Just to Be Is a Blessing

Arranger: Glenda Guinn-Gilles
Composer: Glenda Guinn-Gilles
Lyricist: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Just to Be Is a Blessing 20210625

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Submitter Comments

The words to this song showed up on my daily Zen calendar a few years ago. The simple yet profound words moved me. This was my first experience writing a song and was most pleasant. The music and harmonies seemed to flow through me rather than my actively creating them.

When I decided to share this song with TCI, I realized I needed permission to use the lyrics since I had not written them. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel died in 1972 but in searching for information on him to seek a contact for this permission I learned a great deal about this incredible man. I was able to locate his daughter, Susannah, a Dartmouth College professor. We exchanged several wonderful emails where she learned about TCI and in turn gave her blessings to use her father’s words for TCI purposes.

[2021.06.25—Small revision to 2021.06.20 notation in low part, m7.]

Lyrics

Just to be is a blessing.
Just to live is holy.