ARTS&LIFE
DIGITAL PROGRAM
Shavuot All-Nighter Twelve-hour online international celebration to include efforts of local artists. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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singer-songwriter, a playwright-author and a producer — all raised in Metro Detroit — will be part of an international digital program celebrating the holiday of Shavuot. They will be helping to navigate an all-night event remembering what occurred before the sunrise presentation of the Ten Commandments. Francine Hermelin Levite
DAWN: A Cosmic Reunion spotlights singer-songwriter Ethan Davidson performing two songs with his wife, Gretchen. Also featured will be playwright-author Brooke Berman, who will recite a narrative she created just for the holiday event. Francine Hermelin Levite participates behind the scenes as executive producer of 12 hours of music, film, comedy, dance and instruction that run 9 p.m.-9 a.m., Sunday night to Monday morning, May 16-17. It is sponsored by Reboot, a New York-based arts and culture nonprofit that reimagines and reinforces Jewish thought and traditions. “I love this idea for Shavuot recalling the anticipation of the Torah being received,”
Davidson’s New Book Soon after Ethan Davidson appears with DAWN: A Cosmic Reunion to celebrate Shavuot, he will appear at two events to introduce his new book, These are the Developments of the Human, which also references Shavuot, among many topics. The book, a compilation from notes taken over many years, expresses thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness style as Davidson combines excerpts from religious teachings, study explorations with Jewish scholars and personal experiences unrelated directly to Judaism. Because of the depth of subject matter, the book cannot be labeled a fast read. Passages are not declarations or
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Ethan Davidson
said Hermelin Levite, a New Yorker who went to Hillel Day School and the University of Michigan while being active in Congregation Shaarey Zedek. “Spending a night in contemplation mixed with the anticipation of newness is an exciting concept.” The Davidsons will present two songs: Davidson’s “Till the Light Comes Shining In”
answers; rather, they are starting points for contemplation. Readers can decide whether they want to read from cover to cover or pick out topics that have personal impact. The book will be discussed digitally from 7:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, during a conversation hosted by the Jewish Theological Seminary, and in person starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 27, with a reading and book signing at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. “The first word of the Ten Commandments is ‘Anochi,’ which means ‘I am,’” said Davidson, channeling scholarly thought on Shavuot. “I wrote a little bit about the Chasidic masters and the [significance of that] first letter — hearing the aleph with the vowel under
and John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.” “The first song is like waiting for the sunrise at the foot of Sinai,” said Davidson, who is a director and Grants Committee chair of the Birmingham-based William Davidson Foundation and board chairman of the Michigan Opera Theatre. “Also, we’re waiting for the sun
it and maybe [hearing] the stillness that exists at the core of being.” The diversity of thought can be sensed by reading through the table of contents and introductory remarks by Rabbis Asher Lopatin and Benny Lau. Just four examples from about 35 topics include “Don Quixote Tells Us How to Read Torah,” “Yukon River,” “The Mind is a Burning Bush” and “Your Evil Inclination.” “I wanted to organize all my notes, and then COVID-19 hit,” Davidson said. “We were all locked in our homes, and there was no excuse but to organize.” Because of the stream-of-consciousness approach, dominant English is mixed with Hebrew and Hebrew transliterations without grammatical conventions.
