Notes from Cantor Avima

This week we read one of the most interesting and - dare I say - humorous stories in the Torah.  It includes one of the most often sung verses in the Torah: "Ma Tovu Ohalecha Ya'akov". Here is a synopsis of the story: Balak is the King of Moab. Balak fears the Israelites will conquer his land, so he hires the prophet Bilaam to utter curses over Israel.  Balak sends messengers with...Read more...

     Last Shabbat (yes, I am about a week late on this topic) we read familiar words in the torah portion referring to the land of Canaan as a land flowing with milk and honey.. In fact those words are all over the Torah. In Hebrew: "Eretz Zavat Chalav U'D'vash".   The words are meant to convey that the land is fertile and bountiful. You may be familiar wtih the folksong, written in the 1950's- 1960's by a dance...Read more...

     I remember many years ago my mother visited her sister Sarah who lived in kibbutz Be'erot Yitzchak. It was Shavuoth and the kibbutz, a religious kibbutz,  knew how to celebrate Shavuot! There were parades of children marching with flags and wreaths of flowers. It was a huge pageant that my mother spoke about for weeks. The holiday of Shavuoth as described in the Torah is a festival of the first harvest of...Read more...

     How many times have I heard people refer to certain prayer melodies as the "traditional" melody with little awareness of the actual historic origin on the melody they may have grown up hearing. Just because you grew up hearing it, doesn't make it a "traditional" melody in the real sense. Take for example the well known melody for the second b'rachah in the amidah known as "m'chalkel chayim". Here it is: M'chalkel...Read more...

     Passover may have "passed over", but I wanted an opportunity to share another musical feature of the holiday. During Pesach it is customary to recite the beautiful love poetry of Shir Hashirim- The Song of Songs attributed to King Solomon. The poetry is romantic and sensual, but as a religious text it is seen as an allegory of the relationship between God and the people of Israel. 

     You are...Read more...

     Last week I shared several links for seder songs for the part of the seder that comes before the meal, but a seder is ot complete without dessert  - and I am not referring to macaroons. I am referring to all the fun songs that come after the meal and at the end of the seder. 

     Here are some links to songs, feel free to play them at your seder karaoke style! Many of these videos...Read more...

     It is no secret that I live in Monmouth County which means I have a one hour (on a good day) commute and I usually come to Adath Shalom 6 days a week. I have acclimated to this commute and sometimes, when I become immersed in a good audio book or podcast, I actually look forward to the opportunity to hear the next chapter or podcast episode. About a year ago, our member Ellen Muraskin suggested I listen to the podcast "The...Read more...

     Enjoy this beautiful article and music about a new album release featuring Cantor Jeremy Stein (flutist) and Mitch Shiner who plays a vibraphone on this album. I am not a big jazz fan, but I am definitely buying this one. Press play in order to hear the article read with musical...Read more...

     Shabbat Shirah is the favorite shabbat for many Cantors. The Sabbath of Song gets its name from the "Song at the Sea" which is a central feature of the torah portion, B'Shalach. This is the climactic torah portion when the Israelites miraculously cross the Sea of Reeds and escape from slavery. Upon crossing the sea, Moses and then Miriam lead the Israelites in joyous song. For decades, Cantors have seized upon this...Read more...

 I was "invested" as a Cantor (they didn't call it being "ordained" back then in 1989 by the Cantors Institute (now called the H.L. Miller School) of The Jewish Theological Seminary. The first two women to be invested as cantors by JTS graduated in 1987. But, the Reform movement ordained its first woman cantor in 1975 - 50 years ago. In honor of this milestone, the Milken Archives is...Read more...

From Moment Magazine

After Jimmy Carter's 1977 inauguration as
President:  “No rabbi at Inauguration; over 20-Year Tradition Broken.”

Indeed, Jimmy Carter was the first president who did not include a prayer by a rabbi as part of the official proceedings of an inauguration ceremony since the tradition began in 1949. That’s when Harry Truman, a Democrat who was Carter’s favorite president, invited Rabbi Samuel...Read more...

     There are two traditional prayers/songs we sing after lighting the Chanukkah candles. One, of course is the well known song Maoz Tsur.  But, there is another prayer we recite reminding us of the purpose of the Chanukkah candles (to honor the miracles) and also a reminder that we do not use the light of the candles for any utilitarian purpose. In fact, one of the reasons we have a shamash is that the shamash is...Read more...

      I am sure you all know the Hebrew word for "Thank you". We say "todah" or if we want to express  a bit more gratitude we say "todah rabbah". I thought in honor of Thanksgiving Day I would feature a few songs about gratitude. I want to start with the prayer that we say each morning expressing gratitude for another day: Modeh or Modah Ani. The word "modeh"  (for a male) "modah" (for a female) is derived from...Read more...

     I am very excited about a special Friday night service, Nov. 1 at 7:15 when I will joined on the bimah by The Ben Wisch Trio. This service will feature some very exciting contemporary settings of the Friday night prayers. Here are just a few of the pieces we will cover. I hope you will take a few minutes to listen to them  - maybe even more than once, so that when you arrive on Nov. 1 ready to sing along! Please...Read more...

As I write this, I am listening to the beautiful music of Yonina, a young Israeli - American duo. They live in Northern Israel. They have been creating weekly home or open air videos which they post on youtube. They often have one of their three children on their lap or nearby. They  sing so sweetly and are so comforting. Their repertoire runs the gamut from old Israeli songs to newer songs. I want to share their recording of the...Read more...

     Nava Tehilah is not a group or a person. Nava Tehilah is a renewal community in Jerusalem. Their website introduces the community as follows: "Nava Tehilah is a home  in Jerusalem for men and women of diverse backgrounds who desire to explore together the spiritual expression of the Jewish experience and are drawn to the collective creation of a Jewish-Israeli spiritual renewal. For the last 20 years, we have...Read more...

.     Idan Raichel, born in 1977 in Kfar Saba: producer, keyboardist, lyricist, composer and performer. What really stands out about Idan Raichel is all of the collaboration he has done. The list of his collaborations is so vast, that I would not know where to begin to list them. According to the "about" page of the idanraichelproject website,  "Idan  has entered into exciting collaborations with many...Read more...

     I would not be surprised if the name Nurit Hirsh is not familiar to many of you. But you certainly know at least two of her most most well known compositions. (And, she has composed about 1,000 songs!). We sing what is probably her most famous song almost every week at services as do most congregations. It was written for the Hassidic Song Festival of 1968. The text is from last line of the Kaddish prayer. I think...Read more...

Arik Einstein was one of the most beloved Israeli artists. He recorded over 500 songs and released, was featured in and collaborated on over 44 albums, far more than any other Israeli musician. He was humble, modest and a shy performer who preferred the studio to the live concert stage. His last live performance was in the 1980's, but he continued releasing albums into the 2000's. He passed away in 2013. When he died suddenly of a thoracic...Read more...

     If you don't recognize his name, I am sure you will recognize his warm, smooth voice. Listen to one of his most popular songs Od Lo Ahavti Dai (I Haven't Loved Enough)  This song, (I haven't Loved Enough) was written by Naomi Shemer,  recorded by Yehoram Gaon and choreographed as a dance by Yankele Levy in 1977. Yehoram Gaon was born in 1939 in Jerusalem. His father, Moshe David Gaon was born in...Read more...

Shavuoth was originally an agricultural  festival, marking the start of the wheat harvest.  In the Torah, the festival is referred to as "Chag haBikurim", the festival of first fruits in the book of Numbers, "Chag haKatzir", the festival of the harvest in the book of Exodus and "Chag haShavuoth", the festival of weeks also in the book of Exodus and Deuteronomy. . The identification of Shavuoth as "Z'man Matan Torateinu" doesn't...Read more...

Gift Presentation in appreciation of our Rishon, Noam Vashdy
Presented by David and Laila Dienna in memory of their great grandparents, Charles & Belle Kesselman.

This past Sunday, the...Read more...

     This past Sunday I had the privilege of accompanying the vav and zayin  students (6th and 7th graders) on a trip to the Lower East Side. We had a lot of fun and learned alot. We were led on a walking tour by Barry Judelson of NY Jewish Tours. I hadn't been to the Lower East Side in many, many years and I can tell you alot has changed. Precious history is being lost to gentrification, but luckily some important...Read more...

     We are officially midway between Purim and Pesach. We barely have time to recover from our Hamentashen Hangovers and catch our breath before our thoughts turn to Pesach. It seems like we have been in the month of Adar forever (for two months actually!) but, alas we finally welcome the month of Nissan.  In my house we started the countdown to Pesach as soon as Purim ended... it will be a month of freezer leftovers...Read more...

     I have always enjoyed reading Megillat Esther "The Scroll of Esther". I first learned to chant a small passage of Megillat Esther in my teens and have made it a personal challenge to read more through the years and now I can say that  I have chanted the "gantze" megillah with trope (cantillation) many times.  I do  find I have to spend quite a bit of time every year refreshing,...Read more...

What makes a synagogue or school or organization work? This week's parshah, Vayakhel, describes the construction of the Mishkan (The Tabernacle) that the Israelites carried with them throughout their travels in the wilderness. The people are all asked to contribute all kinds of building materials: precious metals, linen, wool, ram and dolphin skins, oils, precious stones. However, one small phrase stands out to me. The words "And all of...Read more...

Have you noticed brighter skies in the morning? I walk my dog every morning and I can't help but notice an increase in bird chatter as well.The angle of the sun has changed as too.  And, I noticed on my calendar that in just a few weeks we change the clocks. It is still cold and crisp, I am still wearing winter coat, hat and gloves, but....  there is a feeling of transitioning into  spring.  I have to say that for...Read more...

Can you believe it is Adar again so soon? Well, not so fast, because if you are looking for Purim we still have to wait a few weeks as we are only about to begin Adar Rishon, the added month of the leap year. Purim is celebrated in Adar Shaynee which won't begin for several weeks.  I have to admit, that although we are supposed to increase our joy in the month of Adar, I am not quite ready for the silliness and antics of Purim....Read more...

The Day of Chesed was a big success!  Our students together with students of the Religious School of Temple Beth Am made close to 200 (?) bags for nourish.nj,  made butterfly suncatchers to give as gifts to residents of Arbor Terrace, made cards and pictures to donate to  organizations that distribute them to hospitals, foster homes, assisted livings, etc.... We also baked cookies for the Dover Faith...Read more...

The Religious School is sponsoring a Day of Chesed (Day of Kindness) on Sunday, January 14th. One of our projects will be to pack Purposeful Acts of Kindness Kits for nourish.NJ.We are requesting donations of the following items by January 14. Please place your donations in the large marked bin in the lobby. 
We need the following: pocket size hand sanitizer, bottles of water, protein bars, baggie filled with...Read more...

Each Jewish holiday has an anthem associated with it, a  melody which serves as the leitmotif which is woven throughout the liturgy. Maoz Tsur, a poem written as early as the 13th century and the melody linked to it has been the anthem for Chanukkah for centuries! We sing the hymn in Hebrew and in an English translation as we watch the candles burning, we feature the melody in our hallel service and insert it in other parts of our...Read more...

Hanukkah or Chanukkah? Passover or Pesach? For that matter, Rosh Hashanah, Roshashanah  or Jewish New Year?

I have a bit of a pet peeve to air. It is time to take back the names of our own holidays. When did the name of our holiday, lose its most important sound... the "ch" of the first letter of the holiday... ? I mean just because non Jews have difficulty pronouncing the word, does that mean we should drop the most Jewish...Read more...

Sometimes we focus so much on what is happening inside our sanctuary that we might not notice the beautiful moments that happen outside our sanctuary. Yes, the sanctuary is truly the central focus of what brings us all together. Our Beit Knesset - our house of gathering, our Beit Tefillah, house of prayer is the reason we exist. But, what we do in our sanctuary is hopefully an inspiration for all the moments we spend outside of...Read more...

We are all familiar with the beautiful prayer for the State of Israel we recite weekly and I am sure many of us have started reciting it on a daily basis. However, there is another beautiful prayer that was composed by the late Chief Rabbi and Chief IDF Rabbi, Shlomo Goren, asking God to protect the soldiers of the IDF and strike down their enemies. The accompanying song features popular Israeli artist Gad Elbaz’s musical rendition of...Read more...

This year I set a goal for myself to read Hebrew literature in an effort to exercise my skills. We have many works of literature in our library to choose from from childrens books to short stories and a few novels. However, this last few days have found that facebook has provided me a lot of material. And it is not the kind of Hebrew  material I had planned to use to exercise my language skills. My feed has been flooded with...Read more...

Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur differ from Sukkot. On the Jewish New Year’s festival and Yom Kippur we are judged. We confess. We resolve. We feel defensive, vulnerable and fragile.

On Sukkot, the harvest festival, we rejoice. Anyone who has gardened knows this feeling many times more. Not only is there a thrill in seeing your garden’s yield—purple eggplant, orange carrots, green lettuce, red cabbage—but fruit of a home-grown...Read more...

When one has only one brief Religious School lesson in which to teach about the High Holidays, the holiest days on our calendar, what to we teach? That is the challenge with which we were faced this year with the challenge imposed by this year's Jewish calendar. I had a 30 minute period...Read more...

Would you eat Latkes on Rosh Hashanah? You might, because, well, hey, latkes! But most of us might feel that eating latkes on Rosh Hashanah would just be weird. Why? Because the aroma and taste of latkes brings to mind all things Chanukah including the memories associated with Chanukah. How about eating matzah on Chanukah? More holiday confusion!! Our traditional melodies, called"nusach" calls for different melodies for different...Read more...

There is a beautiful passage that we recite in our morning prayers found on p.68 of our Sim Shalom Siddur.  It is a rabbinic teaching on lovingkindness, "chesed". This paragraph describes a conversation between the great Rabbis Yochanan Ben Zakkai and his disciple Rabbi Joshua as they  lamented the ruins of the Temple. Rabbi Joshua says "Alas for us! The place which atoned for the sins of the people Israel through the...Read more...

My morning spiritual practice begins with the recitation of the traditional words of gratitude that many of us learned as children: Modeh (modah) Ani. The 12 words can be found on p.61 of our siddur. "I am grateful to You, living, enduring Sovereign, for restoring my soul to me in compassion. You are faithful beyond measure." Saying those words and taking a few moments to actually list things for which I am grateful in a little journal...Read more...

Shalom, 

I will be attending the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education  ( known as NEW CAJE) in Montclair this week. I am looking forward to several days of connecting with educational colleagues and attending workshops. Here are some of the titles of the workshops I will attend: "What's the "new normal" in our post-Covid world?", "Help, I need Guidance to Reimagine Jewish Learning in My School", "The Future...Read more...

Among the many wonderful programs offered by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest is the Diller Teen Fellowship program. 

Diller Teen Fellows is a premier leadership development program for Jewish 10th and 11th graders in Greater MetroWest NJ. The yearlong fellowship invites a select group of 20 teens to explore their Jewish identity and develop leadership skills towards social action and community...Read more...

I had an opportunity recently to visit the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. I would definitely recommend this museum which covers the America Jewish Experience from the Colonial period through our own day. The gift shop alone is worth a visit! (I do love gift shops and I love Judaica... so what is not to like?). I lived in Philadelphia while in art school in 1981 and the following year (after I quit art...Read more...

Pirkei Avot teaches us: "Al Tifrosh min hatzibbur", "Do not separate yourself from the community".

The name of our congregation is "Adath Shalom". The Hebrew word "Adath" means community (of). Some synagogue names begin with the word "Beit" or "Beth" meaning house (of). We are more than a "house". We are a community. 

This past shabbat was a demonstration of how joyful it can be to be among community. In fact, for me this...Read more...

One of the biggest challenges for Torah readers is mastering the reading of the Ten Commandments. If you look at some printed texts of the Torah which include trope symbols (te'amim), you might see what appear to be more than one trope symbol for each word in the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments appears in two places in the Torah. One is in the book of Exodus (chapter 20) and then again later in the book of Deuteronomy (chapter 5). I...Read more...

     May 7 was the last day of Religious School for this year. There are so many people to thank for our successful year. As I drove to school early in the morning I mentally planned my closing message. The word that continuously came to my mind was "B'yachad" - Together. This year could not have been successful without the guidance and help of so many. Our teachers, madrichim, parents, committee members, Pam in the...Read more...

I have been reading Torah for many, many years. For a long time it felt like an exercise in memorization since the vowels and the trope do not appear in the Torah. As you know, one prepares a Torah reading by using a book called a tikkun. The tikkun shows each column in the Torah in two ways: one without vowels and trope markings and one "dressed" with vowels and trope markings. The reader must not only prepare the correct...Read more...

Guest contributor: Rabbi Allen Darnov

     Adath Shalom can boast a host of Torah readers able to leyen (read) Torah on sabbaths and holidays.  These individuals have not only superb Hebrew skills, they have also mastered the “accents” or ta’amim attached to the Torah’s words which have crucial importance. Look at a line of Hebrew in the Bible: the signs that don’t appear to be vowels are musical...Read more...

    In the mid 1990's, I served a congregation in Westchester, NY. In those years the ground breaking Jewish singer/songwriter Debbie Friedman was leading Passover seders for women. These sedarim inspired many communities to create their own womens sedarim (seders). Haggadot were compiled incorporating women's themes. In 2000, the first edition of  "The Journey Continues"  Haggadah   was published by...Read more...

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     Last week I wrote about the end of the seder, but today I want to write about the beginning. Probably the best known part of the seder is the singing of the 4 questions. For generations one rite of passage for a Jewish child was the recitation of this text. I was the youngest of four children and I remember the thrill of being able to take my turn to lead the four questions. I still remember the voice of the boy soprano...Read more...

     I am writing this on Purim day, but you will probably not read this until Shushan Purim. Those of us who live in walled cities get to continue our celebration on Shushan Purim. What is Shushan Purim? Shushan was a walled city and according to the megillah, the fighting in Shushan which was a walled city continued through Adar 14th, so they celebrated the following day, the 15th of Adar. Do you live in a walled...Read more...

For myself and my husband, Allen, the phrase "Mishenichnas Adar marbin b'simchah" (When Adar begins, our joy increases) has special meaning. Our first born son is named Adar. Although we didn't know if we would be planning a bris or simchat bat, the baby's arrival...Read more...

     The Talmud instructs us that Jews should recite 100 blessings a day. We begin our day with many blessings as part of our daily liturgy. B'rakhot are a device to focus our awareness of the miracles great and small in our lives. When we pause to acknowledge the miracle of a morsel of food or the ability of our body to function, we bring holiness to the moment. So, what is a b'rakhah? Yes, I am sure you can recite many...Read more...

If you are an early arriver to shabbat morning services, then you might catch the string of 15 blessings known as "Birchot Hashachar" (The morning blessings). They are recited quickly, maybe too quickly to completely process the message of each one. These blessings, which originated in the Talmud corresponded with the actions we all do in the morning. There is a blessing for opening our eyes, for getting dressed, putting a kippah on our...Read more...

Adon Olam is everyone's favorite prayer, right? It signals the end of the service and the next activity which is the Oneg or Kiddush! It is usually sung to a bouncy, happy tune or a melody stolen from pop music and hardly reflects the spiritual essence of this poem. Adon Olam has been ascribed to the poet Solomon Ibn Gabirol who lived in the 11th century. It might shock you to learn that in most traditional siddurim, including...Read more...

Last week I challenged you to "go on a hunt for Chanukah music that moves you either emotionally or spiritually". Every holiday provides so many opportunities for us to express our Judaism. There are rituals, there is food, there are sights, but for me, I don't feel I have fully taken in the holiday unless I have fully saturated my ears with the music. The sounds go straight from my ears to my heart. Yes, the Adam Sandler song is fun......Read more...

     Recently, I was trying to encourage a student to come to services in the months leading up to their becoming a bar/bat mitzvah. The student said "why do I have to come to services, I already learned all the prayers in religious school". Yes, indeed, if one  were to wander through the halls  and overhear our vav and zayin students "practice" their tefillot (prayers) with Morah Nurit, you might be pretty...Read more...

Gratitude is a main theme of Jewish prayer. In fact, Jewish prayer has often been summed up by the words: Thank you, WOW and Please. Upon waking up we begin our day by thanking God for our souls, our bodies and our Judaism. One of the first prayers taught to Jewish children was always the prayer "Modeh Ani". "I am grateful to You, living and enduring Sovereign, for restoring my soul to me in compassion. You are faithful beyond measure. The...Read more...

It was a glorious, sunny fall day!

Our pets, including about 15 dogs, 1 cat and 1 bird, assembled to be 

appreciated and celebrated for the special gifts they  give to us. 

Dr. Ron Bucher, a holistic veterinarian spoke to us about holistic animal care, 

a blessing was recited and doggie-goody bags were distributed. 

Donations were also collected for the 11th hour...Read more...

When I was trying to think of a Jewish inspirational  quote for my article, I was reminded of something that I heard from Sheila Adler. Sheila Adler was one of the most successful  Jewish educators I have been privileged to work with.  She received her Masters Degree of Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1986 and served as the President of the Jewish Educators Assembly. She was the Religious School...Read more...