By Rabbi Laura Bellows
A vital element of Dayenu’s work to build a vibrant Jewish climate movement is a commitment to spiritually rooted action and Spiritual Adaptation through music, art, and ritual. Musicians, artists, and culture creators have an important role to play in movements for climate justice; they and can inspire, activate, comfort, and lift up stories of a thriving, livable future in ways that reach people’s hearts.
Singing together, in particular, has long been a foundation of movement work – helping us to feel less alone, giving us energy and a sense of connection, and providing the foundation for lasting activism and community.
This year, during the Omer – the seven weeks between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot – Dayenu is celebrating Jewish climate movement music by featuring a selection of music from amazing musicians who inspire our work for climate justice.
This digital songshare includes artists that are featured in Dayenu’s Jewish Climate Movement songbook, Rising Tides, Rising Voices.
Please keep up with our song drops each Thursday by following @joindayenu on social, subscribing to the YouTube playlist, or just checking out this post each week!
Enjoy and share the inspiration with your network. More information about the musicians below.
Dayenu Omer Song Share
ABOUT THE MUSICAL ARTISTS
ALY HALPERT PERFORMING “ASHREI”
Aly Halpert is a queer Jewish musician, educator, and activist living on Lenni Lenape land in Philadelphia, PA. A singer, pianist, drummer, and guitar player, Aly writes songs for building community, working for collective liberation, and visioning different worlds. Aly leads music and prayer for Jewish communities.
Her songs have been sung in national gatherings, song circles, and quiet moments of personal prayer, and have moved people all over the world. Whether her songs are serious or seriously goofy, Aly believes deeply in the power of music to awaken us to the loss and hope we carry, expand our sense of possibility, and connect us to each other and our collective strength.
CHLOE ZELKHA PERFORMING “BLESSED MOTION” BY ANNI ZYLSTRA
Chloe Zelkha, currently a Climate Arts and Spiritual Adaptation Fellow with Dayenu, aspires to build transformative experiences that connect people to the world as it could be. Previously, she served as the Fellowship Director at Urban Adamah in Berkeley, leading cohorts of emerging adults through semester-long deep dives into Judaism, organic farming, mindfulness, and social justice training. Before that, she worked as a community organizer in Boston, where she trained with JOIN for Justice and built power with young people at The Food Project, an environmental non-profit.
Chloe is also passionate about grief work and trained as a chaplain at UCSF Mission Bay Hospital’s residency program. She is the co-founder of the Covid Grief Network and the author of Being with Grief, a creative workbook for loss. Chloe holds a BA in Religion from Carleton College and an MA in Education from Harvard University. She is currently a fourth-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow.
KYLE LEMLE SINGING HIS SONG “ALIVE”
Kyle Lemle has worked for over a decade on forest restoration and climate justice initiatives. A Kerry Fellow, Wyss Scholar for Conservation in the American West, and a Spiritual Ecology Fellow, Kyle has a Master of Forestry from Yale School of the Environment and a B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Development Studies from Brown University.
As a climate organizer, Kyle has mobilized thousands of people to the streets of San Francisco as a leader of RISE for Climate and organized historic actions at the UN Climate Talks as a US People’s Delegate & SustainUS youth delegate. As Director of Distributed Organizing with GreenFaith, Kyle crafted strategy, trained organizers and faith leaders, and helped build the international faith-based climate justice movement.
Channeling his passion for justice into culture-making and music, Kyle performs at festivals, conferences, and direct actions across California as the founder of the Thrive Choir, whose mission is to sing the music for the revolution. In addition, he has planted trees at sites impacted by violence across the US with shovels made from guns as co-founder and former program director of Lead to Life.
Yoshi Silverstein performing “Teyn Datcha (Take Heed)”
Arielle Rivera Korman singing “The Moment”
Arielle Korman is a second-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Prior to returning to school, she co-founded Ammud: the Jews of Color Torah Academy and served as its founding executive director. Arielle holds an MA in Religion from Columbia University and completed a Fulbright research fellowship. Her Jewish expression takes many forms ranging from music to activism, scholarship to creative writing.
Rabbi Laura Bellows
As Dayenu's Director of Spiritual Activism & Education, Rabbi Laura Bellows works to build climate-resilient, spiritually-rooted, justice-seeking communities centered in Jewish wisdom. She has served as a curriculum and ritual designer, outdoor experiential educator, program manager, artist, and facilitator in Jewish and inter-religious spaces.
Laura studied Environmental Studies at Oberlin College and was ordained at Hebrew College, where she recently lead Prozdor and Teen Learning programs.