Jerry Isru Chag - Basking in The Afterglow

Isru Chag is the day after a chag (holiday). Isru means to bind. The day after the chag enjoys an afterglow of the chag and is therefore "bound" in some sense to the chag.

The term comes from a verse in Psalms 118 which refers to the festival offering as a chag and mentions that it was bound to the altar. The words that are used in that verse are Isru Chag.

So there we were at about 2am, the 9 Days of Jerry were officially over, and yet there were all these listeners who just ... stayed. Because they couldn't really go anywhere else - the Light we brought down during The 9 Days of Jerry was too good - so according to the tradition of Our Mamas and Our Papas, we instituted Jerry Isru Chag - a little bit more Jerry to help us find our way home ... but that dosen't mean we want you to go home - not without us! If you've only just discovered Radio Free Nachlaot during The 9 Days of Jerry don't run away - stay! Just a little bit longer ... stay, say you will!

Just to break the fast - gently - we played Neil Young's "After the Goldrush" which was probably just right in terms of tone and vibes with our audience, not to shell-shock them with anything too radical - then for Jerry Isru Chag we played Jerry Garcia and David Grisman from Squaw Valley, the PERRO Sessions and finally the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warner Theater 3/18/78 ... which is still playing as this is being written.

We'll hear Rebbe Nachman's "Tikkun HaKlali" at 9am Jerusalem Time this morning and then a couple of hours of Lorelai's "Morning Dew for the Morning Jew" Show - an eclectic mix of music today populated by tunes from Michelle Shocked, Tom Paxton, The Tzimmies, The Turtles, John Prine, Tina Turner, The Pretenders, The Kinks, The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Sublime, Suzanne Vega, Gypsy Kings, Jefferson Airplane, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Stan Getz and more.

At 12:15pm we'll hear all of Jerry Garcia's first solo album "Garcia" and that should take us to about 1pm - when we'll be treated to the music of Israeli Super-Group TAMMUZ (they were "The Israeli Beatles" and still enormously popular here in Israel) until 2pm when Steve will take over the stream.

We've got Torah from Rav Avraham Sutton at 3pm as we begin Rav Sutton's "Through the Jewish Holiday" Cycle with teachings about ELUL - yes, it's the first day of Rosh Chodesh (the new month) Elul, 5770 (as we Jews reckon time) and "The King is in the Field" - HaShem has come down off His throne and walks amongst us, close to us and beckons us to come close to Him during this special time of Elul, the month preceeding the High Holy Days - and we'll take you even HIGHER on Radio Free Nachlaot - stay tuned!

Jerry Fans - don't despair! We promise to keep it coming. In case you're concerned with having any post-Jerry anxiety, know our NEW AND IMPROVED REGULAR BROADCAST SCHEDULE (stay tuned for the colorful grid!) features "DEAD (OR DEAD-RELATED) ALIVE" Jerry and Jerry-related music every Tuesday and Wednesday night from 11pm - 1am. Plus we're also playing "A Dose of Dead" Thursdays and Fridays from 5 - 7am Jerusalem Time.

That's not of course to the exclusion of any random Jerry-ness we may feel like putting into our regular schedule, of course! It's our radio station, we can do what we want to!

Chodesh Tov! Happy Jerry Isru Chag!