About

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.”

Score

Listen/Watch

Text

By David Evan Markus, based on the traditional Chanukah 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.

Performances

Premiere: Kantorei Chamber Choir, Adam Reinwald, conductor, Joanna Dulkin, mezzo-soprano; Shoreview and Edina, MN, December 2024

About

Adonai, where shall I find you? (Ya ana emtza’acha) was commissioned for the Colorado Hebrew Chorale by Carol Kozak Ward, Founder and Artistic Director of the Chorale, in memory of her mother Joanne L. Kozak.  The text, part of a larger poem by Yehuda Halevi (c. 1075-1141), one of the greatest Jewish poets and philosophers of Medieval Spain, speaks of the mystery of and our relation to the divine: that God is both unknowable, and in every atom of the universe; and that by being open to that mystery, we can encounter the wonder of the divine presence.

I originally wrote the basic setting (using the English translation here) as an a cappella melody to be sung as part of the Yom Kippur service, and was very pleased in this composition to expand the melody into a larger choral piece including both English and Hebrew. I was also delighted  to write a new composition for Carol Kozak Ward and her chorus; I have known Carol since I was accompanist for her Connecticut Hebrew Chorale during my college years. My first commissioned piece, Libavtini Achoti Chala, was written for that chorus in 1983.

Adonai, where shall I find you? was given its premiere in Denver in February 2024 by the Colorado Hebrew Chorale, conducted by Carol Kozak Ward. —Gerald Cohen

Score

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Text: Translation and Transliteration

Ya ana emtza’acha?
m’komcha na’aleh v’nelam,
v’ana lo emtza’acha?
k’vodcha malei olam.
Darashti kirvat’cha,
b’chol libi k’raticha,
uvtzeiti likrat’cha
likrati m’tzaticha.

Adonai, where shall I find You?
High and hidden is Your place.
And where shall I not find You?
The world is full of Your glory.
I sought Your closeness,
I called to You with all my heart,
And going out to meet You
I found you coming toward me.

—Yehuda Halevi (c.1075–1141)
Translation from Siddur Lev Shalem, published by the Rabbinical Assembly

Press

Raisins and Almonds – and Farewells:  Colorado Hebrew Chorale

About

From such sparks was commissioned by the Seattle Jewish Chorale in memory of Mary Pat Graham, who was the Music Director of the Chorale from 2009 to 2014, and who passed away in January 2023.  The Chorale suggested several passages from a variety of sources as possible texts for the piece, from which I chose excerpts from chapter 31 of the biblical Book of Proverbs (a section known as “A woman of valor”), and from Orot Hakodesh by Abraham Isaac Kook. Together these texts communicate how the love and friendship of Mary Pat were felt by all who knew her, and that her life created “sparks…[which] illuminate the entire world”—the light of all people who strive, in all our different ways, to make the world a better place. 

The composition uses distinct melodies for each of the three verses from Proverbs, and then moves to a new key and new texture for the “sparks” section. After this part builds to a climax, the three Proverbs melodies sound together, intertwined, with the dominant line being “Her light radiates undimmed through the night;” this is then followed by a gentle conclusion using the words from Kook combined with the phrase “Her light.” 

The Seattle Jewish Chorale performed the premiere of From such sparks in June 2024, conducted by Jacob Finkle.

—Gerald Cohen

Score

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Text

She offers her palm to the needy, her hands she extends to the poor. 
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 
Her light radiates undimmed through the night. 

Uminitsotsot ka-eile avukot or yitkab’tsu, v’ya-iru et kol ha-olam michvodam.

From such sparks, torches of light gather and illuminate the entire world with their glory. 

Proverbs, chapter 31
Abraham Isaac Kook: Orot Hakodesh  

The translations were compiled by the composer with the aid of several different translations, with special credit to Yaacov Dovid Shulman for his translation of the Kook (permission from translator), and to Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l for his translation of the line “Her light radiates undimmed through the night” (Creative Commons).

About

Haam Haholchim Bachoshech (The People Walking in Darkness), for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra (2021) | 5′

Kumi ori (Arise, shine), for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra (2021) | 3′

Adonai Ro’i Lo Echsar (Psalm 23) for SATB chorus and piano (1999) | 3′

All three pieces are intended for use in the Messiah performance, all have the same orchestration (Strings, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets), and all available in full score and piano reduction.

Each can be performed that way, or as choral pieces separate from a performance of Messiah.

 

Composer’s note:

Paul Dankers, musical director of the Aspen Choral Society, contacted me with a fascinating project: to refresh their performances of Handel’s amazing and beloved Messiah by commissioning new pieces to replace certain movements of the original piece, and to add more choral movements to the ACS’s performance.  When Paul called me and offered the commission, I was intrigued, honored, and a little bit daunted in taking on this task. But then I began studying Handel’s oratorio, and grew fascinated with the idea of writing new pieces that would fit smoothly into the flow of the Messiah, and yet be true to my own musical voice.  And since I am Jewish and write many compositions in Hebrew, I decided to compose pieces that take the English text of the Messiah and replace it with the original Hebrew from the Book of Isaiah.

Haam Haholchim Bachoshech (“The people walking in darkness”) is composed to replace the bass solo aria “The people that walked in darkness” of the Handel. Like Handel’s aria, it is filled with chromatic wanderings in darkness—but it reaches for a more exultant light than the original aria, and then leads directly into Handel’s jubilant “For unto us a child is born.”

The second new piece, Kumi Ori, immediately follows “For unto us”, and my aim in this movement was to respond directly to the motifs and energy of that jubilant chorus: beginning with its 16th-note figures in a new, more distant key, and shifting between different tonalities and rhythmic meters.  When the chorus enters, it is singing a long lyrical line against the continuing energy of the accompaniment, on the text “Kumi Ori (Arise, Shine),” from Isaiah Chapter 60—a text that was also part of the earlier movement “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion.”

The third piece, Adonai Ro’i, is a new orchestration of my setting of Psalm 23, and speaks about God as a Shepherd, similarly to the piece that it replaces in the Handel, “He shall feed his flock.”

In all these pieces, I am using the same orchestration as in the Handel, have aimed to create a musical world that feels very connected to Messiah, and yet clearly to come from the 21st and not the 18th century. It was a wonderful challenge to compose these new pieces! The Aspen Choral Society, Paul Dankers, conductor, gave the premiere of the three movements as part of their December 2021 performances of Handel’s Messiah and have since performed them as part of their Messiah performances each year.

Score

Scores for each movement can be viewed on each piece’s page linked above.

Arrangements

Orchestration for Strings, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets

Listen/Watch

Performances

Premiere: Aspen Choral Society, December 2021
Aspen Choral Society, December 2022

Press

The Aspen Times, December 2021: “Aspen choir adds new movements to Handel’s ‘Messiah’”

NOTE: Performance of B’kol Rina begins at 3:00 of this video.

About

B’kol Rina (With Joyful Song) was commissioned by Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis, IN, in honor of Cantor Melissa Cohen’s 10 years as Cantor of the congregation. Cantor Cohen wished for a celebratory piece for soloist, chorus and orchestra, that would also feature the congregation’s excellent organ. Psalm 47 is a joyful psalm that calls on all the world to celebrate God with singing and instruments—specifically trumpet and shofar (a trumpet made of a ram’s horn). This psalm is accordingly recited every Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) before the sounding of the shofar, with additional verses from other psalms.

The piece is joyful and exuberant from the opening soprano solo, and features many shifting meters in creating its dance-like motion. Focus shifts between soloist and chorus in building the jubilant mood; the trumpet and horn add sounds suggesting the shofar. Towards the end, the soloist sings a more reLlective section based on lines from Psalm 119, which then leads to the chorus and orchestra’s Linal exuberant return to the opening lines and melodies.

B’kol Rina had its premiere in November 2025 with Cantor Melissa Cohen as soprano soloist, with the chorus of Beth-El Zedeck and members of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

—Gerald Cohen

Score

Text

Psalm 47: 2-3, 6-9; Psalm 119: 66, 108

Transliteration:
Kol ha-amim tiku chaf, hari-u lelohim b’kol rina!
Ki Adonai elyon nora, melech gadol al kol ha-aretz.
Ala elohim bitru-a, Adonai b’kol shofar!
Zam’ru elohim zameru! zam’ru l’malkenu zameru!
Ki melech kol ha-aretz elohim, zam’ru maskil.
Malach elohim al goyim, elohim yashav al kise kodsho.

Tuv ta-am vada-at lam’deni, ki v’mitzvotecha he-emanti.
Nidvot pi r’tze na Adonai, umishpatecha lam’deni.

Translation by Pamela Greenberg, from The Complete Psalms
Clap your hands, all nations! Trumpet a cry of exultation to God!
For the Exalted One Lills us with wonder, from the highest heavens throughout the earth.
You rise with a blast of the trumpet! You are heard in the voice of the shofar
Sing out to the Holy One, sing out! Sing out to the one who gives us direction, sing out!
For God is sovereign over all the earth; make a melody of your understanding.
God reigns over nations; God sits on a holy throne.

Reason is worthy, so teach me knowledge, for I have believed in Your will.
The offerings of my mouth are freely given; please accept them, Creator, and teach me the ways of your justice

About

Adonai s’fatai tiftach (Holy One, open my lips) was commissioned by Bet Am Shalom, White Plains, NY, in honor of the retirement of my dear friends and colleagues Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller and Rabbi Les Bronstein. I based the piece on a melody I wrote for this text as part of the service, a meditative tune leading into the Amidah—the central prayer of each Jewish service. 

The melody first appears unnacompanied in solo voices, then in the chorus with a gentle accompaniment in the piano. The middle section sets the same text in English, using the names “Holy One” and Breath of Life” as the translation of “Adonai”. Where the main melody is primarily set in unison, this middle section has rich and modulating harmonies in the chorus. The return of the main melody, brings back the unison melody in the tenor and bass against responses in English in the soprano and alto.

The piece was written to be performed at its premiere by a solo quartet of cantors that has loved to sing together in concerts presenting our own and other’s music: Benjie Ellen Schiller, Natasha Hirschhorn, Isaac Sonett-Assor, and myself.

—Gerald Cohen

Score

Text

Psalm 51:17

Adonai s’fatai tiftach, 
Adonai s’fatai tiftach, 
ufi yagid t’hilatecha.

Holy One, open my lips, 
Breath of Life, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.