Naples Jewish Congregation welcomes back Julie Silver!

Steve McCloskey

After a five-year absence, the ebullient Julie Silver, an icon of contemporary Jewish music, is returning in concert on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, to grace the Naples Jewish Congregation (NJC) stage. Silver last regaled us with her unique blend of joyous song and heartfelt storytelling in February 2018. She has wanted to return to Naples for some time now, but the pandemic intervened. She is thrilled to be “back on the road,” after a most trying several years for performers like her.

Many of us are familiar with the arc of Silver’s career as one of the most celebrated and beloved of today’s contemporary Jewish music performers. She has created some of the most successful and bestselling albums of original contemporary Jewish music, her songs becoming “standards” in camp, worship and academic settings.

She has collaborated with other Jewish singers and songwriters, participating in social action/social justice projects dedicated to making the Jewish experience more meaningful and seeking to make the world a better place. Silver’s focus has often been on those who have historically been marginalized in our society, seeking to bring all into the tent of inclusion and acceptance.

I had the privilege of speaking with Silver about her life, her career, making Jewish music and coming back to Naples. While she was raised in a home awash in music, her passion for sharing Jewish music with others was forged by the confluence of wonderful art and music teachers in the public schools of Newton, Massachusetts. These include Aline Shader, the loving tutelage of Rabbi Robert Miller of Temple Beth Avodah in Newton, Silver’s spiritual birthplace and Camp Pembroke in Pembroke, Massachusetts. As a teenager, at temple and at camp, Silver picked up a guitar and began singing and song leading. She knew immediately that her love of Jewish music would define the rest of her life.

Over the years, as a songwriter and performer of contemporary Jewish music, Silver has had the good fortune to be mentored by, and collaborate with, Jewish music luminaries such as Debbie Friedman, Jeff Klepper, Craig Taubman, Noah Aronson, Dan Nichols, and others. She now mentors others, l’dor v’dor.

Silver told me that she can’t believe the years that have literally flown by in worship and service to making connections with others through Jewish music, remarking that the greatest gift bestowed upon her has been the opportunity to travel and meet with people, building community by making connections through song. Silver believes that music points us to love, respect and compassion for others and is the glue that seals all of us together. Her mission is to channel her Jewish values through her music, always seeking community with others.

Silver exudes an irrepressible yearning to connect with others through her love of Jewish music. She is imbued with an enthusiasm borne of music’s capacity to provoke a sense of wonder, curiosity, empathy and humanity. She is ecstatic about returning to Naples to revel in bringing our community together in song.

Please mark your calendar for Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. to join us at NJC for a memorable evening with Julie Silver. This is what you can expect — an exquisitely beautiful, at times achingly wistful and playfully whimsical, blending of the lyrical and the spiritual in song, pouring forth from the wellspring of Silver’s heart and soul, with love, compassion and empathy always in the forefront, suffused with unbridled joy and thoughtful grace. It will be a magical music experience that you will not soon forget.

IF YOU GO

An Evening with Julie Silver in Concert

When: Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. Where: Naples Jewish Congregation 6340 Napa Woods Way, Naples

Evening concludes with an elegant wine and dessert reception

Tickets are available at naplesjewishcongregation.org