Achat Shaalti (Aly Halpert tune)
Achat Shaalti, Psalm 27:4.
I've been singing this newer tune by Aly Halpert (support the composer and go buy her version on Bandcamp!) as we go into the 5785 High Holiday season. Psalm 27 is traditionally recited in Elul, the month before Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish new year, and over the following few weeks of the fall Jewish holiday season. This verse from it, which means "One thing I ask, this I request, that I will dwell in the house of God all the days of my life, to view God's pleasantness, and to visit their palace," is often sung out loud to a melody. This year, with everything that has gone on in the land and state of Israel since Oct. 7 and its impact on us as Jews--the people of Israel--worldwide, this Psalm in general has seemed more meaningful than ever, with its words of how faith can guide is in the face of enemies. And this meditative tune has seemed the right way to hold both sadness and faith--sadness for all the people (Israelis and Palestinians) who have had their lives destroyed or disrupted, sadness for the dream of Jews since time immemorial to live in peace in Israel slipping a bit further from reality in our time, and hope in faith in doing the right thing (which, in my opinion, is not any of the things extremists on either side call for). May our words and actions this holiday season bring us and all people peace.