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Note from our Rabbi: Feel the Pain, Sing the Songs
March/Aprul 2026
from the Congregation Newsletter

The Passover Seders are the only times in the year when we sing Hallel at night. Hallel, whose very name means “praise” is a set of Psalms (113-118) that are traditionally recited at the morning services of major holidays and Rosh Chodesh. They are often referred to as “psalms of praise.” And many of the verses of the psalms are expressions of wonder and gratitude.

Those who look closely, however, will notice that they contain a full range of human emotion – fear, longing, disappointment, defiance – along with gratitude. And we sing these Psalms as part of our Seder meal – the first two during the maggid section, when we are still recounting the story of our enslavement and liberation. The rest we sing at the end of the seder, after the meal and the afikomen.

There is something powerful about the symbolism of the split Hallel – we sing not just because we’re liberated, but before we have completed the story of liberation. We sing, like our ancestors sang at the shores of the Sea, not only out of gratitude for escaping Pharaoh’s armies, but also to process the horror of watching the sea consume those armies; also to process the anxiety of facing the vast wilderness they would need to cross.

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I find myself leaning into the power of communal song, to steady me in my fears as much as to express gratitude. At the weekly “Singing for Our Lives” vigil at the federal building, in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors, we sing not in praise, but in defiant hope of what this nation could be. When we observe Yom Hazikaron later this month, Israeli Memorial Day, we’ll sing in grief for Israel’s losses. And on Shabbat, yes, we sing in relief and joy at making it through a week, and getting to rest. Our still-new choir, run by Raanan Fogel, signs together weekly just for the joy and pride of making music together.

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As winter turns to spring, I invite you to join the song, at the federal building, at services, in the choir or at TBI’s special holiday events. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been told (or told yourself) that you “can’t sing.” To that, I’d quote Pete Seeger: “Harmony is just a note your neighbor isn’t singing.” So please bring your pain and your joy, your fears and your hopes – and join the song.