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Gerald Cohen
Gerald Cohen Music
Lighting Our Way/Hanerot Hallalu
A Chanukah piece reflecting on the wonders of the world and partnering with the Divine in these urgent days.
solo voice, SATB chorus, and piano
This moving piece explores the larger importance of the Jewish holiday Chanukah, offering a chance to reflect on the wonders of the world as symbolized by the lights, and how we now need to be partners with the Divine in making the world a better place. The choral writing is rich and varied, from heartfelt four-part writing to passages of dramatic intensity. Ideal for choruses wanting to sing a beautiful and substantial piece for Chanukah.
Composer’s Notes
Lighting Our Way/Hanerot Hallalu was commissioned by Adath Jeshurun Congregation of Minnetonka MN, in partnership with Kantorei Chamber Choir of Minneapolis, MN.
As a composer writing many pieces on Jewish subjects, I am always looking for texts that reflect deep and universal aspects of the holidays and life cycle events of the Jewish tradition. Cantor Joanna Dulkin of Adath Jeshurun, Music Director Adam Reinwald of Kantorei, and I all wanted to create a choral work for Chanukah exploring the larger and contemporary importance of the holiday. We found a beautiful poem by Rabbi David Evan Markus, reinterpreting a traditional Chanukah text, Hanerot Hallalu (These candles that we light). Markus’ poem emphasizes the candles’ symbolism in inspiring us to action in healing the world: “…for the wonders/we will do with You/for our descendants/and for our ailing planet/in these urgent days/for times to come.”
The piece begins with a heartfelt vocal solo, written for Cantor Dulkin, followed by more urgent calls for inspiration from the chorus, and a rich choral reprise of the initial melody. In the coda, the soloist and chorus join together in thanks and hope for “miracles, salvations and wonders.”
-Gerald Cohen
Text
Haneirot hallalu
anu madlikin
al hanisim
v’al hat’shuot
v’al hanifla-ot
shena-aseh imkha
l’tze-etza-einu
ulolam cholah shelanu
bayamim d’hofim haeileh
l’atid lavo.
K’mo kohanim kedoshim
nitzhu lahanoch
et olamam hatamei,
b’chol sh’monat y’mei ha-Hanukkah
haneirot hallalu
kodesh hein,
V’ein lanu r’shut
l’hishtameish bahein
ella lir’otan bilvad
k’dei l’hodot
lish’mekha
al ha-nisim
v’al haniflaot
v’al hateshuot.
May these candles
that we kindle
be for the miracles
and for the salvations
and for the wonders
we will do with You
for our descendants
and for our ailing planet
in these urgent days
for times to come.
Just as generations of old
whose audacity rededicated
their world defiled,
for all eight days of Chanukah,
may these candles we light
fill us with holiness.
We claim no power
to use them
except to see them,
to inspire gratitude
for Your name,
for the miracles,
and for the wonders,
and for the salvations.
-David Evan Markus, based on the traditional Chanukah text
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