EPISODE 3: Ana B'Koach
Shabbat Unbound is the world's longest Friday night Sabbath service, stretching over eight episodes. Instead of rushing through all the Friday night Shabbat prayers in one sitting, like we might in a classical synagogue environment, we're taking our time diving deep into one prayer each episode through song study and sacred conversation. It's the most original and traditional way to engage in the transition into Shabbat, taking each prayer as its own world with its own Torah to teach us. Miriam Terlinchamp, Lex Rofeberg and an incredible group of musicians invite you to discover what happens when Shabbat slows down. The third episode focuses on Ana B’Koach.
[1] Interested in learning more about Ana B’Koach? Lex compiled this incredible list of resources including multiple translations, tunes and essays.
[2] Jacob’s Ladder has an incredible repertoire of Jewish music. Check out their newest album, HaMakom/The Place here.
[3] Here’s a picture of Lex’s ring. Want your own? Us too. Here are a few options by artisans.
[4] Lex mentions the role of the 42 names of of God, you can read the original text in the Talmud (Kiddushin 71a:13) that introduces this concept.
[5] Richard Levy z”l, Rabbi, poet, teacher, and modern liturgist, published an exceptional translation of psalms, Songs Ascending, an incredible compilation for any poetic, creative, or lover of ancient poetry.
[6] Want to watch the music video of our version of Ana Bakoach? Great you can find it here.
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Miriam: Shabbat Unbound is an experiment in Sacred Slowness. Eight episodes. Eight prayers. Instead of racing through the liturgy, we're pausing to really taste each prayer, to sing it in new ways, and to discover what it might mean for our lives. Right now, I'm Miriam Terlinchamp and together with Lex Rofeberg, we welcome you into the longest Shabbat liturgical experience that exists. This is Shabbat Unbound. We begin with Ana Bakoach.
Lex: This melody for Ana Bakoach comes from the group Jacob's Ladder from their album Beit El. It was arranged by Ariel Weiner and the original melody is from the Folk song, Bury Me Beneath The Willow.
[Music playing of Ana Bakoach song]
Lex: So what they don't tell you at Sunday School is that Judaism is full of sorcery. Judaism is full of magic and incantations. Ana Bakoach is a prayer that doubles as a mystical incantation. It includes a 42 letter name of God. And indeed, the existence of the prayer owes itself to the fact that in the Talmud, there's this interesting text.
It says, Hey everyone, there's a 42 letter name of God, and the Talmud knows how to do great clickbait because it doesn't actually tell you what the 42 letter name of God is, and that means that we in later generations have to come up with it. And so Ana Bakoach is a prayer that exists to try and solve that puzzle.
And it consists of 42 words, exactly 42. It's seven sets of six words. And each of the first letters of those words, when you put them all together, is said to constitute that 42 letter name of God. It begins with Ana Bakoach, and the first three letters are Alef, Bet, Gimel. For those of you who know the Hebrew alephbet, the Hebrew alphabet, you'll notice that those are the first three letters in the alphabet.
So there's kind of a hidden message in this prayer that every time we say Alef, Bet Gimel every time we start the alphabet, we are also channeling a name of God. We're starting to evoke this 42 letter mystical name. That's part one of the magic of this prayer. There's more though, because that's just about the letters and what they might mean when you put them together.
There's also the words, there's also the content of what it says, and the content of this prayer speaks deeply enough to me that it lives on my ring finger at all times. This is a prayer that my wife found a ring with the words, with the first six words on it to give me for an engagement ring.
This is the ring that I use to signify my marriage to my wife, Valerie. And on it it says Ana Bakoach g'dulat yemincha, tatir tz'rura the first six words of this beautiful prayer. And like I said, that starts with a name for God. The Alef, Bet, Gimel, but it also means something powerful. It means, “Please Divine oneness, with the power of your right hand, free those who are bound.” Tatire Tzur’ra make free, make liberated those who are bound. And for us as an organization, you can also read it as make free that which is bound. Take that which is restricted, that which is restrained, that which is not liberated, and make it more free. Make it more liberated. Our organization is called Judaism Unbound. We are an organization that takes very seriously and irreverently, but seriously the task of freeing that which is bound and freeing those who are bound. May we, through this prayer, Ana Bakoach, serve a role in liberating our world, freeing those people who are oppressed everywhere in the world and serve our goals as Judaism Unbound, to build a Judaism that is freer, that is less restrained. That is less restricted, less bound.
Music of Ana Bakoach:
Ana bekoach, g'dulat yemincha, tatir tz'rura.
Kabel rinat amcha sagveinu, tahareinu nora.
Na gibor dorshei yichudcha, k'vavat shamrem.
Barchem taharem, rachamei tzidkatcha, tamid gamlem.
Chasin kadosh berov tuvcha, nahel adatecha.
Yachid ge'eh le'amcha p'neh, zochrei k'dushatecha.
Shavateinu kabel ushma tza'akateinu, yode'a ta'alumot.
Baruch shem k'vod malchuto le'olam va'ed.
אנא בכח, גדולת ימינך, תתיר צרורה
קבל רינת עמך שגבנו, טהרנו נורא
נא גיבור, דורשי יחודך, כבבת שמרם
ברכם טהרם, רחמי צדקתך תמיד גמלם
חסין קדוש, ברוב טובך נהל עדתך
יחיד גאה, לעמך פנה, זוכרי קדושתך
שועתנו קבל ושמע צעקתנו, יודע תעלומות
ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד
Miriam: We continue with the watch word of our faith, the Shema prayer. Shema asks us to imagine a world where we're all connected to say in a single line that we are one and we are part of that oneness. And the way we're going to do it here is to take each word one at a time, Shema as listen and hear, Yisrael, as all of us, us God wrestlers, each word, one breath, connecting together across time and space as we listen and sing at the same time.
[SONG: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד׃ Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad]
Miriam: For centuries, we have turned to Psalm 23 for comfort. And so too, at this moment we will also. The Psalm focuses on the darkness in our lives, the natural travails that we go through, our loneliness, our pain. It doesn't try to solve it, it just names it. My favorite line in the psalm is : Lo Ira Ra, Ki Ata Imadhi, I shall not fear evil, ferocity or wrongdoing, Ki ata Imadhi, for You are with me.
Now, traditionally you might say that Ki Ata Imadhi, for You are with me, the You is God or Infinite One. I think that the “You” it can mean anything you want. It's a reminder that even if things are overwhelming us, that we are going to be scared and we are going to be in pits of darkness. You are accompanied by others.
We're all going to go through things that have no light, but we're not actually doing it alone. There's a collective surrounding us. So when my friend Ric Hordinski and I were thinking about how to imagine an expansive prayer that is both about grief and about comfort. We focused on that line, Ki Ata Imadhi, trying to emphasize all of our needs, all of our concerns, all of our hopes, all in one long line. I will read the Hebrew and then the translation by Richard Levy of Blessed Memory, my teacher, and then we'll sing Ki Ata Imadhi as our offering around this energy of grief and healing.
Adonai is my shepherd. I lack for nothing. In meadows thick with grass. You lay me down down, across streams sereneYou guide me. My life, You restore. Leading me serenely along well-worn paths of justice to glorify your name. And even when I walk in a valley dark as death shadow, I shall fear no ferocity for You are with me. Your staff and your walking stick, they reassure me. You set a table before me along with my enemies. You rain rich oils around my head, my cup? It's overflowing. For certain goodness and the love of Your covenant will run after me all the days of my life and I shall abide in God's house for long days. Long, long days.
[Music: Ki Ata Imadhi]
The Psalmist tells us: even in the valley of deepest shadow, you are with me. That presence, that companionship in the dark, is itself a form of liberation. And so we return now to where we began, to Ana B'koach, the prayer that asks the Divine to free those who are bound. Because sometimes what binds us most tightly is not a chain we can see, but a fear we carry alone — the fear that the darkness has no end, that no one is walking beside us.
Here's what I want you to hold as you listen again: Ana B'koach is not just a prayer. It is a key. Every one of its 42 words was chosen with precision, arranged so that the first letter of each word, taken together, spells out a name of God so powerful it was kept secret, whispered only to the worthy. The ancient rabbis believed that to say this prayer with intention was to actually unlock something to loosen the grip of whatever was holding the world too tight. And it begins, always, with Alef, Bet, Gimel, the very first letters of the Hebrew alphabet. As if to say: every time you learn something new, every time you begin again at the beginning, you are already, without knowing it, calling on this name. You are already part of the unlocking.
Psalm 23 reminds us that we are never truly alone. Ana B'koach dares to ask: Now that we know that we are held, accompanied, not abandoned, can we begin to loosen what holds us? Can we, from that place of safety, start to become a little more free? Listen this time not just to the melody, but to the movement underneath it. Forty-two words, reaching toward liberation. This is the sound of a key turning.
[MUSIC: Ana Bakoach]
Miriam: And that's Ana Bakoach, A Prayer of Unbinding, of releasing what we've been carrying, of asking for the strength to let go. Thank you for being here today for bringing your whole self into this moment of stillness and breath.
For our next episode, we're welcoming the Sabbath bride with Lecha Dodi, a prayer with over a thousand melodies. And it's the moment when we rise to greet a different story of the world. Until then, may you find small moments of release, little pockets of freedom tucked into your days. Shabbat Shalom.
[MUSIC: Podcast theme ]
Miriam: Big thanks to Lipman Camper Foundation for Living Torah, for making this Shabbat Unbound podcast possible. Shabbat Unbound is a production of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future, and part of the family of podcasts of Judaism Unbound.
Created by Miriam Terlinchamp and Lex Rofeberg, directed by Joey Taylor, produced at Monastery Studios, Sound Engineering by Justin Newton. Original podcast theme music and arrangements by Ric Hordinsky and Art by Katie Kaestner. Special thanks to our musicians Ric Hordinski on guitar, Andrea Summer on vocals, Matt Wes on Bass and Josh Seurecamp on drums. Special thanks to our featured composer of Ana B’Koach, Jacob's Ladder. Check our show notes for bonus material and all kinds of resources. And if you love this podcast, wonderful! There is more. Join us for our monthly live Shabbat Unbound events. You can find the next one on our website, www.judaismunbound.com/shabbat.
We'd also love to hear from you, and you can email us at hello@judaismunbound.com.
