"How Can We Sing the Song of Hashem on Foreign Soil?": Singing our Way through Sickness, Health, and Crises of Faith
Jonathan Weinkle, MD, FAAP, FACP, University of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill Health Center
Tucked in among the laws, narratives, and genealogies of the Hebrew Scriptures are myriad songs - songs of joy, military triumph, and praise of God, but also songs of suffering, prayers for healing, and laments of theological questioning. Building on that tradition, Jewish song has continued through the generations to provide a touchstone for people in crisis, whether an illness, a loss, or a conflict with the Blessed Holy One. Often, the most powerful messages of the prophets who sought to comfort ancient Israel or plead their case before God came not in a speech but in a song: Deborah's song in Chapters 4-5 of Judges, Moses's songs on the shores of the Red Sea and on the Plains of Moab, David's many Psalms, and, according to the Talmud, Psalm 118 which may have been uttered by King Hezekiah while he "turned his face to the wall" (speaking of songs) during his illness described by Isaiah.
Both the traditional songs and newer additions hold potential for healers - physicians, chaplains, therapists, and others - to tap into new dimensions of their patients' conditions, and for patients to find solace that their treatments might not provide them, and that spoken prayer might not inspire them to reach for. The possibility of writing new songs in the tradition, following the direction of Psalm 96 to "Sing to Hashem (God) a new song," gives both groups a tool that weds this tradition of Jewish song to the modern tool of narrative medicine.
This workshop explores how Jewish (and by extension any religiously-based) song can work: 1) As a narrative medicine tool to better understand a patient's experience; 2) As a communal, or at least shared; response to individual suffering; 3) As a coping mechanism for healers to address their own uncertainties and frustrations.
The instructor is a primary care physician with 15+ years experience caring for a linguistically, culturally, and religiously diverse population that often faces significant barriers to accessing care, and as a result has held space with people in some extremely challenging situations. They have also dealt with mutiple communal tragedies, including one which claimed the life of another healer at the same institution, and naturally with the seismic events that have shaken all of us in the past several years. They have also fancied themselves an amateur songwriter, rightly or wrongly, since age 14.
They will share several songs both of their own creation and drawn from traditional and modern Jewish repertoires before opening a workshop space for the participants to try crafting their own songs that bring scripture and sound together to shed light on an emotion, a story, or an idea from their clinical work.
Material shared may include:
- Versions of the Jewish prayer for healing, the "Misheberach" by 20th century composers Debbie Friedman and Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller
- a rendition of the brief prayer Moses recites on Miriam's behalf
- original works by the instructor relating to:
- the stories shared by the instructors patients about their refugee experiences and the trauma they carry
- the philosophical doubt of a medical student looking for the soul among all the deterministic science
- the sobering realization that one of the most unhealthy things human beings do is go to work
- the irony of a psychiatric hospital window overlooking a cemetery
The workshop portion of the presentation will encourage participants to mine the stories, quotations, and teachings from their tradition, and then consider how those relate to stories, words, and ideas they have confronted in their work, and what soundscape best fits the story of that relationship. Individually or in pairs or small groups, they will work to weave these threads together into a cord - or perhaps a chord - that someone can hold onto in their hour of need.
Participants are asked to bring any favorite religious writings they may have handy to draw upon, as well as any musical instruments they have. We hope to share at least a few songs (including the instructors') during the session and all will be encouraged to join, in voice or instrument, if they feel so moved.
Both the traditional songs and newer additions hold potential for healers - physicians, chaplains, therapists, and others - to tap into new dimensions of their patients' conditions, and for patients to find solace that their treatments might not provide them, and that spoken prayer might not inspire them to reach for. The possibility of writing new songs in the tradition, following the direction of Psalm 96 to "Sing to Hashem (God) a new song," gives both groups a tool that weds this tradition of Jewish song to the modern tool of narrative medicine.
This workshop explores how Jewish (and by extension any religiously-based) song can work: 1) As a narrative medicine tool to better understand a patient's experience; 2) As a communal, or at least shared; response to individual suffering; 3) As a coping mechanism for healers to address their own uncertainties and frustrations.
The instructor is a primary care physician with 15+ years experience caring for a linguistically, culturally, and religiously diverse population that often faces significant barriers to accessing care, and as a result has held space with people in some extremely challenging situations. They have also dealt with mutiple communal tragedies, including one which claimed the life of another healer at the same institution, and naturally with the seismic events that have shaken all of us in the past several years. They have also fancied themselves an amateur songwriter, rightly or wrongly, since age 14.
They will share several songs both of their own creation and drawn from traditional and modern Jewish repertoires before opening a workshop space for the participants to try crafting their own songs that bring scripture and sound together to shed light on an emotion, a story, or an idea from their clinical work.
Material shared may include:
- Versions of the Jewish prayer for healing, the "Misheberach" by 20th century composers Debbie Friedman and Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller
- a rendition of the brief prayer Moses recites on Miriam's behalf
- original works by the instructor relating to:
- the stories shared by the instructors patients about their refugee experiences and the trauma they carry
- the philosophical doubt of a medical student looking for the soul among all the deterministic science
- the sobering realization that one of the most unhealthy things human beings do is go to work
- the irony of a psychiatric hospital window overlooking a cemetery
The workshop portion of the presentation will encourage participants to mine the stories, quotations, and teachings from their tradition, and then consider how those relate to stories, words, and ideas they have confronted in their work, and what soundscape best fits the story of that relationship. Individually or in pairs or small groups, they will work to weave these threads together into a cord - or perhaps a chord - that someone can hold onto in their hour of need.
Participants are asked to bring any favorite religious writings they may have handy to draw upon, as well as any musical instruments they have. We hope to share at least a few songs (including the instructors') during the session and all will be encouraged to join, in voice or instrument, if they feel so moved.