Recorded December 11, 2022 at Sukkat Shalom in Wilmett, performed by Chicago a cappella
Recorded December 2025, performed by The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble
About
Featuring a serene melody that floats over harmonies set up by the other voices, the choir sings of the warmth of being together for the Chanukah holiday. The refrain focuses on the key word “light” and builds a gentle rocking figure in the chorus.
Chanukah Lights was written in 2005 for SSA choir, for the wonderful A Cappella Choir of the PEARLS Hawthorne Elementary School in Yonkers NY, conducted by Emme Kresek —composed when my daughter was a 5th-grade member of the choir. The Pearls choir, like so many school choruses, was looking for Chanukah repertoire that went beyond the most standard melodies usually sung for the holiday.
In 2022, I composed a new mixed chorus a cappella version for Chicago a cappella, who premiered the mixed version and then featured it on their album Miracle of Miracles — Music for Hanukkah.
The candles are gently glowing, spreading peace, spreading light. Our family gathers together, sharing joy this Chanukah night. Light, light, bring joy each night!
The poem Dayeinu is the central song of gratitude from the Passover Seder celebration, giving thanks for every stage of the ancient Hebrews’ journey from slavery to freedom. Cohen has created a joyous dance in his setting of the text, the music building in exuberance throughout the piece. The rhythmic challenges—such as shifts between 4/4 and 7/8 in the refrain—are readily worked out as they are so much fun to sing. Dayeinu! is an ideal choice for concerts celebrating spring and the spring holidays.
My setting of Dayeinu!, an exuberant dance, is from the Passover cantata V’higad’ta L’vincha (“And you shall tell your child”), composed in 1996 for the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, founder and director.
Dayeinu! means “it would have been enough for us!” The poem thanks God for every part of the journey from slavery to freedom, each time saying, ”if you had done only this for us, it would have been enough—but look at how much we have to be grateful for!” Dayeinu! is from the larger Passover cantata V’higad’ta L’vincha (“And you shall tell your child”) One of the most significant themes of the Haggadah, emphasized in Cohen’s choices of text for the piece, is that we all must experience the story of the deliverance from slavery as if we ourselves had lived through it; we must then tell our children that story so as to pass it down, vividly, from one generation to the next.
V’higad’ta L’vincha was commissioned by the Chorus as part of the “Commissioning Music/USA” program of Meet The Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. A recording of the original version for treble chorus with the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, conductor, appears on the album Generations: Music of Gerald Cohen (New World Records NWCRI 879).
Note: Dayeinu, and the entire V’higad’ta L’vincha, are available in versions both for treble chorus and for SATB chorus. Either version can be performed either in a full score version with clarinet, cello and piano; or in the piano reduction.
Kama maalot tovot lamakom aleinu! Ilu hotsianu mimitsrayim, Dayeinu! Ilu kara lanu et hayam, Dayeinu! Ilu sipeik tsorkeinu bamidbar arbayim shana, Dayeinu! Ilu keirvanu lifnei har sinai, Dayeinu! Ilu natan lanu et hatorah, Dayeinu! Ilu hichnu l’erets yisraeil, Dayeinu!
How many acts of kindness God has performed for us! If God had brought us out of Egypt, Dayeinu! (it would have been enough for us!) If God had split the sea for us, Dayeinu! If God had sustained us in the wilderness for forty years, Dayeinu! If God had brought us before Mount Sinai, Dayeinu! If God had given us the Torah, Dayeinu! If God had led us to the land of Israel, Dayeinu!
Arrangements
Dayeinu, and the entire V’higad’ta L’vincha, are available in versions both for treble chorus and for SATB chorus. Either version can be performed either in a full score version with clarinet, cello and piano; or in the piano reduction.
Dayeinu is also the final movement of the instrumental piece Sea of Reeds, in its several arrangements.
Listen/Watch
SA Version
(From Sea of Reeds—clarinet duo and piano)
Performances
Selected:
Premiere: April 1997 – Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, cond.; Syracuse, NY May 1998 – Juilliard Pre-College Chorus, Rebecca Scott, cond.; New York, NY (SSA version) April 2006 – Princeton Pro Musica, Frances Slade, cond., Lawrenceville, NJ (SATB version) April 2010 – Choirs of Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College, Joyce Rosenzweig, cond. (SATB version) May 2010 – Concerto Della Donna, Iwan Edwards, cond.; Montreal, Québec (SSA version) April 2016 – HaZamir, the International Jewish High School Choir, Joel Caplan, cond., New York, NY (SATB version, “Dayeinu” movement) See video of this performance at Carnegie Hall
by Andrew Adler For Frank A. Heller III, every concert describes a small journey of inner space. Voces Novae, the chorus he trains and nurtures season after season, looks first to the spirit present within each of its singers, and by extension his audiences. It’s no exaggeration to call Heller’s perspective a pan-theistic, summoning faiths […]
by Eric Haines Hebrew liturgy provides blessings for every major event in the Jewish life cycle. Blessings for children, weddings, the Kaddish, the Kol Nidre and the Song of Solomon have inspired composers to write works that deserve a place on the concert stage. The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival ended its three-concert season on Tuesday […]
by Sheila Steinman Wallace In one of the most cohesive and moving concerts I have heard from this community chorus, Voces Novae presented “Choral Portraits: Gerald Cohen, Eleanor Daley and Eric Whitacre” on Sunday, March 7. … Gerald Cohen’s “Adonai Ro’i” (Psalm 23) has long been a personal favorite. The chorus and soloist Sarah Nettleton […]
This setting features a lyrical and peaceful melody, first heard in the solo voice, with words that expand upon a traditional Hebrew text, making it both more personal and more universal: where the original text asks for peace “for us and for all Israel,” the text here speaks of peace “within myself, for us and for all Israel, and all who dwell on earth, and all of the world/universe.”
Oseh Shalom was commissioned by Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT for Cantor Asa Fradkin and Sasson: The Temple Sholom Teen Choir, in celebration of its centennial. I had never written a choral setting of this very familiar text, and delighted in having the opportunity for Cantor Fradkin, this dedicated teen choir, and this occasion. The premiere of the piece was at Temple Sholom in May, 2016.
As one of the best-known lines of Hebrew liturgy, “Oseh Shalom” is a prayer for peace. In my own private meditations, I had added several lines to the traditional prayer, in an effort to envision the sense of peace coming from within one’s being, to one’s family and people, and finally to all on earth, and the entire world/universe. The commission for the youth choir of Temple Sholom spurred me to set this revised text to music. The serene, but wide-ranging melody is first heard in Hebrew in the solo voice, then in the full choir, before the choir begins a contrasting section, with the prayer sung in English. Finally, the original melody returns, growing in strength, before bringing us to a peaceful conclusion.
Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu yaaseh shalom b’kirbi, Aleinu v’al kol Yisrael, V’al kol yoshvei tevel, V’al kol haolam, V’imru amen.
O You who makes peace in the heavens, Make peace within myself, For us and all Yisrael, And all who dwell on earth, And all our precious world, And all our wondrous world, And let us say amen.
Arrangements
—Arrangement for solo voice and piano (2020) —Arrangement for chorus with string quartet
To purchase score and parts, contact Gerald Cohen: gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com PDF version of score and parts: $3.00 a copy (minimum 6 copies)
Listen/Watch
Premiere at Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT, May 2016 The Temple Sholom Teen Choir, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo, Gerald Cohen, conductor
Performances
Premiere: May 2016: The Temple Sholom Teen Choir, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo, Gerald Cohen, conductor; Greenwch, CT January 2017: Shir Chadash: The Brooklyn Jewish Community Chorus, Cantor Natasha Hirschhorn, solo, Rachel Brook, conductor; Brooklyn, NY May 2017: Gerald Cohen Vocal Ensemble, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo; Scarsdale, NY January 2018: Colorado Hebrew Chorale, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo, Carol Kozak Ward, conductor; Denver, CO January 2020: H.L. Miller Cantorial School Choir, Jewish Theological Seminary; Jacob Agar, Arielle Green, and Jacob Greenberg, soloists; Cantor Natasha Hirschhorn, conductor; New York, NY
PDF version of score and parts: $3.00 a copy (minimum 6 copies, includes clarinet part). For printed version of score and parts, contact me.
About
Praise Life! Praise Wonder! is a setting of Rami Shapiro’s adaptation of Psalm 150, and was commissioned by Sharim v’Sharot, Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director, in honor of their 18th (Chai/Life) year as a chorus. I have known Elayne for 35 years, and am thrilled to write this celebratory piece for her and her chorus!
For the commissioned piece, we wanted to do a piece that celebrates life, and expresses gratitude and wonder. After thinking about many different possibilities, Elayne and I decided on doing a setting of Psalm 150—the last of the book of Psalms, a great outburst of joy and praise, and also a text that has been set many times. I had never set Psalm 150, so I was excited by that. But then there was the choice of Hebrew vs. English, and if English, which translation? We decided on a superb poem by Rami Shapiro, which is not exactly a translation, but more of a transformation of the psalm. I had set Rami’s poetry before in other choral works, and love his wonderful way of engaging with the text to create something new which is nevertheless deeply tied to the original.
The commission of this piece was funded by the following generous donors: —Amy Rappaport and Allan Freedman in celebration of their marriage, and in celebration of the Chai – 18th Anniversary of Sharim V’Sharot, Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director and Conductor —Ron and Joan Portman, L’dor vador: in honor of our family and their love of Jewish music —Max Yaffe and Joan Amatniek, in honor of synagogue Singers everywhere.
Libavtini Achoti Chala (You have captured my heart, my dear one, my bride) was originally composed as a solo a cappella song for a wedding at which I was the cantor. The Connecticut Hebrew Chorale, Carol Kozak Ward, conductor, commissioned me to expand this into a choral piece in 1983. The words come from the great Biblical love song, the Song of Songs (Shir Hashirim), and capture words of passionate love being sung to a bride. The Connecticut Hebrew Chorale gave the premiere of the piece in New Haven, CT in 1983. I have also arranged the piece for solo voice and piano.
You have captured my heart, my own, my bride, You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, With one coil of your necklace.
How sweet is your love, my own, my bride, How much more delightful your love than wine, Your ointments more fragrant than any spice.
Awake, O north wind, come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, that its perfume may spread. Let my beloved come to his garden and enjoy its luscious fruits!
[Translation from Tanach (Jewish Publication Society)]
Performances
Premiere performance: Gerald Cohen, baritone;Connecticut Hebrew Chorale, Carol Kozak Ward, conductor, New Haven, CT 1983.
“Dayeinu”, from V’higad’ta L’vincha, performed by HaZamir, the International Jewish Teen Choir, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, April 2016. Conducted by Cantor Joel Caplan, HaZamir North Jersey and accompanied by composer Gerald Cohen on the piano.
About
V’higad’ta L’vincha (And You Shall Tell Your Child…) was composed in 1996 for the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, founder and director, and was commissioned by the Chorus as part of the “Commissioning Music/USA” program of Meet The Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. In addition to this original SSA version, I have also written a version of the piece for SATB chorus.
V’higad’ta L’vincha is based on selections from the Passover Haggadah. The Haggadah, or “telling,” is the text that is used at the Seder, the family meal—full of discussion, ceremony, and song—that is the central feature of the Passover celebration of freedom and rejoicing.
One of the most significant themes of the Haggadah, emphasized in my choices of text for the piece, is that we all must experience the story of the deliverance from slavery as if we ourselves had lived through it; we must then tell our children that story so as to pass it down, vividly, from one generation to the next. Children are thus the central figures in the Seder, and it seemed most appropriate to write a setting of this text in a work composed for children’s chorus.
The piece begins with a chant-like presentation of the biblical verse that instructs us to tell our children the story of the Exodus, and then moves, as does the Haggadah, from the oppression of slavery to the joy of deliverance. That joy is expressed especially in the famous text “Dayeinu” (“It would have been enough…”), set here as a lively dance, and in the final “L’fichach,” which gives thanks to God in a procession which grows from a quiet beginning to an exuberant conclusion.
NOTE: Also available in a version for SATB chorus. Both versions can either be performed with the instrumental version of clarinet, cello, and piano, or with the piano reduction as accompaniment.
3. Ha lachma anya, diachalu avatana, b’ara dimitsrayim. Kol dichfin yeitei v’yeichul, kol ditsrich yeitei v’yifsach. Hashata hacha, lashana haba’a b’ara d’yisraeil. Hashata avdei lashana haba’a b’nei chorin.
4. Kama maalot tovot lamakom aleinu! Ilu hotsianu mimitsrayim, Dayeinu! Ilu kara lanu et hayam, Dayeinu! Ilu sipeik tsorkeinu bamidbar arbayim shana, Dayeinu! Ilu keirvanu lifnei har sinai, Dayeinu! Ilu natan lanu et hatorah, Dayeinu! Ilu hichnisanu l’erets yisraeil, Dayeinu!
5. B’chol dor vador, chayav adam lirot et atsmo k’ilu hu yatsa mimitsrayim. Shene’emar: V’higad’ta l’vincha bayom hahu leimor: baavur ze asa Adonai li, b’tseiti mimitsrayim.
1. And you shall tell your child on that day, saying: it is because of what Adonai did for me when I went out of Egypt. For with a mighty hand did Adonai bring you out of Egypt.
2. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai our God brought us out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And the more one talks about the exodus from Egypt, the more praiseworthy it is.
3. This is the bread of poverty which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are needy come and celebrate the Passover. Now we are here; next year may we be in the land of Israel. Now we are slaves; next year may we be free people.
4. How many acts of kindness God has performed for us! If God had brought us out of Egypt, Dayeinu! (it would have been enough for us!) If God had split the sea for us, Dayeinu! If God had sustained us in the wilderness for forty years, Dayeinu! If God had brought us before Mount Sinai, Dayeinu! If God had given us the Torah, Dayeinu! If God had led us to the land of Israel, Dayeinu!
5. In every generation, each person should feel as if he or she had actually experienced the exodus from Egypt. As it is written: And you shall tell your child on that day, saying: it is because of what Adonai did for me when I went out of Egypt.
6. Therefore, we should thank, praise, laud, glorify, exalt, honor, bless, extol, and adore the Power who performed all of these miracles for our ancestors and for us. God brought us from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to celebration, from darkness to great light, from bondage to redemption. Let us then sing a new song to God, Halleluya!
Arrangements
Arrangement for SATB chorus, clarinet, cello and piano (1999)
Both versions can either be performed with the instrumental version of clarinet, cello, and piano, or with the piano reduction as accompaniment. Prices are as follows: SA Octavo: $7.00 SA Full Score and parts: $25.00 SATB Octavo: 10.00 SATB Full Score and parts: 30.00
The 4th movement “Dayeinu“, is often performed as a separate piece, and is available with the instrumental ensemble, or with piano reduction.
Listen/Watch
V’higad’ta L’vincha: complete performance of SSA version by Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, conductor—from album Generations
Performances
Selected:
Premiere: April 1997 – Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, cond.; Syracuse, NY May 1998 – Juilliard Pre-College Chorus, Rebecca Scott, cond.; New York, NY (SSA version) April 2006 – Princeton Pro Musica, Frances Slade, cond., Lawrenceville, NJ (SATB version) December 2006 – Zamir Chorale, Matthew Lazar, cond., Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY, (SATB version, “Dayeinu” movement) April 2010 – Choirs of Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College, Joyce Rosenzweig, cond. (SATB version) May 2010 – Concerto Della Donna, Iwan Edwards, cond.; Montreal, Québec (SSA version) April 2016 – HaZamir, the International Jewish High School Choir, Joel Caplan, cond., New York, NY (SATB version, “Dayeinu” movement) See video of this performance at Carnegie Hall
by Andrew Adler For Frank A. Heller III, every concert describes a small journey of inner space. Voces Novae, the chorus he trains and nurtures season after season, looks first to the spirit present within each of its singers, and by extension his audiences. It’s no exaggeration to call Heller’s perspective a pan-theistic, summoning faiths […]
by Eric Haines Hebrew liturgy provides blessings for every major event in the Jewish life cycle. Blessings for children, weddings, the Kaddish, the Kol Nidre and the Song of Solomon have inspired composers to write works that deserve a place on the concert stage. The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival ended its three-concert season on Tuesday […]
by Sheila Steinman Wallace In one of the most cohesive and moving concerts I have heard from this community chorus, Voces Novae presented “Choral Portraits: Gerald Cohen, Eleanor Daley and Eric Whitacre” on Sunday, March 7. … Gerald Cohen’s “Adonai Ro’i” (Psalm 23) has long been a personal favorite. The chorus and soloist Sarah Nettleton […]
PDF version of score and parts: $6.00 a copy (minimum 6 copies). For printed version of score, contact me. Note: Final movement of this piece, The ocean of peace lies ahead of me, is published by G. Schirmer/AMP, and can be purchased as a separate octavo from them.
About
An Undaunted Heart: Songs of Elders was commissioned by the New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum, conductor. It was a commission of the Westchester Prize for New Works, and had its premieres in 2003 at the Music Conservatory of Westchester, White Plains, NY, and Shaarei Tikvah Congregation, Scarsdale, NY.
I was inspired to write this piece by my relationships with my elders—family, friends, and members of my community. The texts are from varied sources, including quotes from the Psalms on aging and honoring the old; by the American Marc Kaminsky, a humorous poem on a man’s vigorous request to his children to give him grandchildren; by the 12th- century Japanese poet Saigyo, on observing the passage of time in one’s aging body and in the natural world; by the American poet Mark Van Doren, on an old couple and their uncanny intuition of each other’s joys and pains; and by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, using the imagery of the “ocean of peace” that lies ahead of him as he encounters the “great unknown.”
The texts are meant to reflect a variety of experience in the aging process, and yet to create a strong sense of continuity for the piece as whole. The music is quite varied as well, responding to the texts such as the wild humor of the Kaminsky, the gentle humor of the Van Doren, and the ecstatic feeling of the Tagore, and was composed so as to utilize the marvelous technical and expressive resources of Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuoso Singers.
***Note: Final movement of this piece, The ocean of peace lies ahead of me, is published by G. Schirmer/AMP
1. From the Bible (Psalm 37:25; Leviticus 19:32; Psalm 92:15; Psalm 71:9)
Naar hayiti v’gam zakanti. I was young and now grow old.
Mip’nei seiva takum, v’hadarta p’nei zakein. Rise before the old, and honor the face of an elder.
Od y’nuvun b’seiva d’sheinim v’raananim yihyu. They shall still flourish in old age, they shall be ever fresh and fragrant.
Al tashlicheini b’eit zikna, kichlot kochi al taazveini. Do not cast me off in old age—when my strength fails, do not forsake me.
2. Mark Kaminsky (American, b. 1943): “Dancing Bear”
My father, when his sons and daughters visit his table, bringing freshly picked husbands and wives, sits at the head like a man who’s come into his place and is drunk with his triumph. He jumps up and pulls each one of us to him into a great wet bear hug, and cries: Bring me grandchildren! Go home and get me some grandchildren! Quick! I want them to get me greatgrandchildren before I die. And my mother, trying to make him act like a grown-up, cannot, during the whole time he dances around us, get him back on the leash.
3. Saigyo (Japanese, 1118-1190): “While noticing how time”
While noticing how time Has bent my body’s silhouette Cast in the moonlight… Away off in the distance the moon Sank closer to the world’s rim.
4. Mark van Doren (American, 1894-1973): “Old Man, Old Woman”
Old man, if he cares much When old woman is achesome, gives No sign to strangers; even when She staggers, seems not to notice
But does, and old woman knows it In the odd way of animals That watch each other incessantly. Such tenderness is in these two,
Each of them sees everything Outside, inside the other: old Man, old woman suffer and then Feel good together, their hearts equal,
Their eyes veteran, missing no Least message, morning or evening, Winter or summer, during or after Pain—oh, dear, plenty of that.
5. Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali, 1861-1941), “The ocean of peace lies ahead of me”
The ocean of peace lies ahead of me. Sail the boat, O pilot You are my constant companion now. Take me in your lap. Along the journey to the infinite The pole star alone will shine. Giver of Freedom Set me free. May your forgiveness and compassion Be my eternal resources for the journey— May the mortal ties fall away, May the vast universe Hold me in embrace, And with an undaunted heart May I come to know the Great Unknown.
Arrangements
“The Ocean of Peace”, the final movement of An Undaunted Heart, is available in an instrumental arrangement, (i.e. without chorus), for: Violin, viola, cello and piano. This arrangement was a Hoff-Barthelson/Copland House commission.
Adon Olam is a setting of one of the best known Jewish liturgical poems— attributed to Solomon Ibn Gabriol—expressing God as present both in the infinity of space and time, and the nearness of our own being. When used in synagogue, the text is often sung at the very end of services, often to lively tunes that do not particularly reflect the meaning of the text. In this piece, I hoped to write a choral setting that was indeed a close reflection of the beauty and the content of the poem.
I was pleased to write this piece commissioned, for SATB chorus and organ, as part of the Faith Partners fellowship of the American Composers Forum, for the Church of St. Ignatius-Loyola, New York, NY, Kent Tritle, Music Director, who premiered it in September 2003. I wrote a new arrangement for chorus and piano, which was given its premiere in September 2024 by the New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum, conductor.
Dodi li vaani lo (My beloved is mine, and I am his) was commissioned for Cantabile Chamber Chorale by Mitzi Lasky and Seth and Carolyn Rudnick, in memory of their parents, Dr. Stanford and Lucille Batter Rudnick, and by Cantabile. This piece was also written in celebration of Cantabile’s 20th anniversary as a chorus, all under the direction of Rebecca Scott, and it was the 3rd piece that I have written for Cantabile–it has been so significant for me to be an active part of their musical lives! The premiere of the piece took place in March 2009.
The Song of Songs is a favorite text both of mine and of Mitzi’s, and Mitzi felt that it would be most suitable as a tribute to the love of her parents for each other. I chose a selection of short texts from different parts of the poem, with the opening line as a refrain, and with each successive line becoming musically more and more caught up in the intoxication of love.
Dodi Li has also been arranged in an instrumental version for two clarinets and piano (or clarinet, viola, and piano, or solo piano) as part of my composition Sea of Reeds. The two-clarinet version has been recorded by the Grneta Ensemble on the album (also entitled Sea of Reeds) of my chamber music with clarinet (Navona Records NV5979).
—Gerald Cohen
Commissioned by Cantabile Chamber Chorale, Rebecca Scott, music director.
Score
Arrangements
SATB Chorus and piano (without clarinet) Instrumental versions, as part of Sea of Reeds: Piano solo, 2 clarinets and piano, clarinet, viola and piano
K’shoshana bein hachochim, kein rayati bein habanot. K’tapuach baatsei hayaar, kein dodi bein habanim. (Refrain)
Hayoshevet baganim, chavemost rim makshivim, l’koleich hashmiini! (Refrain)
Ichlu rei-im, sh’tu v’shichru dodim!
Refrain: My beloved is mine and I am his, He browses among the lilies.
Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the maidens. Like an apple tree among trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the youths. (Refrain)
O you who linger in the garden, A lover is listening; Let me hear your voice! (Refrain)
Eat, lovers; and drink, become intoxicated with love!
(Shir Hashirim 2:16, 2:2-3, 8:13, 5:1)
Performances
Premiere: Cantabile Chamber Chorale, Rebecca Scott, music director, March 2009, New Brunswick, NJ
