Hineni (Here I Am)

For those of you who aren’t musical, or who say “I can’t sing,” the simplest chant is taking one note, or maybe two notes with the word “Hineni,” “Here I am.” You could say it in Hebrew, you could say it in English, and you can follow me, you can harmonize with me, and maybe towards the end of the chant I’ll start to shift it up a little to show you how you can modulate.

You could do this chant in Hebrew and in English, in Hebrew or in English.

Chant:

Hineni
Hineni
Hineni

Here I am
Here I am
Here I am

Rabbi Vivie Mayer directs and teaches in the Mekhinah program at RRC.  She also serves as director of the Bet Midrash. She lived in Israel for seven years—in Beth Shemesh, teaching ESL in middle and high schools, and on a kibbutz, working and teaching Jewish studies to adults. She served as rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Danbury, CT, for 10 years. During that time she also served as a chaplain for Jewish women at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury. For seven years she was an active member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association board and executive board. She is a graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York. She graduated with a rabbinical degree from RRC in 1996. Mayer has an article in The Women’s Haftarah Commentary (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004). Her congregation in Danbury published a collection of her sermons and articles and a CD of her original music.