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The Friedman Havdalah gets another one
Now that sunset is earlier, Havdalah (the ritual between the end of the Shabbat and the secular week) happens while she's awake, and I've been lighting the candles and singing while ![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
sashagee holds Laila. Laila's first reaction was "very scary" because the flame from the six-wicked candle is about four inches high, but the really funny thing is that a few days ago, when sashagee was lighting one of her candles with a lighter, the flame was a couple inches high and unprompted Laila started singing "ya lai lai lai lai lai lai lai..."
Earlier today while she wasn't feeling well, Laila came up to me, plopped on my lap, and asked, "Ya lai lais ones? Sing ya lai lai song?" so I played her this song (the Third Commandment forbids using prayers containing the Name in an improper time and place, though I could have done a word substitution, as is common). When it was done, she asked for it again. And again. And again, until we told her that it was time for bed and she had to go take a nap.
That melody is the havdalah. Whatever havdalah melodies existed in the past were swept away in a tide by a song written by a Reform songwriter within the last fifty years. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, American, Persian, Ethiopian...doesn't matter. Everyone knows Debbie Friedman's "Birchot Havdalah" even if they don't know why. I remember listening to a podcast that had a Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox hostess each, and the Orthodox member said she grew up singing the Friedman Birchot Havdalah and thought it was basically handed down to Moses at Sinai. It's so good literally everyone uses it.
And then when writing this post, I find this video of an Orthodox singer and other men singing the song, with all the women completely silent (because of kol isha) and then when I get to 3 minutes in...guess what melody they start singing?
Ya lai lai lai lai lai lai lai...🎶
sashagee holds Laila. Laila's first reaction was "very scary" because the flame from the six-wicked candle is about four inches high, but the really funny thing is that a few days ago, when sashagee was lighting one of her candles with a lighter, the flame was a couple inches high and unprompted Laila started singing "ya lai lai lai lai lai lai lai..."Earlier today while she wasn't feeling well, Laila came up to me, plopped on my lap, and asked, "Ya lai lais ones? Sing ya lai lai song?" so I played her this song (the Third Commandment forbids using prayers containing the Name in an improper time and place, though I could have done a word substitution, as is common). When it was done, she asked for it again. And again. And again, until we told her that it was time for bed and she had to go take a nap.
That melody is the havdalah. Whatever havdalah melodies existed in the past were swept away in a tide by a song written by a Reform songwriter within the last fifty years. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, American, Persian, Ethiopian...doesn't matter. Everyone knows Debbie Friedman's "Birchot Havdalah" even if they don't know why. I remember listening to a podcast that had a Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox hostess each, and the Orthodox member said she grew up singing the Friedman Birchot Havdalah and thought it was basically handed down to Moses at Sinai. It's so good literally everyone uses it.
And then when writing this post, I find this video of an Orthodox singer and other men singing the song, with all the women completely silent (because of kol isha) and then when I get to 3 minutes in...guess what melody they start singing?
Ya lai lai lai lai lai lai lai...🎶