Inspired by the pandemic, Jewish musicians are rolling out a year's worth of spiritual 'healing songs'

(JTA) - It was only about a week into lockdown last spring when Elana Brody took out her keyboard piano for a jam session. It was late at night, so it made sense that the new melody that came to her then was "B'shem Hashem" a part of the Shema.

"It was kind of natural to want to sing this prayer because it's a bedtime prayer," Brody said, calling it an "incantation" of sorts.

The words call on four angels to surround her - Michael to the right, Gabriel to the left, Uriel in front and Raphael behind - with God above her head. Brody imagined the angels surrounding the people of New York City, wh...