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Choose Life

Uvacharta Bachayim

Mona Lyn Reese composer
Delores Dufner librettist

San José Chamber Orchestra & Chorus
Barbara Day Turner conductor

Release Date: April 4, 2025
Catalog #: NV6696
Format: Digital

Mona Lyn Reese composes with a mission: to confront human experiences, both harrowing and hallowing, with unflinching artistry. Her dramatic oratorio CHOOSE LIFE melds Jewish and Christian musical traditions, Holocaust survivor accounts, and scripture into a powerful interfaith memorial. An immediate success, this work filled 1500-seat auditoriums and received spontaneous standing ovations at every concert during its initial season; and it’s easy to see why.

Reese possesses a rare talent for marrying intricate rhythms and stylistic diversity — klezmer, Gregorian chant, and Anglican anthems — to soaring melodies and emotional depth. Acclaimed nationally and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, this powerhouse of a work moves listeners to reflect, remember, and ultimately — to CHOOSE LIFE.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Overture: O Holy One All Wise Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor; Michael Riskin, soprano 2:46
02 Hear Me, My People Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Layna Chianakas, mezzo-soprano; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 3:38
03 Holy One Beyond the Stars Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Stephen Guggenheim, tenor; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:13
04 O God of Israel Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 1:53
05 Reading 1 and Chant Ani Maamin Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Isabell Monk O'Connor, voice; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 1:56
06 A Voice Is Heard in Ramah Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 1:26
07 The Death of Franz Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Allison Charney, soprano; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:11
08 Reading 2 and Chant In Paradisum Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Isabell Monk O'Connor, voice; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 1:49
09 I Was Absent Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Kevin Nakatani, bass; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:48
10 Tender God Have Mercy Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Jordan Bluth, tenor; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:41
11 Reading 3 and Chant Libera Me Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Isabell Monk O'Connor, voice; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:17
12 All Ye Who Pass By Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:06
13 Reading 4 Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Isabell Monk O'Connor, voice; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 0:49
14 Stay With Me, God Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:25
15 How Could I Forget You?: Holy One, You Remained With Me Through Death: You are Precious In My Eyes Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Layna Chianakas, mezzo-soprano; Stephen Guggenheim, tenor; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 4:54
16 Reading 5 Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Isabell Monk O'Connor, voice; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 0:49
17 In Your Likeness Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Stephen Guggenheim, tenor; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 3:10
18 I Will Not Forget: Adonai Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Stephen Guggenheim, tenor; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:26
19 Reading 6 Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Isabell Monk O'Connor, voice; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 0:53
20 Choose Life Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; Stephen Guggenheim, tenor; Allison Charney, soprano; Kevin Nakatani, bass; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 3:12
21 I Shall Not Die Mona Lyn Reese Delores Dufner, librettist; San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus | Barbara Day Turner, conductor 2:42

Recorded at The Scoring Stage at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm, Ltd. Company Marin County CA
Session Producer Barbara Day Turner, Mona Lyn Reese, Barbara Christmann
Session Engineer Leslie Ann Jones
Assistant Engineer Dann Thompson, Robert Gatley
Editing & Mixing Myron Dove
Mastering Ken Lee

Photography Thomas Hassing
Art Direction Gabriela Martínez, Texto
Cover illustration Choose Life, by Marie Olofsdotter

Choral Preparation Keiko Kagawa-Hamilton

Tune Dona Dona was composed by Sholom Secunda and used with permission of the Harry Fox Agency.

Schola recorded by Rockhouse Productions, St. Joseph MN

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil
A&R Danielle Sullivan

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Publicity Chelsea Olaniran
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Mona Lyn Reese

Composer

Mona concentrates on opera, orchestra, and choral music. Her work is melodic and accessible with an emphasis on driving or complex rhythms, movement, and contrasting textures. Her music communicates and expresses emotions traditionally or experimentally without allowing a prevailing fashion to dictate style, form, or harmony. Composer-in-Residence at the Minnesota Opera from 1991–1999, she arranged works for the Minnesota Opera touring company and conducted educational residencies to help students write and produce original opera.

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Barbara Day Turner

Conductor

Maestra Barbara Day Turner is the founder and Music Director of the San José Chamber Orchestra. An ardent advocate for new music, she has premiered more than 130 works just with SJCO. Named the 2012 Silicon Valley Arts Council "On Stage" Artist Laureate, Maestra Day Turner is also Music Administrator and Conductor of the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, where she has led critically acclaimed productions of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, Puccini’s La bohème, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Verdi’s Otello, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Showboat and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

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Delores Dufner

Librettist

Delores Dufner, OSB, writes scripturally based hymn and song texts, which have a broad ecumenical appeal and are contracted or licensed by 34 publishers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and China. She has received nearly 50 commissions to write texts for special occasions or needs and has published over 155 hymns. She has authored three hymn collections: Sing a New Church (1994, Oregon Catholic Press), The Glimmer of Glory in Song (2004, GIA Publications), and And Every Breath, a Song (2011, GIA Publications).

Sister Dufner was librettist for Reese’s opera-oratorio, Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim, which premiered in 1994. In 1996 Delores was one of five winners out of 900 contestants in an international English language hymn competition to update Mary’s image in song. In 2002 she was a recipient of the Spirit and Truth Award from the Notre Dame Center for Pastoral Liturgy, in recognition of significant contributions made to pastoral liturgy.

Sister Delores and two of her hymns are featured in A Panorama of Christian Hymnody by Eric Routley, edited and expanded by Paul A. Richardson and published in 2005 by GIA Publications. Also in 2005, she received the Lawrence Heiman Citation from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana, for her contributions to liturgical music.

In May of 2007 her text, Listen, was set to music by Julliard professor Eric Ewazen and performed by Cantus at Saint John’s University. In July of the same year, the National Catholic Youth Choir performed her hymn text, Mary, First Among Believers, at the National Pastoral Musicians’ Convention in Indianapolis. In 2008 her commissioned cantata text, Seasons of the Spirit, with musical setting by David Evan Thomas, was premiered at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph. Later that year, her text Of Beauty, with musical setting by Dr. Richard Rossi, was performed at the dedication of the renovated fine arts building at Eastern Illinois University.

Sister Delores is a member of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph MN, and holds Master’s Degrees in Liturgical Music and Liturgical Studies. She was a church musician and teacher of school music and private piano lessons for 12 years, and Liturgy Director for her monastery for 6 years. She served as Director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of St. Cloud for 15 years, and subsequently worked as a liturgical music consultant for the Diocese of Ballarat, Victoria in southeast Australia for 15 months. She is a member of, and occasional presenter at, NPM (National Association of Pastoral Musicians), The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, and the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas; she is also a member of the Monastic Liturgy Forum and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers).

Notes

The dramatic oratorio, Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim, draws on Jewish and Christian music and scripture, as well as the writings of Holocaust survivors, to create an interfaith commemoration of the Holocaust. It was composed during Mona Lyn Reese’s 1993–1994 Faith Partners Residency sponsored by the American Composers’ Forum and the Otto Bremer Foundation. The residency included the Basilica of Saint Mary, Temple Israel, and the College of St. Benedict, all located in Minnesota. Delores Dufner, OSB, was commissioned by the Faith Partners to create the libretto.

The piece was an immediate success. Choose Life filled 1500-seat auditoriums and received spontaneous standing ovations at every concert. Reese and Dufner received numerous requests for scores and inquiries regarding future performances. Most requested was an orchestrated version of the work.

The Otto Bremer Foundation subsequently gave Reese a grant to write the symphonic version of Choose Life, which was premiered by the Billings Symphony & Chorale, Uri Barnea, Music Director, in November of 1996. Choose Life has received national acclaim and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1995. Teri Larson, director of music at the Basilica of Saint Mary, says:

“To say this work is powerful is an understatement. It is earthshaking and profound.”

Choose Life combines solos, choruses, and a narrator. Gregorian chant, polyphonic motets, Anglican verse and choral anthems, Jewish modes and hymnody, recitative, and Klezmer music blend to create the score. The music and text express bitterness, anguish, anger, our sorrow and need for comfort, our will to overcome evil, and our determination to choose life over death. The readings were selected from Holocaust survivors’ writings. Choose Life is staged with singers in costumes, minimal sets, lighting, and choreography.

In every performance of Choose Life, many listeners are greatly moved not only by the music but by the power and beauty of the libretto. Dufner’s libretto gives Choose Life its power to inspire and empower a more compassionate society. Her poetry has strong images and sublime rhythm and each word is balanced within the context of the libretto. Her work avoids pedantry and includes avenues for listeners to access their own spirituality.

Reese, Dufner, and all conductors have received hundreds of letters from audience members and performers whose lives have been touched by their work. The anguish of the world and the compassion of humanity come together in this skillful weaving together of poetry and music of different cultures and styles.

Many musical styles and sounds occur in the score. There are frequent musical references to Jewish tradition: The processional and overture “O Holy One All-Wise” uses the melody Leoni from the Jewish hymn Yigdal. This tune also occurs in many Christian hymnals such as The God of Abraham Praise. The music of Adonai and Lazar includes traditional Jewish modes and hymnody, recitative, and klezmer music.

Music in the Christian tradition such as Gregorian chant, polyphonic motets, Anglican Verse, and Choral anthems also appear in the work. Music and text express bitterness, anguish, and anger with God who permits tragedy, sorrow and need for comfort, the will to overcome evil, and determination to choose life over death. The six readings, found in Siddur Sim Shalom and Gates of Prayer, included in the libretto are taken from memoirs, diaries, and reflections on the experience of the holocaust.

Several pieces in Uvacharta Bachayim are based on the Jewish text and melody Ani Maamin, a prayer for the dying. The Angel Choir sings both text and melody during the first reading. The Angel choir sings the text in “How Could I Forget You.” Lazar sings the “Ani Maamin” melody in “In Your Likeness.”

The text for “Stay With Me, God” is from Poems from the Desert, 1944. It was written by an anonymous member of the Eighth Army.

The text of “How Could I Forget You,” and “Adonai” illustrate two Yom Kippur texts:

“To look away from evil: Is this not the sin of all ‘good’ people?” and “Let there be no forgetfulness before the Throne of Glory; let there be remembrance within the human heart.”

The following sung texts are direct quotations or paraphrases from the Hebrew Bible:

Hear Me, My People
Isaiah 55:8-9 and Deuteronomy 30:11-14, 15-20

O God of Israel
Psalm 22:2-2, 4-5

A Voice Is Heard in Ramah
Jeremiah 31:15

Tender God, Have Mercy
Psalm 51:1-2, 7, 10

All Ye Who Pass By
Lamentations 1:12-13

How Could I Forget You?
Isaiah 49:15 and Psalm 116:15

I Shall Not Die
Psalm 118:14, 17, 11

In Choose Life, I use themes and harmony to represent the emotions or characteristics of the singers. Adonai, the God of Israel, and Lazar, the Jew, sing pieces that use modal, traditional Jewish harmony. I used this sound because I wanted the image of Adonai, the God in the prayers of the victims, to be Jewish. Adonai listens to everyone’s prayers, but our visualization of God reflects our own image.

Two musical thoughts occur throughout the piece. The first I call the abandon theme, a descending chromatic scale; and the sigh or weep motive, a slurred, descending minor second that has been used for centuries to mean sorrow and grieving. The first two arias — “Hear Me, My People,” and “Holy One Beyond the Stars” — are spiritually and thematically connected. In these arias, Adonai and Lazar have a parallel conversation where Adonai tells his people to choose life; even though they don’t understand his thoughts and ways. Lazar considers he has chosen life, but Adonai has abandoned him to death. The abandoned theme first occurs in Lazar’s aria.

In “O God of Israel,” the Hebrew Chorus shouts at Adonai. They are angry because they, too, feel God has abandoned them. As I wrote this piece, I thought of the words Jesus cried out as He hung on the cross, “My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” The forsaken, abandoned feeling is expressed in the abandon theme.

In Jewish tradition, Rachel is the personification of the loving mother. In “A Voice Was Heard in Ramah,” the women take the part of Rachel, the mother. When the men declare they’ve seen and heard the deaths of children, the women’s grief-stricken response contracts the half-step weep motive into a dissonant interval.

Jews were not the only ones persecuted in the Holocaust. The widow of a righteous gentile mourns her husband in “The Death of Franz,” I used sinister harmony and texture to represent the evil she faced. The wide intervals and sweeping melody express the moral confusion she feels between her pride in her husband for choosing his honor and her anger with him for leaving her.

Dives, the indifferent citizen, is sorry for ignoring the suffering and fate of the Jews. I based “I Was Absent” on Kyrie XI. The Kyrie is a part of the mass where the people sing: Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison kyrie eleison; Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. Dives can’t forgive himself for his indifference. He sings a kyrie and asks for forgiveness. Adam responds with the prayer, “Tender God Have Mercy,” a hymn in the Christian tradition.

The motet “All Ye Who Pass By” echoes the 15th century polyphonic style. The weep motive occurs in all voices throughout the piece which is the most sorrowful point in the whole work. Jacob’s simple verse anthem, “Stay with Me God,” relieves the tension and sorrow of the other pieces. Here trust banishes fear; and the people begin to be strong. A verse anthem comes from the Anglican church tradition; it is similar to a motet but includes a soloist. The Anglican-sounding harmony represents innocence.

The next four pieces, derived from Lazar and Adonai’s arias and chants from the Angel Choir, recapitulate the spiritual and thematic connection of the first part of the work. “In Your Likeness” combines the Gregorian chant Lux Aeterna and the Hebrew melody Ani Maamin.

The focus of “Adonai, We Will Not Forget” is a determination to overcome evil. I wanted to express the drive and will of the people. This piece contrasts a static choir melody with a complex, jagged orchestra accompaniment. The choir sings only five pitches — C, D, E, E-flat, and F.

The trio Choose Life uses melodic material from each solo aria and a popular song, Dona Dona, that is often associated with the Holocaust. The harmony and melody are positive and hopeful; each character comes to terms with his or her struggle and chooses life. “I Shall Not Die” joyfully affirms the decision to choose life over death and trust God. The new bell theme, first heard in the Angel choir, is the basis for all harmony and melody in the anthem.

— Mona Lyn Reese

Since my published writing has been primarily in the area of new hymn texts, the invitation to write an oratorio libretto commemorating the Holocaust was a new challenge for me. After meeting with the consortium’s composer-in-residence, Mona Lyn Reese, I knew I wanted to accept that challenge. Reese and I were both powerfully moved by the accounts of the Holocaust provided us by cantor Barry Abelson of Temple Israel. In fact, after a first reading, I put the texts aside for more than a month, too overwhelmed to deal with the horror they described.

But the problem of evil in the world, and especially evil done or permitted by apparently good people, has always fascinated me. When I went to Schindler’s List looking for inspiration, the ambiguous main character reminded me that there is a mixture of goodness and evil in each person. It reminded me of the potential each of us has, like Hitler or Schindler, to tip the world balance one way or another.

I began with only a germ of an idea; the question every nonatheist must wrestle with: How could a good God who created life and commanded us to choose life, permit the terrible Holocaust? I had written only a partial, very rough draft when Reese and I met for the first time. For characters I had God, Lazar, Reba (Jacob), and a chorus modeled on that of the early Greek tragedy. I had only a vague idea where the characters and subject matter would lead. But I identified with those who had been afraid to speak up; I created Dives to represent those who were psychologically and physically absent to the suffering Jews, who were deliberately blind and deaf to the horrors of the Holocaust. I read the story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer, husband, and father, who had recognized the evil goals of the Nazis. In spite of coaxing from family, friends, and even church leaders, he had remained true to his conscience and was eventually beheaded for his refusal to fight with the Nazis. I based the character of Franziska on his widow, who is still living in the tiny Austrian village of St. Radegund.

Reese’s enthusiasm, our shared conviction of the significance of the subject matter, and my excitement at being involved in an ecumenical project of this magnitude, gave me energy for the task. Once engaged, I worked feverishly at the script. I discovered that, just as an entire hymn text often unfolds from its first line, the oratorio grew organically with a power and inner drive of its own. When I had come as far as I could on the script, I gave it to several trusted readers. Drawing on their insights and suggestions, I developed new characters and new drafts until, with the seventh and final draft, I had five main characters, a reader, and three choirs. Like a midwife, I was astonished and awed at what had been born.

— Delores Dufner

Texts

O Holy One all-wise, your ways are not my ways,
and yet, I turn to you in faith: I sing your praise.
You dwell beyond the stars, beyond earth’s farthest shore,
and yet, our lives are intertwined forevermore.

O God beyond the stars, your ways are deep as night
yet, though we may not know in full, your word gives light.
From age to age you speak, compassion to reveal;
your strong right hand and saving arm will hold and heal.

O mys’try undisclosed, your ways are not our own,
and yet, through life and death we trust in you alone.
Through evil haunts our steps, in hope we journey on.
The sun of justice shall arise and light will dawn.

Hear Me, My People
Hear me, my people, heed your God.
My thoughts are not your thoughts
nor are your ways my ways.
As far as heaven is from earth,
so far my thoughts beyond your thoughts,
my ways beyond your ways.

My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways.
And yet, my word is near to you,
not too hard or far away,
but in your mouth and heart.

Hear me, my people, heed my word.
I set before you life and death,
prosperity and doom.
Choose life-love and serve me,
and you will know prosperity.
Choose life, and live to bless me,
though my ways are not your ways.

Holy One beyond the stars,
beyond the fingers of my mind,
your thoughts are not my thoughts
nor are your ways my ways.
But bend your ear and hear the cause
of one who made a choice for life.
Yes, I chose life, but death chose me,
and you, my God, gave death its way.
I chose life, but death chose me,
and you abandoned me to death.

O God of Israel, my God,
why have you abandoned me?
I call by day with no reply;
I call by night and find no peace.
In you my parents put their hope;
they trusted, and you set them free.
O God of Israel, my God,
why have you abandoned me?

Ani maamin, ani maamin, ani maamin, ani maamin
b’ emunah sh’leimah b’viat hamashiach,
v’af al pi sh’yitmameiah, im kol zeh ani maamin.
Im kol zeh achakeh lo b’chol yom sheyavo.
Ani maamin, Ani maamin, Ani maamin
Ani maamin, Ani maamin, Ani maamin.

I believe with complete faith in
the coming of the Messiah,
and though he tarry, still shall I
believe and await his coming.

A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation, bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses comfort,
for her children are no more.
Her children are no more.

We had three children, Franz and I,
but now my Franz is dead.
The Nazis called him to their war
and he refused to go.
He chose his honor, he chose his God,
over life with us and wrong.
My children have no father now,
my husband Franz is dead.
He understood what we did not,
and many called him mad.
My Franz refused to do their will,
and they cut off his head.

ln paradisum deducant te Angeli:
in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere
aeternam habeas requiem.

May the angels take you into paradise:
may the martyrs come to welcome you on your way,
and lead you into the holy city, Jerusalem.
May the choir of angels welcome you,
and with Lazarus, who once was poor,
may you have everlasting rest.

I was absent when they died.
I thought myself a decent man­-
kind father to my children,
good husband to my wife.
I was absent, but I knew.
I made myself deaf and blind,
because I did not want to know.
And still, their suffering haunted me.
God was with them on the gallows.
God was there, but I was not.
I was absent when they died.

Tender God, have mercy;
blot out my offense.
Cleanse my soul and make it light
as new, fresh-fallen snow.
Purify my heart of guilt
and wash my sin away.
Cleanse my soul and make it light
as new, fresh-fallen snow.

Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna,
in die ilia tremenda:
Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra:
Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.
Tremens foetus sum ego, et timeo,
dum discussio venirit, atque ventura ira.
Dies ilia, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae,
dies magna et amara valde.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine:
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death
on the day of terror:
When the heavens will be shaken as you come
to judge the world by fire.
I am in fear and trembling at the judgement
and the wrath that is to come.
O that day, that day of wrath, of sore distress
and misery, that great and bitter day!
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Hear me, my people, heed your God. How could I forget you,
how abandon you?
You are precious in my eyes;
your life is intertwined with mine.
Your death is precious in my eyes,
because our lives are intertwined.
I will not abandon you.

You Remained with Me
Holy One beyond the stars,
your ways are not my ways.
I chose life. But death chose me,
and you remained with me
through death.

I Believe in Perfect Faith
I believe in perfect faith
in the Messiah’s coming.
And even if he should delay,
with hope I will await him.

You Are Precious
Hear me, my people, heed your God.
You are precious in my eyes
and I cannot forget you.
It is you who may forget,
as you have done before.
Promise you will not forget—
our lives are intertwined.

Holy One beyond the stars
yet dwelling here among us,
In your likeness I am made—
my heart, like yours, is
made to give,
to love, and to remember.

Lux aeterna luceat eis,
Domine: cum sanctis tuis in
aeternum, quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona
eis, Domine, et lux perpetua
luceat eis. Cum sanctis
tuis in aeternum, quia pius
es. Requiescant in pace.
Requiescant in pace. Amen

May light eternal shine upon
them, O Lord, with your saints
forever, for you are merciful.
O Lord; and let perpetual
light shine upon them with
your saints forever, for you are
merciful.

I will not forget you, nor the evil holocaust,
lest it seize me by the throat
and choke my last remaining breath.

Adonai, We Will Not Forget
Adonai, Holy One,
we will not forget you
in whose image we are made.
We will not forget our dead,
lest families shall have died in vain,
lest hatred rise to kill again.
We will not forget the evil,
lest it seize us by the throat,
tear the children from our arms,
and choke humanity’s last breath.

Holy One, hear me again.
Long ago I made my choice
and here, today, I choose
the same.
In spite of death and all its
terror—
still, today, I will choose life.

Franz chose life, but not his own—
he chose your life and mine.
He chose a future for this world,
you children’s lives and mine.

Today I make my choice anew;
you future life and mine.
I choose a future for the world,
your children’s lives and mine.