This week focuses on Yesod, the Divine element of foundations, bonding, truth, and integrity. This is an active sefira, meaning it speaks to these values in practice. 

It’s about our relationships that have been built and strengthened over time. Acknowledging where we come from lays the truthful groundwork that allows us to live with integrity. 

Please note, my playlists include explicit content; any explicit content is labeled with a capital E on Spotify.

Foundations: Natural and Nurtured 

To live with integrity and truth, we must acknowledge and appreciate where we come from, our true beginnings. 

This playlist has ample songs about home, because it is both a physical and metaphorical concept of our foundation. There are many titled “Home,” as well as songs like “Don’t Forget Where You Belong” by One Direction that encapsulate what home feels like. Noah Kahan’s “Orange Juice” and “From Now On” from The Greatest Showman are about realizing you always have a home to return to. 

Knowing and remembering the home we come from and that we can return to provides a nurturing ground for us to safely leap from.  

There are many songs titled simply as “Family” or related to family on this playlist, because our family is a foundational part of us, those who raised us and who we grew up near. These provide examples of what foundational relationships could look like, and how they continue to affect us throughout our lives. “Darling” by Halsey, “Gracie” by Ben Folds, and “Dear Theodosia” from The Hamilton Mixtape are all tributes from parent to child about laying the foundation for their bright futures. 

Victoria Monét sings about the familial foundations of her success and beauty with “On My Mama.” On “BLACK PARADE,” Beyoncé speaks to both her home and her family, the multiple foundations from which she has come. She speaks to her personal foundations as well as ethnic and cultural elements, her broader foundation.

Judaism operates from collective memory and the foundational experiences that unite all of us. Particularly, the exodus we remember on Passover and the receiving of the Torah on Shavuot. Counting the Omer connects us to our ancestral Judaism, grounding us in the power of history. 

Bonding and Grounding: Covenantal Relationships

These are key relationships that have shaped who we are, and provide a safe haven for us to continue to be ourselves as well as grow into new versions of ourselves. Songs about friends on this playlist differ from those for Tiferet, week three, because these focus on bonding and grounding yourself in your relationships, as a means to fortify yourself and thrive.

On “Leonard Cohen” by boygenius, the band sings about a bonding experience that helped establish their relationship as a home. The band is made up of three people who feel their music is made more powerful when making it together. They showcase how to bolster your sense of self through meaningful relationships.   

Beyoncé’s new album, COWBOY CARTER is very much about her foundations and who she is because of where she had come from. I chose to add “BODYGUARD” and “II MOST WANTED” to this playlist because they speak most specifically to the integral, grounding relationships in her life, and how she relates to those most important to her. 

Sometimes, family does not mean blood relatives, or even the people who you grew up with in your childhood home. “Freak Show” by Ingrid Michaelson is about the bonding experiences that create the foundations of strong relationships. “Matilda” by Harry Styles is about building foundational relationships and creating family when those who raised you are no longer a safe home. As Styles sings, “you can start a family who will always show you love,” establishing your own foundation from which to build safely. 

Integrity: Truth in Practice 

The concept of integrity is to be truthful in all of your actions and interactions. Therefore, it’s truth in practice; honoring truth through action bonds us together and provides the covenantal foundations that allow us to flourish. 

These songs can teach us about integrity in practice. “California Kids” by Weezer is about providing a lifeline for those who need it and “Everyday People” by Sly & The Family Stone is about recognizing every person as unique and precious. Recognizing someone’s struggles is seeing their truth. Supporting those who struggle is a grounding and bonding experience that brings people together and galvanizes us on life’s journeys. 

Chappell Roan provides an anthemic testament to staying true to yourself on “Pink Pony Club,” as she sings about finding a place where she can dance and be herself freely. 

May we all have established and maintained the relationships that allow us to be our truest selves, and seek truth from the world as we move through it.