Said to Myself

Our Day of Joy: 1st Yahrzeit of October 7th

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Ishay Ribo came out with another great album. This is his 5th. Clearly many of the songs on it are his reaction to this past year. The single that has gotten the most play has been Bloom for Their Return  יפרחו לשובם .

This is a powerful song in which he explores what we might do with all of the pain and suffering in the wake of October 7th. Is there a hope for a brighter future? Here he sings that, “All of the tears, the pain, that ripped from my heart will grow a world.” He images us cultivated orchards and vineyards on the grounds of our anguish.

In the sing Ribo sings:

And how is it that from our day of Simchah

We do not have a dreadful moment

All of the tears—the pain—that ripped from my heart

Will grow a world

Orchard fields of truth, anemone, and almond

Will bloom for their return

The morning of Shemini Atzeret

Where time stood still

What is “our day of Simchah“? Literally a day of joy, it is a reference to Simchat Torah which is celebrated along with Shemini Atzeret in Israel which was the dark day of October 7th. What does he mean what he sings, “time stood still”? For so many people impacted back by these events it is still October 7th.

As we prepare to go into Simchat Torah, we pause to realize that this Yahrzeit is particularly challenging because we still very much in that day and we have no idea where all of this is going. It has been a very difficult year. We only wish to return to a time of joy and day when we will know peace.

Ribo’s song speaks of the courage to choose to make something productive from all of the tears, the pain, that ripped from our hearts. We need to courage to grow a world filled with orchards, vineyards, forests, and fields filled with anemone and almond. From this imagination “Will bloom for their return”.  Bring Them Home Now.  

As I have in the past, I started to put together a contemporary page of Talmud to play with the lyrics to this song. I would welcome any reflections or edits you might offer on this draft.

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Quote of the week

But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then erase me out of the book you have written.

~ Exodus 32:32

Said to Myself

About

My name is Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow. I have always had a deep love for the Jewish people and making the world a better place. It was while building community in the Former Soviet Union for YUSSR that I realized the transformative power of being a rabbi. After spending time learning in Israel, I moved to New York to be a charter student in Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the Open Orthodox Seminary. After graduating in 2004 until 2008 I served as the Rabbi and ran the program at St. Louis Hillel at Washington University. Now I have the great pleasure of thinking about how Judaism is seriously fun. In my mind I am up at camp every day in my work at the Foundation for Jewish Camp. My wife, Cantor Adina Frydman, and I are the proud parents of Yadid, Yishama, Emunah, and Libi.

Said to Myself

When my son Yadid was four years old he came home from daycare and reported to me that he got into trouble. He got put into timeout for throwing sand at another child. Yadid said,” Myself said to myself, I do not want to be in timeout. Myself said to my cry, I do not want to cry”. And with that we started a conversation about his conscious life. It seemed only fitting to continue that conversation with a blog with the same name.

אָמַרְתִּי אֲנִי בְּלִבִּי

My son spoke in the words of Ecclesiastes, “I said in my heart: ‘Come now, I will try you with mirth, and enjoy pleasure’; and, behold, this also was vanity.” (Kohelet 2:1) My mission is to model a life that is personally meaningful, universally relevant, and distinctly Jewish. I aspire to be frank and to speak of Torah in real life.

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