|
Cantorial Notes
from Sara Stock Mayo, Cantorial Soloist
May 2008 / Nisan/Iyar 5768
Welcoming Debbie Friedman
By the time you read this, we will be set to spend a wonderful weekend with Debbie Freidman. Our choir has worked very hard for this event and our Religious School has been learning many Debbie Friedman songs in honor of her visit. At the Reform Movement’s Biennial Convention in December, Debbie was honored with the very prestigious “Alexander M. Schindler Award.” She was not well and no one was sure if she would actually be able to receive the award in person. She was able to get there, and several Jewish musicians sang her songs in her honor. Anyone who has seen Debbie Friedman perform live knows that she always asks her audience not to sing the Mi Shebeirach, but rather says she is singing it to the crowd. When it came time to sing her Mi Shebeirach in December, Debbie was told that the whole crowd was going to sing to her and that she should just listen. Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the house.
This is what we do as Reform Jews. We constantly turn things around to make meaning in a particular moment. How many of you know that many of Debbie’s melodies are sung in places all around the world? How many of you have heard her tunes when visiting other congregations? I once had someone tell me that they were at a Friday night service in Cuba and they sang her Mi Shebeirach. Does anyone reading this even know another tune for Havdalah? My Conservative, and even a few of my Orthodox friends, sing her melody every Saturday night in their homes. Debbie has that rare gift of helping people relate to their Judaism through her music, whether it be in sanctuaries, homes, camps or schools. Her music translates from one setting to another in a way that no one else’s does. She crosses over genres and encourages accessibility. Her music is used in weddings, baby namings, at healing services, with choirs or with guitars around a camp fire.
As Reform Jews, we have a rich musical tradition with composers ranging from Lewandowski to Klepper, from Steinberg to Maseng. At Temple Sinai, we always try to look at our musical program from this broad a perspective. Sometimes, people want to hear the organ and our quartet. Sometimes, our volunteer choir leads our services. Sometimes, Rabbi Gibson and I harmonize with his guitar. We sing niggunim and encourage congregants to hum along, we teach new melodies and enjoy the band once a month, again encouraging participation. Sometimes we jump in and other times we sit back and let the music wash over us. It’s all good.
When we have such a distinguished guest as Debbie Friedman, we are reminded of who we are at our core. We sing out proudly in Hebrew and English, we declare our faith in a way that feels genuine, we reach out our hands to other Jews across the globe who sing the same melodies we enjoy, we re-affirm our conviction that there is more than one way to pray. I am blessed to have worked with Debbie Friedman, just as I am blessed to sing each week with our amazing choir and each Friday and Saturday with our wonderful family of families. When we create music together, we welcome God’s true presence into our midst. It is that complexly simple: There is no way to explain it. For that moment in time when our voices rise to the heavens together, we just experience it.
B’Shira,
Sara Stock Mayo
|
