Mosaics)

This song was written at LimmudLA's Road to Redemption during the Slichot by the People workshop in which participants wrote and drew their own Slight.  It was inspired by one of the Slight that facilitator, Leat Silvera, taught the group.

Writers:  Benjamin Liebeskind, Phyllis Horning, David Sternberg, Hannah Bubis, Shep Rosenman.  May we all be forgiven by ourselves and others for our wrongs; may we forgive others for theirs.  Gmar chatimah tovah.

Question: Haazinu 5776 – How do you say something difficult to someone you love?  Is there one voice or do you use many?

Source:  “May my discourse come down as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, Like showers on young growth, Like droplets on the grass.” – Devarim 32:2.

Respond with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Tags: #haazinu #torah #torah study #parsha #deuteronomy

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Click Play to hear Shayna/Zack/Shep’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for Vayelech, On your Way (Already Home).

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Photo – Courtesy of  Gerald Klein/NationsPark

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Special thanks to all my collaborators: Shayna Mordue and Zack Lodger (songwriters/vocalists + some keys from Zack); Kevin Feller (engineer/producer); Dov Rosenblatt (drums); Nachum Peterseil (vocal harmonies); James Bass (vocal harmony arrangement).  Awesome experience with incredible and talented people.

Question: Vayelech 5776 – You’re leaving.  There are things to celebrate and things to be sad about.  How do you mark the moment?

Source:  “[Moshe] said to [the Israelites]: I am now one hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer be active. Moreover, the LORD has said to me, “You shall not go across yonder Jordan. The LORD your God Himself will cross over before you; and He Himself will wipe out those nations from your path and you shall dispossess them.—Joshua is the one who shall cross before you, as the LORD has spoken. —Devarim 31:2-3.

Respond with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

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Click Play to hear Shep’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for Nitzavim, The Living Tree.

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here

Photo – Shari and me in Hilo, Hawaii

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Question: Nitzavim 5776 – What does “choose life” mean to you?

Source:  “I call the heavens and earth to bear witness against you.  I have placed before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you will live, you and your offspring to love Hashem your God, to listen to his voice, to cleave to you, for he is your life and the length of your days to dwell upon the land.” – Devarim 30:19-20

Respond with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Tags: #nitzavim #torah #torah study #parsha #parasha #deuteronomy

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Click Play to hear Shep’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for Ki Tavo, Taking Root.

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here

Photo – Courtesy of David Berry

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Question: Ki Tavo 5776 – You're on the other side, from poverty to wealth, homelessness to a home.  How do you retain the gratitude of the moment while honoring your history?

Source:  “You shall then recite as follows before the LORD your God: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.  The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.  We cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.  The LORD freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents.  He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, O LORD, have given me.” You shall leave it before the LORD your God and bow low before the LORD your God.” - Devarim 26:5-10 – translation from Sefaria

Respond with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

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Click Play to hear Shep’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for Ki Tetze, I’m Other.

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here 

Photo – Courtesy of Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Question: Ki Tetze 5776 – Even if you follow all the rules, bad stuff happens.  How do you deal with it?

Source:  “If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young.  Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.” - Devarim 22:6-7 – translation from Sefaria

Respond with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

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Click Play to hear Shep’s Song/Answer to the 54Mosaics question for Shoftim, Bob’s Inheritance.

Question - If you want to read the question on Tumblr, click here

Lyrics/Sources - If you want to see lyrics or sources, click here

Soundcloud - If you want the link to the song on Soundcloud, click here

Respond to the question or this song with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.

Question: Shoftim 5776 – What inspires you to pursue justice?  How do you do it?

Source:  “Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you. - Devarim 16:20 – translation from Sefaria

Respond with your thoughts, a poem, a photo, a play, a song, whatever inspires you, below.  What will you create?  Join the conversation at www.54mosaics.tumblr.com.