Tikkun Olam (Heal the World)

Composed by Lucas Richman
Words by Lucas Richman
Length: 6:00
Instrumentation: Chorus, 3332-4331, timp+3, hp, str
Ensemble: Chorus, SATB Chorus

This soaring anthem serves as stirring inspiration in the face of tragic circumstances.

Featured in the 2023 Boston Pops Winter Holiday Concerts!

  • Choral Scores available for purchase or PDF (10 count minimum).
  • Comes with 1 score and orchestral parts (string count of 9-8-6-6-5, unless otherwise requested at no extra charge).  
  • Sync licensing fee is equal to the fee for one additional performance.

Watch Video (Bangor Symphony Orchestra, composer conducting))

Video snippet of the Boston Pops:

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PROGRAM NOTES:

In celebration of the Leonard Bernstein Centenary (August 25, 2018), Lucas Richman received permission from the Leonard Bernstein Office to create a new work for chorus and orchestra inspired by the speech Maestro Bernstein delivered to the United Jewish Fund two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Known as “An Artist’s Response to Violence,” the speech addresses the manner in which musicians might best use their abilities in the aftermath of tragedy:

“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely,
more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” *

~Leonard Bernstein

The three movements of Richman’s “Symphony: This Will Be Our Reply” (Intensity/Beauty/Devotion) expand upon these three directives, exploring the contrasts of great beauty and horrific violence that pervade our modern era. The work ultimately resolves with this anthemic setting of an original poem, “Tikkun Olam (Heal the World),” uplifting the essence of Bernstein’s profound message.

* Used by the permission of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.

Tikkun Olam (Heal the World)
Text and Music by Lucas Richman

L’ma-an bateinu                                      FOR THE SAKE OF OUR HOMES
L’ma-an chavereinu                                 FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FRIENDS
L’ma-an kadur ha-aretz                           FOR THE SAKE OF OUR EARTH
Tikkun Olam                                            HEAL THE WORLD

L’ma-an kehiloteinu                                 FOR THE SAKE OF OUR COMMUNITIES
L’ma-an medinoteinu                               FOR THE SAKE OF OUR COUNTRIES
L’ma-an kadur ha-aretz                            FOR THE SAKE OF OUR EARTH
Tikkun Olam                                             HEAL THE WORLD

Aleinu l’takken et ha-olam                        WE MUST REPAIR THE WORLD

L’ma-an imoteinu                                       FOR THE SAKE OF OUR MOTHERS
L’ma-an avoteinu                                       FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FATHERS
Tikkun Olam                                               HEAL THE WORLD

L’ma-an b’noteinu                                     FOR THE SAKE OF OUR DAUGHTERS
L’ma-an baneinu                                        FOR THE SAKE OF OUR SONS
Aleinu l’takken et ha-olam                        WE MUST REPAIR THE WORLD

L’ma-an sichlenu                                       FOR THE SAKE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
L’ma-an simchateinu                                 FOR THE SAKE OF OUR JOY
L’ma-an ha’ahava                                      FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE
Tikkun Olam                                              HEAL THE WORLD

L’ma-an hashalom                                    FOR THE SAKE OF PEACE
Tikkun Olam                                             HEAL THE WORLD

L’ma-an nishmoteinu                                FOR THE SAKE OF OUR SOULS
L’ma-an hemshech kiyumenu                   FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FUTURE
Aleinu l’takken et ha-olam                        WE MUST REPAIR THE WORLD
Tikkun Olam                                              HEAL THE WORLD