Abitah by Yosef Goldman

“Gal einai ve-abitah.” Open my eyes, I pray. Expand my vision that I may know the life-giving wonders hidden in your Torah.

This album of original Jewish music is a personal prayer for healing, wisdom, and integration. “Abitah” means to behold; to see the wonders hidden all around us. The sacred texts and music of this album are focused on healing and integration — of body, mind and soul. The music is about finding clarity and expanded consciousness, of self and of our relationship with the Source of Life.

***Visit https://bit.ly/abitah-listening-guide for complete liner notes and accompanying Torah***

The music came from my own prayer life and healing practices, including in times of darkness, of illness and suffering. In moments of feeling distant from the source of life but still asking, “Where is God in this moment?” I kept turning toward the mystery and allowed myself to be there with curiosity and attention. There, in the mystery, I found that I stood on sacred ground. The music that I channeled is the very medicine that I needed on my own journey for healing, growth and integration. This music was the sacred wisdom I needed to live.

Abitah is a soundtrack for spiritual journeying, offered with the hope that it can help us prepare for deep encounter and focus our intention to experience the hidden depth in the Torah and Jewish ritual practice.

Drawing on the wisdom I’ve inherited from my Mizrahi and Ashkenazi ancestors, as well as my own creative inspiration, the music of Abitah is about awakening to the divine light that surrounds and fills us even in moments of struggle. It’s about recognizing that being present in each moment to the fullness of our experience connects us powerfully to the expansiveness of our spirits, our hearts, and minds and opens us to greater connection.

A rich and multilayered soundscape, the music of this album is rooted in my hybrid Mizrahi and Ashkenazi heritage and my diverse spiritual and musical influences: from the devotional music of the Middle East to contemporary Israeli chant circles, classic cantorial compositions to contemplative jazz, mystical Hassidic nigunim to psychedelic folk-rock; traditional and experimental, old and new, sacred and secular. The album was produced in Israel and mostly recorded there. It features stellar musicians and singers from the American Jewish music scene, alongside some of the finest artists in Israeli music today, who together brought American and Israeli spiritual/cultural expression into dialogue on Abitah, creating something greater than the sum of its parts.

A composer, prayer leader and rabbi, Yosef writes sacred music for heart opening and healing, weaving rich tapestries out of the threads of his Mizrahi and Ashkenazi ancestry.

His songs are sung at synagogues, schools, and camps across the country.

A sought-after vocalist, and harmony specialist Yosef performs and records with a wide range of Jewish artists.