TEXT: (Excerpts from all over the Book of Leviticus)
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
"Command Aaron and his sons thus: When any of you presents an offering of cattle, the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord; and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall offer the blood, dashing it against all sides of the altar. The bull shall be flayed and cut up into sections. Its entrails and legs shall be washed with water, and the priest shall turn the whole of it into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.
"If your offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you shall choose from the turtledoves or the pigeons. The priest shall bring it to the altar, pinch off its head, turn it into smoke and drain out all its blood. The priest shall tear it open by its wings and turn it into smoke on the altar, upon the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord."
Moses said to the community:
"This is what the Lord has commanded to be done:
You shall eat no fat of ox or sheep or goat.
Fat from animals that died or were torn by beasts may be put to any use but you must not eat it.
If anyone eats the fat of animals, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his kin.
"And the swine: although the swine has true hoofs, with the hoofs cleft through, it does not chew the cud.
You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
"Anything that has fins and scales – these you may eat. But anything in the seas or in the streams that has no fins and scales, they are an abomination for you and an abomination for you they shall remain.
"The following shall you abominate among the birds –
the eagle, the culture, and the black vulture,
the kite, falcons, the raven,
the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, hawks of every variety, the little owl, the commorant, and the great owl,
the white owl, the pelican, and the bustard, the stork, herons of every variety, the hoopoe, and the bat.
They shall not be eaten: they are an abomination.
"All winged swarming things that walk on all fours shall be an abomination for you. But of these you may eat among them:
the grasshopper, the locust, and the bald locust, and crickets of every variety.
But all other winged swarming things that have four legs shall be an abomination for you.
For I, the Lord, am He who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God.
You shall be holy for I am holy."
"None of you shall come near anyone of his own flesh.
I am the Lord.
The nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover.
She is our mother.
You shall not uncover her nakedness.
Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife,
it is the nakedness of your father.
The nakedness of your sister: your father's daughter or your mother's daughter,
whether born into the household or outside.
Do not uncover their nakedness.
The nakedness of your son's daughter
or the nakedness of your daughter's daughter:
do not uncover their nakedness,
for their nakedness is yours.
The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter,
who has been born into your father's household,
she is your sister;
do not uncover her nakedness.
Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister for she is your father's flesh.
Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother:
do not approach his wife;
she is your aunt.
Do not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law,
she is your son's wife;
you shall not uncover her nakedness.
Do not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife,
it is the nakedness of your brother.
Do not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter;
nor shall you marry her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter
and uncover their nakedness:
they are kindred;
it is depravity.
I am the Lord.
Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman;
it is an abomination.
Do not have carnal relations with any beast and defile yourself thereby;
it is a perversion.
[FOR MORE OF THE TEXT, EMAIL lainie [at] lainiefefferman [dot] com
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from
Here I Am
Live at Princeton University, Taplin Auditorium
May 8, 2012
composed and directed by
Lainie Fefferman
performed by
NEWSPEAK
(Taylor Levine, electric guitar; Caleb Burhans, violin, voice; Rubin Kodheli, cello; Mellissa Hughes, voice; David T. Little, director, drums; James Johnston, piano; Eileen Mack, co-director, clarinets)
with additional vocals by
Martha Cluver and Caroline Shaw
live sound
Andres Villalta
lighting design
Christopher Gorzelnik
light cues
Micaela Baranello
video recording
Troy Herion
sound recording, editing / video editing
Jascha Narveson
