Singing Pervasive Peace on Rosh Hashanah

By Alden Solovy and Rebecca Schwartz

We have been dreaming of our spiritual reunion. What better time than the High Holy Days?

This Rosh Hashanah, let us renew our prayers for large and beautiful dreams of peace, the kind of peace that means wholeness, health, renewal, vitality, and resilience.

To share that expansive prayer together this year, Rebecca Schwartz, cantorial soloist at Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park, PA, created a new musical setting for my short prayer “Pervasive Peace.” The prayer reads as follows

Pervasive Peace

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ, אֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ וְאִמּוֹתֵֽינוּ
שֶׁהַשָּׁנָה הַבָּאָה תָּבִיא שָׁלוֹם מֻחְלָט וְשָׁלֵם
עַל כָּל-יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל
מֵעֵֽבֶר לְכָל-חֲלֹמוֹת-הָאֱנוֹשׁוּת

May it be Your will, God of our fathers and mothers,
That the year ahead bring a pervasive and complete peace
On all the inhabitants of the earth,
Beyond all the dreams of humanity.

Yehi ratzon mil’fanecha, Elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu,
Shehashanah haba-ah tavi shalom muchlat v’shaleim
Al kol-yoshvei teiveil,
Mei-ever l’chol-chalomot ha-enoshut.

The prayer uses a classic formulation—Yehi ratzon mil’fanecha, May it be Your will—imploring God for specific blessings. This formula is typically used in the Rosh Hashanah seder with dipping apples in honey and other simanim. Using this formulation, the new prayer connects to the chain of traditional prayers for the New Year.

“Pervasive Peace” was written before COVID, but it took on a deeper meaning of peace as healing medicine last year as the Jewish community experienced our first pandemic High Holy Days in lockdown. It has, yet again, taken on a longing for renewal as we move toward our second High Holy Days under returning public health restrictions.

Rebecca’s music captures both the hope and the longing that the words are intended to convey. Cantors may use the prayer to open and set the tone for Rosh Hashanah. Hear Rebecca sing the music on this video. The sheet music is available on oysongs here.

Singing “Pervasive Peace” might also be paired with another new reading written last year called “Wildly Unimaginable Blessings.” Combining the song and this prayer creates a lovely two-part sung and spoken liturgy for beginning the year. Consider bracketing the following prayer by singing “Pervasive Peace” before and after it:

Wildly Unimaginable Blessings

Let us dream
Wildly unimaginable blessings…
Blessings so unexpected,
Blessings so beyond our hopes for this world,
Blessings so unbelievable in this era,
That their very existence
Uplifts our vision of creation,
Our relationships to each other,
And our yearning for life itself.

Let us dream
Wildly unimaginable blessings…
A complete healing of mind, body, and spirit,
A complete healing for all,
The end of suffering and strife,
The end of plague and disease,
When kindness flows from the river of love,
When goodness flows from the river of grace,
Awakened in the spirit of all beings,
When God’s light,
Radiating holiness,
Is seen by everyone.

Let us pray—
With all our hearts—
For wildly unimaginable blessings…
So that God will hear the call
To open the gates of the Garden,
Seeing that we haven’t waited,
That we’ve already begun to repair the world,
In testimony to our faith in life,
Our faith in each other,
And our faith in the Holy One,
Blessed be God’s Name.

“Pervasive Peace” lyrics © 2019 by Alden Solovy, music © 2021 by Schwalkin Music (ASCAP).
“Wildly Unimaginable Blessings” © 2020 by Alden Solovy.

Find more of Rebecca’s music at www.rebeccasongs.com and more of Alden’s writing at www.tobendlight.com.