[HANASHIR:12542] Re: Return Again / Hashiveinu

[ilana axel <iaxel...>]

Thank you for all of this research, Jeff. I was using
this song extensively during the months of Elul and
Tishrei and am very glad to know more about it.
I was very interested about the Zionist "take" on the
change to the word "land". Since I didn't know about
this, the people who have been singing it with me took
the word to refer to an idea of the "landscape" of the
soul, not to any particular land. This way the
universal theme is preserved and can be left to
personal interpretation if desired. I will enjoy
teaching this new idea as well, though.
I love the recording that Merri Arian Lovinger did of
this song, in combination with the Angels' Nigun (if
that is the correct name?) by Rabbi Carlebach z"l. It
is on her Nefesh CD with the Synagogue 2000 project.
Thanks again for this info.
Ilana
--- Jeff Klepper <jeffklepper (at) yahoo(dot)com> wrote:
> 
> > Thank you so much for your interest in Return
> Again/Hashiveinu. For your
> > information - Return Again is by Reb Shlomo
> Carlebach, of blessed memory.
> 
> The English verse was written by Ronnie Kahn, an
> acquaintance of mine from
> the Upper West Side in the mid-70s.  I did a quick
> Google search looking for
> his Hebrew name (Rafael Simcha, which is how he
> prefers to be known) and
> came upon this wonderful reminiscence by Jewish
> music expert and radio host
> Robert Cohen.  (A couple of years ago I came across
> a web site Rafael Simcha
> put together in which he told the story of his
> writing the lyrics with Reb
> Shlomo's blessing, and about being hurt that his
> contribution had been all
> but forgotten.)  So, here's the story, which I've
> edited slightly, and I
> hope Robert Cohen won't mind my quoting him.
> 
> Jeff Klepper
> 
> ===
> 
>  >Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002
>  >From: Robert Cohen
>  >Subject: "Return Again"
>  >
>  >If your poster means the song that I know of by
> that name, the
>  >music--which is really a contemporary niggun--is
> by Shlomo, and I had the
>  >rare, priceless privilege of being present at its
> creation, during a
>  >Jewish retreat in June, 1974.  Shlomo first just
> came up with it as a
>  >niggun (as he usually did); the next day, I think
> it was, he set it to
>  >words from the Shalosh Regalim Musaf service that
> begin:  "V'hausheiv
>  >kohanim la'avodausaum"--The Kohanim will return to
> their service (and the
>  >Levi'im to their songs and ... songs; and [the
> people] Israel to their
> homes.
>  >
>  >A musician and songwriter I (and Shlomo) knew then
> named Rafael Simcha
>  >(Ronnie) Kahn--I have not heard of or spoken with
> him in many
> years.,..wrote English words to the niggun that
>  >begin, "Return again, Return again, Return to the
> home of your soul; You
>  >who have strayed, Be not afraid, You're safe in
> the house of the
>  >Lord."  (I may actually be one of the few people
> who knows who wrote those
>  >words, as it happens.)
>  >
>  >At a certain point, Shlomo, who started singing
> his niggun with Ronnie's
>  >words as well as the original Hebrew ones, changed
> the first verse to "...
>  >Return to the land of your soul"--making it more
> of a (religious,
>  >obviously) Zionist verse and less of a general
> "spiritual" one.  I
>  >personally thought it was a change for the worse,
> as it particularized and
>  >narrowed whom it might speak to.  Ronnie's words,
> I thought, spoke to
>  >every Jew--as the verse in tefillah does.
>  >
>  >I did not think of this song--if this is the one
> you're referring to!--as
>  >popular in Jewish Renewal circles, and am curious
> where, exactly, and when
>  >it's being sung!  I'd welcome hearing from your
> correspondent(s) on the
>  >matter and will be glad to enlighten further if I
> can.
>  >
>  >--Robert Cohen
> 
> ------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> -----------------------+
>