When the Sun Sets

In the month before Rosh Hashanah, there is a tradition of doing cheshbon ha-nefesh, an accounting of the soul. The idea is that as a new Jewish year starts, we should be aware of where we have failed and where we have succeeded, so that we can continue to grow wisely in spiritual and interpersonal matters.

In the month before the Gregorian new year, I have a tradition of looking back at the music I’ve listened to in the past year, doing a cheshbon ha-nefesh that is less about goal setting and more about revisiting with love some of the songs that have delighted, comforted, or otherwise moved me. 

I wanted to share with you one song from 2024 that I hope to hold close through the darkness and let its sweetness and possibility infuse the year ahead. This is a song by the Israeli musicians Shavit Noy and Inbar Hatz Roni.

Watch on YouTubeListen on Spotify

Kshe’ha-shemesh Shoka’at / When the Sun Sets

כְּשֶׁהַשֶּׁמֶשׁ שׁוֹקַעַת נוֹלָדִים כּוֹכָבִים

בִּכְדֵי לַעֲזֹר לָהּ לִזְרֹחַ שֵׁנִית,

וּבְתֹם לֵילָם יְנַצְנְצוּ נִצְנוּץ אַחֲרוֹן;

כְּשֶׁנִּתְעוֹרֵר יִשָּׁאֵר זִכָּרוֹן. 

אַתְּ בָּאָה הַבַּיְתָה, הַיָּם בְּשֶׁעָרַךְ,

הַכֹּל מַתְחִיל עַכְשָׁו, כְּלוּם לֹא הִסְתַּבֵּךְ.

אַתְּ בָּאָה הַבַּיְתָה, הַכֹּל כָּאן בִּשְׁבִילֵךְ

.חִכִּיתִי שֶׁתָּבוֹאִי – בּוֹאִי נֵלֵךְ.

עַל הַדֶּרֶךְ לְיָפוֹ רָאִיתָ אֲנָשִׁים

שֶׁכְּבָר הֵרִימוּ יָדַיִם בְּצִדֵּי הַכְּבִישִׁים

.תֵּן לָהֶם מַשֶּׁהוּ, אָמַרְתָּ, לֹא חָשׁוּב כְּבָר מָה

...בְּכָל דָּבָר קָטָן יֵשׁ אַהֲבָה.

When the sun sets stars are born
in order to help her shine a second time,and at the end of their night they'll sparkle a last sparkle;
when we awaken, a memory will remain.

You came home, the sea in your hair,
everything starts now, nothing got messed up.You came home, everything here is for you.I waited for you to come - come, let's go.

On the way to Jaffa you saw people
on the sides of the road that threw their hands up [gave up].Give them something, you said, it doesn't matter what - In every small thing there is love.

Shavit Noy recorded this album live last January, three months after being rescued from his home in Kfar Aza on October 7. The whole album grapples with hope and despair, tragedy and beauty, and ultimately with the healing possibility of compassion. 

Threaded through this song is the motif of second chances. The first stanza could simply be timeless nature poetry, evoking second chances through the stars letting the sun shine again even after it has set. (Obviously, the moon would be a better literal choice than stars, but imagine the night sky as full of shattered sun-sparks, broken, isolated, yet still there and gleaming through the dark.) 

The second stanza shifts to a human focus. What could be a simple love poem evokes as well the haunting dream of hostages returning home, nothing messed up, a new start and relationship restored. 

The third stanza broadens. The first time I read about the people on the side of the road with their hands raised, I imagined beggars, but after a second attempt at translation I realized that the idiom is one of despair, not pleading. This is not a simple stanza about being kind and giving charity, but about an existential need for loving each other back into hope. Bechol davar katan - in every small thing; yesh ahavah - there is love.

When it feels like the sun is setting, each act of kindness and hope can sparkle with new light. May each small act in this new year bring you beauty, possibility, love, and connection.

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Jay LeVine