(The latest in this series about the Birkot HaShachar, the Jewish morning blessings, and the role they might play in helping us – Jews and non-Jews; believers, agnostics, and atheists – live with more gratitude, presence, and even compassion. Part spiritual reportage, part suggested practice.)
My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He has loosed the frightful cannon of his terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on…
Thanks to Mr. John Boutte, I now have my answer.
It’s a few weeks back, in the midst of the Days of Awe between the Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, and the brucha of which I’m trying to be mindful is:
Baruch atah Adonai, eloyheynu melech ha’olam, matir asurim
Blessed are You, Source of all that is, who frees the captive
Jewish tradition this time of year is to be especially generous with tzedakah (commonly translated as charity, with a connotation of it being more an obligation than a choice). With that in mind, I commit to tithing, another Jewish tradition. One tenth of my salary, at least for this next paycheque, will go towards relieving the burdened.
But who? Where?
When John Boutte’s jazz- and gospel-inflected version of The Battle Hymn of the Republic (a song known to many simply as Glory, Glory, Hallelujah) comes up on my phone’s playlist, my mind leaps ahead to words I know are coming…
He died to make men holy
We’ve got to live to make men free
My God, my God, my God is marching on
To listen to Boutte is to listen to New Orleans (a lyric from another of his songs….I’m New Orleans born, New Orleans bred, when I die I’ll be New Orleans dead). So when the clarion call comes from “the city that care forgot,” it’s my responsibility to show some love to a city that has granted me so much joy.
I can use my people’s tradition to support another people’s tradition, that of the social aid and pleasure clubs – mutual aid societies begun more than a century ago by African-Americans to support one another through trials such as illness and burial costs. They continue their efforts today, even as they continue their annual celebrations – “second line” parades in which the members deck out in flashy suits, sporting matching parasols and, accompanied by a brass band, strut from one neighbourhood watering hole to another, trailed by anyone who wants to stomp behind.
The parades are exuberant and delirious, civil and anarchic, and sometimes dangerous. Itineraries often have injunctions like “respect yourself and your tradition, and leave your guns and troubles at home.” But more than anything else, they are live-for-today joyful.
I research how I can support the clubs, and am quickly reminded of the well-regarded New Orleans Musicians Clinic, which provides medical assistance to musicians and other tradition-bearers, including social aid and pleasure club members.
Glory, glory, hallelujah, John Boutte’s voice rings in my ear…and I stick a crowbar in my wallet.
Postscript: About a week after I make my donation, I get an e-mail from New Orleans telling me a chicken joint had seen one of my second line images, and wants to know if they can blow it up and put it on their wall. Maybe my act of modest generosity had found its way into the ether. In any case, it seems only right to redirect the modest fee they’ll be paying me back to the musicians’ clinic. As for me, I’m hoping to negotiate some complementary legs and thighs for my next visit.
And now, some video evidence…from the Prince of Wales Social Aid and Pleasure Club parade a couple of years ago…
…and Mr. Boutte and friends performing The City of New Orleans…
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Let’s Get Mindful
- Do you have financial resources that will enable you to help out the burdened in the world? Might this be a good time to share some of them? If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the options, just keep your intention in mind. And because making a verbal commitment often better equips us to carry out our intentions, you might wish to say the brucha aloud
Baruch atah Adonai, eloyheynu melech ha’olam, matir asurim
Blessed are You, Source of all that is, who frees the captive
Then, stay open to the cues the world gives you, so you can know your next step.
- Might there be merit in making a commitment to share a defined proportion of your earnings with those who are shackled in the world? If you’re Jewish – and hey, even if you’re not – you might wish to make the commitment in a multiple of eighteen (Jewish numerology for “chai,” or life).
- Whether or not you have the resources to provide financial assistance, can you keep an eye out today for those in your midst who are burdened with some weight or another? And find a way to help lighten the load, or perhaps even lift it from their shoulders altogether?
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Lorne Meets World 