ALL ONE chant

Here is the ALL ONE chant (aka SHLOMO, K.D. AND ME) that I sang at last night's Aquarian Minyan Bay Area Authors series, with awesome support and accompanyment by Rob Katz on the guitar, and an audience that fully engaged the opportunity to sing along. Picking up on the evening's theme that there are many types of love, and with new lyrics to Kris Kristofferson’s classic modern love song Me and Bobby McGee, this song is an ode to Shlomo Carlebach, Krishna Das and the transformational power of love through chant in Jewish Renewal, Kirtan and other mystical traditions. (I also presented 3 love poems http://marksrubin.blogspot.com/2011/02/love-poems.html)

The influence of Shlomo Carlebach, known as "The Singing Rabbi," continues to this day, with his many contributions to our liturgy and his beautiful nigunim. Krishna Das (born Jeffrey Kagel) is perhaps the foremost western-style singer of Indian devotional chants called kirtans. KD traveled to India in the 1960s where, along with Ram Das, he sat at the feet of Neem Karoli Baba (aka Maharaj-ji).

Shlomo and KD are, to me, emblematic of their traditions’ love of chant as a tool for connection and transformation. By helping us find a place of shared grounding and ecstasy, nigunim and kirtan each can contribute greatly to opening our hearts, a necessary -- perhaps even the first -- predicate for love.

One last bit of background. Skokie IL is a Chicago suburb that had more Holocaust survivors as residents than anyplace else in the country. In 1967, 10 years before it became the target of a famous neo Nazi march, Skokie became a sister city of Porbandar, India, Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace.

The same year also marked the early phase of Reb Shlomo’s House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco. KD was about to meet Ram Das and head off to the Himalayas. Kris Kristofferson was about to pen Me and Bobby McGee. And I was thrilled about having been the #1 10 year old pick in Skokie’s baseball little league draft, but aware that was not enough, something was missing. Only later did I learn about ecstasy and grounding, and how each can be rooted in and contribute to love.


The ALL ONE Chant (aka SHLOMO, K.D. AND ME)

An ode to Shlomo Carlebach, Krishna Das and the transformational power and love of chant in Jewish Renewal, Kirtan and other mystical traditions

(With apologies to Kris Kristofferson, sung to Me & Bobbie McGee)


Growing up in Skokie, heading for the shul,
Sensing that there must be something more
Shlomo and K.D. out there, waiting for their cue
To lift us high and help us really soar.
Needing to uncover, the treasure of sweet practice
Tasting many, not one (alone) feeling altogether true
With spirit pulsing (and) hearts open, letting Shlomo and KD fuse
We sang (the) holy “all one” – joyfully to You.

Freedoms just another word for more Renewal Jews,
And sacred ain’t sacred until it’s free,
Feelin good was easy, Lord, with Shlomo and K.D. fused,
And sister, that was good enough for me,
Good enough for Shlomo, K.D. and me.

From the temples of Chicago to the California sun,
Niggun and kirtan shared the secrets of my soul,
Standin right beside me through everythin I’ve done,
And every night they keep me from the cold.
I pray now that I’ve found them, Lord, I never let them slip away,
“All one” is greater than any love I ever dared hope to find,
I look forward to tomorrows, and let go of yesterday,
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.

Freedoms just another word for more Renewal Jews,
And sacred ain’t sacred until it’s free,
Feelin good was easy, Lord, with Shlomo and K.D. fused,
And sister, that was good enough for me,
Good enough for Shlomo, K.D. and me.

Om shanti, om shanti, om shanti shalom
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.


La da da da da da,
La da da da da,
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.

La da da da da da da da
La da da da da da da
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.

La da da da da da da da
La da da da da
da da da da da da
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.

I pray now that I’ve found them, Lord, I never let them slip away,
“All one” is greater than any love I ever dared hope to find,
I look forward to tomorrows, and let go of yesterday,
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.

Om shanti, om shanti, om shanti shalom
My spirit ever closer to You, divine.


© Mark Rubin 2009-11