Flora Mae Lawson z'l passed away on Tisha B'Av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, after a long battle with cancer. My relationship with my mother, like many daughters and mothers was a complicated one, but all that I am in this world I owe to her. I wrote this song a few years ago and sang this to her during her first battle with cancer, and I sang this to her the night before she died. No matter what I think of my own voice, I know she found comfort in my singing.more

Five years ago, after witnessing and learning about the oppression of a marginalized group, a group I am not a member of, I came home, wrote the song I Am Human, shared it with my roommate, and cried. I played it one Shabbat morning in front of a community and then put the song away and have barely looked at it over the last few years. A few weeks ago, I started going through some of my old songs and rediscovered I Am Human, I played the song, and again I cried. Maybe I cried because my mother had just passed a few weeks early, not sure but what I do know is that this song speaks to oppression and resilience of marginalized folks. And It speaks to our ability to adapt and overcome adversity, trauma, and tragedy. It's hard for me to believe that five years have passed since writing this song. It's also been five years since Walter Scott was shot in the back by a police officer. And five years after Freddy Gray died from a spinal cord injury while in police custody. Five years after Sandra Bland was arrested and died in police custody. And five years have passed since a 20-year-old white supremacist murdered nine people while they were praying at a Mother Emanuel in Charleston, South Carolina. I had no idea that in five years, our country would look like it does right now. This song is our rallying cry, to never give up, remember the struggle, and always strive to see each other as created in the image of God because when we do, we treat each other with love, dignity, and respect. Oseh Shalom Bimromav Hu Ya’aseh Shalom May the one who makes peace from heaven above Hu Ya’aseh Shalom (will Make Peace) I am human and I am free Watch me fly above the trees You can hear my cry and you can hear my roar but you can’t take away my soul Oseh Shalom Bimromav Hu Ya’aseh Shalom May the one who makes peace from heaven above Hu Ya’aseh Shalom (will make peace) We’ll fight and we’ll cry and we’ll even abide We’ll say goodbye just to stay alive And the day will come to have dignity again Oseh Shalom Bimromav Hu Ya’aseh Shalom May the one who makes peace from heaven above Hu Ya’aseh Shalom (will make peace) I am human and I am free Watch me fly above the trees Hu Ya’aseh Shalom (will make peace) I Am Human Written and Performed by Rabbi Sandra Lawson Special Thank You and Shout: FreeSound Tim Kahn Unsplash Clay Banks Videvo Alex Radelich Mattia Faloretti Alice Donovon Rouse Henry Ravenscoft Maria Oswalt John Ren Tandem X Visuals Andrew Winkler Zoe Fernandez Corey Young Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona Koshu Kunii Parker Johnson Luis Morera Aaron Cass Chris Henry Nechirwan Kavian Rabbinical Student Dr. Koach Baruch Frazier Rabbi Mira Rivera Gili Gertz Hazzan Sabrina Sojourner Arielle R-k Tonda Case Sue Dorfman Shahanna McKinney Baldon Yavilah McCoy Yehudah Webster JFREJ James Eades Mike Von Nathan Dumlao Rosie Kerr Logan Weaver Joan Villalon Aaron Hodge Greenberg aka Artistavivi Sticker You more

Mi Sheberach A Healing Prayer for Us All “Every one of us is a cantor; everyone of us is called to intone a song, to put into prayer the anguish of all.” - Abraham Joshua Heschel When my journey to becoming a rabbi began, I found musical inspiration in Jewish prayer, which started me on a musical journey of singing, writing, and playing music. Songwriting allows me to express my joy, grief, and sadness of the world around me. Today I find myself in a pretty unique position. I'm a rabbi, a Jewish faith leader, a sought-after public speaker, and in subtle and often not so subtle ways, people still treat me like an outsider in the Jewish community. No matter what I do, I am often not seen as Jewish or seen as less than Jewish, or our community is not ready for a black rabbi. These are constant reminders that I live in a society that sees my blackness before seeing me or getting to know me. For almost four years now, the leader of our country is a man who expresses racist, xenophobic and misogynistic views making people who look like me fearful. And he has led a racist environment that harkens back to the good ole days with the phrase Make America Great Again. This phrase can only mean a time in America when white people felt they were the dominant culture and group in our society. Black people were either enslaved, suffered under Jim Crow in the south, and redlining throughout the rest of the country. When CNN announced the winner of the 2020 presidential election, I cried. I cried, and I felt like I had been holding my breath for days waiting for the results; today, I am hopeful our country is moving in the right direction In Judaism, we offer a Mi Sheberach prayer for those who are ill or recovering from a sickness. I offer this song as a prayer for healing for all of us. Our country is sick. We are sick from an actual pandemic, and we are sick from a society that values some more than others. And we need healing from COVID-19, and America is waking up to the idea that we are also sick from racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Now that we know we are sick we can begin to heal and after almost four years I Am Hopeful Again. more