About

Program Note:

We strive to use our words, our songs, our bodies—our whole being—to work for a better and more just world. When Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma in 1965, they exemplified religious leaders who hear the voice of the prophets and the Psalms as an explicit call to action. In this dramatic and moving composition, Cohen combines the words of Rabbi Heschel after the march—most famously remembered in the phrase “I felt my legs were praying”—with a verse from Psalm 35, which also speaks of one’s very body exclaiming praise, and praise of a God who protects the poor from those who would oppress them.

I have always been a great admirer of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a great scholar whose philosophy on seeing the world with “radical amazement” has been so influential in both Jewish and Christian thought. But Heschel was much more than a philosopher—he turned his beliefs into actions, most notably in the 1960s civil rights and other social justice movements. When I was commissioned by the Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary (Heschel taught at the Seminary for many years) to write a choral piece, we decided to use words of Heschel for the composition, and I chose his powerful words written after marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 1965 Selma March. I was struck by the similarity of these words to a well-known verse from Psalm 35, and created a piece interweaving those two texts.

I thank the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Endowment Fund and the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, who commissioned this piece for its premiere performance, by the Voces Novae chorus of Louisville, KY, at the May 2019 Cantors Assembly convention in Louisville. Gratitude also to Dr. Susannah Heschel, for permission to use the words of her father in this composition.

Score

Text

From Psalm 35 and the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Kol atzmotai tomarna Adonai mi chamocha!
matzil ani meychazak mimenu, v’ani v’evyon migozlo.

[All of my bones exclaim: Adonai, who is like You!
saving the weak from the powerful, the needy from those who would prey on them.]

And yet our legs uttered songs—
The march from Selma was a protest, a prayer.
Even without words, our march was worship,
I felt my legs were praying!

Performances

Premiere: May 2019:  Voces Novae chorus and students of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School, Deborah Dierks, cond.; Cantors Assembly convention, Louisville, KY

January 2020: Interfaith Special Concert Chorus, Providence, RI.  Brian Mayer, Conductor

Feb 2023: Tonality Chorus, UCLA Chamber Choir, Alexander Lloyd Blake, Conductor. (Event Link)