THE SHORESH HALEV CENTER FOR JEWISH MUSIC UPDATE

May was a wonderful month for Shoresh Halev Center for Jewish Music at Beth El. We had our official launch event on Yom Ha’atzmaut, which featured Rabbi David Schuck and Cantor Gaby Schvartz leading us in a rousing Hallel, accompanied by our Prayer Team and a full band. We followed that with a concert by Nava Tehila, the renowned Israeli spiritual band, who included a gorgeous, new song that we had commissioned based on the theme of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day.

We invite everyone to participate as part of our Prayer Team. Please stay tuned for upcoming Music Prayer Lab sessions, which is when we meet and practice.

As of this writing, we are making final preparations for Rabbi Josh Warshawsky’s long-awaited visit (Covid caused us to push this off for over a year). Josh will join us for Shabbat and he and his band will give a concert featuring songs from his new album. At the concert, Josh will also premiere a newly commissioned work based on the central theme of Shavuot, the giving of Torah.

These two events are both parts of a new, special multiyear project from Shoresh Halev. The project is called Shirei Neshama, Songs of Sacred Communal Time. For this project, we invite guest artists to join our community around Jewish holidays throughout the year. During their residency at Beth El, they will premiere a new song inspired by the holiday. These events will enliven our holidays, and we will then produce videos that we will share in the community and on social media. In the long run, we aim to turn all the new songs into a song cycle or documentary video of the entire year of sacred time.