"The Living Stone" (Leah Shoshanah, Tiny Desk 2024)

Song by Leah Shoshanah, featuring Mehtab Kirtan (percussion) and Vlad (bass)

There is a custom in Judaism that if you write your prayers on a piece of paper and put them into a crack in the wailing wall in Jerusalem, they will come true. This is because the Jewish people believe that the messianic age will come when we rebuild the temple, using part of this ancient wall.

This obsession over the wall, an inanimate object, and over who has rights to the land of Israel/palestine has caused decades of horrific bloodshed.

This song is a prayer. A prayer that we remember that G!d is not in the pages of books and in the cracks of walls, but g!d resides in the holy unity of our connection, and in the sanctity of preserving life.

Everywhere is holy, all life is holy.