We Are Your People - Ki Anu Amecha

Another song for the upcoming season.
Translation is included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K05npNxa8lg

I love maps

You can search images online for "Peters map projection"and find a map of the world with countries sized according to land area. Even this map is a little misleading, though, because Russia and Canada are stretched out into narrow shapes that make them appear smaller than they are.

Another cool map is one that shows countries sized according to their population. Over a third of the word's people live in China and India. This one is from businessinsider.com

Another kind of map I can imagine making is a map of the world that preserved both shapes and sizes of countries by dividing up the oceans. You could make it out of some sort of cloth with pile, with higher or denser pile for the denser population areas. You could provide a blank globe and you could practice putting the pieces on in the right place (would need some way to make them stick).

Some old maps were not meant to be accurate, but were works of art. Like this one with Jerusalem as the center of the world.

 

 

And while we're on the subject of making maps to play with, how about a flat map with countries the right size, and some kind of tokens to put on each one to show population. The most densely populated country would have to have just enough space for the tokens.



 

Ben Adam Ma Lecha Nirdam

Another song for the season.

group singing, no instruments

http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nlis/he/Song/Pages/song.aspx?songid=296#1,13,480,11

Rough translation:

Son of man, why do you slumber? Come and present words of petition.
Pour out conversation, seek forgiveness, from the Lord of lords.
Wash and purify yourself, do not tarry, for the days will soon pass
And quickly run for help, before the One who dwells on high.
And from sin and evil flee, and fear those who may ensnare you.
Please listen to those who know Your name, Israel, your faithful.
For thine, O God, is the justice, and ours is shame of face.

Stand like a man, be valiant to confess your sins.
Seek the Lord God, with a bowed head, to atone for transgressions
Since forever, wonders will not cease from before our eyes-
And any word which may be uttered, before Him will be read
The Merciful one will have mercy, as a father has mercy on his children.
For thine, O God, is the justice, and ours is shame of face.

Adon haSelichot

Another song sung at this time of year.

This is an anacrostic piyut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GfsXUt-3Ns
With pictures and translation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0C8fb8eFDc
Simple

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4wg1xFUopg
Interesting music style.

Very rough translation:
א Lord of forgiveness,
ב Examiner of hearts,  
ג Who unveils the depths,
ד Speaker of justice,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
ה Glorious in wonders,
ו Great in consolations,
ז Remembering the covenant made with the forefathers,
ח Searching the reins,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
ט Good and kind to all the created,
י Knower of all that is hidden,
כ Conquering iniquity,
ל Clothed in righteousness,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
מ Full of merit,
נ Fearful in praises,
ס Forgiving iniquity,
ע Hearing in the time of trouble,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
פ Working out salvations,
צ Seeing into the future,
ק Calling the generations,
ר Riding on the clouds,
ש Hearing prayers,
ת Perfect in knowledge,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.

Avinu Malkeinu

There are two songs by this name. This is the short and simple one. It is often sung around Rosh HaShana, which is Oct 3 and 4 this year. I couldn't decide which version I like best, so I'm listing all three.

One with organ and choir.

One as sung in a synagogue.

A lighter version, with the Hebrew words, Spanish transliteration, and Spanish translation, with accordion accompaniment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8y3jPuzV8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNJgL3fle0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMzYJMEiEE

Avinu Malkenu
Chanenu va'anenu
Avinu malkenu
Chanenu va'anenu
Ki ein banu ma'asim
Asseh imanu tsedaka vechesed
Asseh imanu tsedaka vechesed vehoshienu

Our father our king
Be gracious unto us and answer us
Our father our king
Be gracious unto us and answer us
For we have no good deeds of our own
Deal with us in justice and in kindness
Deal with us in justice and in kindness
And save us.

TODAY

Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.

German Feminine Nouns

Learning the gender of nouns is still annoying me. It annoys me because it's not terribly complex, like adjective cases and relative pronouns and dependent clauses, but it's still too hard.

My method is to start with the assumption that every noun is masculine unless there is some indication otherwise. If it ends in an "e" or an -in or a -heit or an -ung or a -shaft, it is probably feminine. But if it doesn't, you need some way of knowing.

I start with the assumption it's masculine till I find out it's not, and the minute I found out it's feminine, it immediately starts to stretch, spread, extend, or repeat. If you start with schlacht, a battle, it's surely masculine, is it not? But then I find out it's feminine and it spreads out into a field with many bodies falling, and many puffs of smoke in the air.

Botschaft, a message, ought to be masculine, brought by swift runner. But when I find out it's feminine, it turns into a multitude of dots and dashes as if being sent by Morse code.

Frist, a period of time or a deadline, as a masculine word looks like a single solid object or a definite boundary. But as soon as I learn it's feminine, it reminds me of the broken line at the center of the road whizzing by. Many, many stripes, many, many deadlines have flown by.

Die Luft, the air, spreads over the whole earth. Ader, vein, as feminine stretches out long. Schrift, writing, stretches across the page and contains multiple characters.

A city as a big, ugly polluted thing could be masculine, but as soon as it becomes feminine, it is a collection of rooftops. Auswahl, selection, involves several items to choose from. So you could say feminine is the closest thing to plural without being plural. Uhr, a clock, is feminine with that plural aspect because it wouldn't be a clock without more than one number on it. Ankunft, arrival, is when Aunt Mary appears on your doorstep for a visit. But wait, she came on a plane, where there are arrivals every minute. Again, a concept of pluralness.

This only works if you start with the idea of masculine, and not if you approach a word with the idea it could be either one. That way, the moment you find that it's feminine, your mind makes this shift into a different concept of the word, and that helps you remember.

Furcht, fear. Dark and dangerous, like a bad man. But no, it's not just a particular fear, but magor-misaviv, fear all around. See, it's spreading again, so it's feminine. Die Trommel, drum. A drum wouldn't be necessary for just a single thump. It's a multiplicity of beats.

And of course, there's still the method of connecting things. I learned night, die Nacht, which, like Luft, spreads calmly over everything. But Finsternis, darkness, surely is neuter, like a lot of -nis words. But since it turns out to be feminine, I connect it with die Nacht, and they are always together.