"Like the Clay in the Potter's Hand" (Motet)

Text from the Yom Kippur prayer

"Li-Ron" Children Choir | Conductor: Ronit Shapira

This song was written in 1993 for the Ankor children’s choir, as part of a project dedicated to children’s songs. It is based on one the most beautiful Hebrew liturgical hymns (Piyut) from the prayer of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): “Like the clay in the potter’s hand / He expands it at will and contracts it at will / So are we in Your hand, O Preserver of kindness / Look to the covenant and ignore the Accuser.” The work is not based on any pre-existing melodic material, but it is a completely original composition. I tried to express the pleading of the prayer standing in front of the All-mighty, asking him to remember the covenant between God and his people, and to judge in mercy. The musical language is highly chromatic, which is meant to heighten the expressive and emotional content of the hymn.