Greetings and Shavuah Tov to our beloved Nahalat Shalom community, family and friends!
Now that we are in the month of Elul, I find myself getting excited about our upcoming Jewish holidays! It will be so great to "see" everyone - even if it is virtual, I really miss everyone and I look forward to making new virtual friends this year as well.
I love the special melodies and prayers that signal to our ears and souls that this is a special time of year. The High Holiday nusach - special melodies for different holidays which incorporate our ancient Jewish scales - rattle my bones and stir my soul like no other music (well - nu- maybe klezmer which uses a lot of the same scales). Nusach is sometimes called the "original Jewish soul music" - there's even a Facebook group about that (!).
These past few months have been very difficult and often painful for most of us. I personally yearn for the healing and soothing of my soul and body during this upcoming Jewish holiday season - appreciating the opportunity to pray, soul-search and study with my community. During this month of Elul it is traditional for Sephardim and many Orthodox Jews to say the Selichot (forgiveness) prayers in the early morning hours or late at night - as long as it is before the morning prayers are said. Our liberal Jewish community here in New Mexico will be sharing a Selichot observance on Saturday, September 12 beginning at 7:30pm with a meditation led by Rabbi Min Kantrowitz. I will be leading an abbreviated version of our "Selichot: The Dance of Forgiveness" service at 10 pm on Zoom - please join me and bring your shofarot to sound at the end of the service (more details to come). Rabbi Brin, Noach Bloom, Jessica Corley, myself and many others have been working very hard to put together meaningful and spiritually uplifting services for everyone using a variety of pre-recorded and live guest rabbis, speakers and musicians.
Our music at Nahalat Shalom is always special and unique as it will be this year. We will include traditional High Holiday Nusach (special melodies) for our traditional prayers in Hebrew, contemporary, pop, folk and modern American Jewish melodies, Sephardic melodies and prayers in Ladino, deep and meditative chants by Rabbi Shefa Gold, as well as Hassidic nigunim (wordless melodies). During the holidays and when you join our Zoom services, you will be greeted by the music and faces of our holy days band Alavados. Alavados, which means prayers/supplications in Spanish, is comprised of congregation members Jeff Brody (violin), Ian Brody (cello), Ilene Dunn (flute), Barbara Friedman (electric bass) and me (guitar & violin). Band members will also be playing live solo and pre-recorded prayers during our services. Nahalat Shalom member Neal Weinberg has recorded a special trombone version of Oseh Shalom for our morning services. Our chanting leaders Judy Brown, Stephanie Sofie Shefia Cohen and Miryam Levy have pre-recorded harmonious and moving chants by Rabbi Shefa Gold for our services. On Kol Nidre (Yom Kippur evening, Sunday September 27), the Kol Nidre prayer will be played by cellist Ian Brody, chanted in the Syrian melody (maqam) by Stephanie Sofie Shefia Cohen, and the traditional Ashkenazic melody will be chanted by me.
I am compiling recordings, texts and sheet music of some of our special High Holiday music and prayers in Dropbox. This file named '2020_NahalatShalomHHDS_music-prayers' will be updated every few days with new recordings and information to help you prep so you can pray with us. There's no need to sign up or to have a Dropbox account - just CLICK LINK and select or download the files you want.
May you be inscribed for a sweet and healthy new year - Shana Tova Umetuka -
Anyada Buena, Dulse i Alegre - Leshone Toyve Tikoseyvu-A Gut Yor!
Love,
Cantor Beth