Music at Makom

When our congregation and the world-at-large entered into a long quarantine to protect against Covid-19, Cantor Jay O'Brien began working on a wide collection of Jewish melodies to bring comfort to our congregational family during uncertain times, and thus the recording project now known as “And Your Sleep Shall Be Sweet” is born. It is with great joy and humility that we offer to you this collection of four songs; a gift from the heart, that you and your loved ones may find peace, comfort, and a renewed spirit from a good night’s sleep.

The album begins with Adon Olam, a well-known poem that speaks of taking refuge in God’s presence within our lives: “In Your (God’s) hands we entrust our soul, in our time of sleep and awakening; even in saying goodnight, God is with me and I shall not fear.” We continue with Hashkiveinu, a prayer asking God to protect our souls from morning through night. Next is the Shema, a prayer from the Torah about our belief in one God that we recite “when we wake and when we go to sleep.” The album concludes with the special blessing for the children of our families on Friday night, entitled Yevarechecha. We pray that each and every child in our community may know the wisdom of our ancestors and may blessed with God’s light in their lives.

On behalf of all those involved in this creative process: we hope you will listen to the music, sing with it if you can, hum with it if you cannot. We pray that this music may become a part of your daily lives as well as the lives of children and grandchildren. It is through this sharing that we will inspire the next generation to find strength in faith, and to continue searching for silver linings despite difficult times.