And You Shall Be A Blessing…

from the liner notes: --- Every Friday night Bubby puts a paper napkin on her head. After she lights candles she waves her hands around and around. And then she whispers something. I was always curious as to what she was whispering One day I asked. She said. "Oh, I make blessings for all of the ones who are in Gan Eden (paradise). Did you take the chicken out of the pan?" At 89 she misses a word here and there while reciting the blessings over the candles. I realized that it does not matter. For her, blessings are not separate from life. "And You Shall Be a Blessing..." is a collection of songs and prayers. It is my belief that blessings are not those nebulous, distant, magical intangibles, rather, they are the recognition of all that is, the affirmation of faith in the Source of All Life and the enactment of the potential goodness with which each soul has been endowed. I'm not certain that my awareness of "blessings" had been awakened until 9 months ago when, after lying down with a headache, I awoke incapable of walking. A week later no part of me would move. I was terrified. From that experience my concept of blessings changed radically. My thinking was not impaired, my ability to laugh and experience joy was not impaired, and more than anything I realized in the deepest and most profound sense how my friends and family were a blessing to me and to my recovery. --- B5 was commissioned by Randee & Dick Friedman for the groundbreaking ceremony for Temple Emanu-El, San Diego.