Honeyjar 0508 - Congregation Ohev Shalom

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Page 10 The Honey Jar Mazal Tov! Rachel Omansky, granddaughter of Rabbi Louis and the late Mindell K. Kaplan, will receive a BA degree summa cum laude, the highest academic category, at this month’s graduation exercise at the University of Pennsylvania. Chosen for Phi Beta Kappa, Rachel served as editor of the Penn History Review: Journal of the Undergraduate Historians, wrote the University’s 2007 and 2008 financial reports while working in the Financial Office, and volunteered as a campus guide for visitors. An honors major in history, Rachel hopes to work for a publishing firm in New York City. Her parents are Deborah and Michael Omansky of Wyckoff, NJ. Thank You! Isabel Laub would like to thank all her friends for the shalach manot package. It was greatly appreciated. Betty Kaplan would like to thank all those who sent shalach manot packages. Your thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated. Betty Kaplan and Sandy Fryer, Director of Volunteer Services for Jewish Family and Children Services, thank all those who helped the JFCS clients who are isolated and in need to keep the eight days of Passover. Thank you to Harriet Ozer, Irma Kohn, Freda Mazer, Bea Rosenberg, Elayne DeSimone Zirker, Carol Petrescu, Judy Stall, and Norman Seletz. Joan Joseph wants to thank Merrill Mirman for the donation of office supplies. Joan Joseph sends a very special thank you to Jenny Jablonski for doing a wonderful job on the Israel60 banner that will be displayed on May 18 for the Federation program to honor Israel. Joan Joseph sends thanks to Bonnie Kaplan and the Mispallelim staff and board for helping with school preparations and anything needed during her recent illness. It’s nice to know that the staff can work as a team to make things happy. A donation in your honor was made to the Mitzvah Magic program. Michael Ponn and Bernie MIssan would like to thank all those who made contributions in honor of their receiving ARMDI awards. Chester Children’s Chorus: Two Invitations The Chester Children’s Chorus brought 22 of its singers to the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day observance. Now, the chorus invites Congregation members to come hear all 75 choristers sing at its Spring Concert. There are two performances, Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, both at 8 p.m., in Lang Music Building at Swarthmore College. Admission is free and children are welcome. Adult members of Congregation Ohev Shalom are also warmly invited to share their love of books by reading with a chorus member this summer. The reading program for 8– and 9-year-old children is a treasured part of our fiveweek Summer Learning Program, held from June 23 through July 24, at Swarthmore College. Each volunteer is paired with the same child for several weeks so they can really begin to know each other. The reading hour is 11 a.m. to noon every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and on three Thursdays. We ask that volunteers be willing to attend every reading day for at least two full weeks to provide continuity for the children, and that they be at least 20 years old, as our children respond best to adult guidance. More information about the reading program is available on the “You Can Help!” page of our website, www.chesterchildrenschorus.org. Information is also available from the chorus office, 610-328-8180. There’s much more information about the chorus and its activities in the chorus’ spring newsletter, available at the synagogue in early April. Andrea Knox, Managing Director Chester Children’s Chorus Swarthmore College
Volume 3, No. 9 Page 11 Cantor Acker’s Notes on Performance From program for his recital at Gratz College, February 2, 2007 The nexus of performance and worship has long fascinated me. How distinct are the two from one another Isn’t it true that the best worship experiences are those that are most well prepared—rehearsed if you will And when something is well rehearsed, isn’t it not only well practiced, but also supported by the knowledge and intention (kavanah) commonly associated with worship When expertise, artistry, knowledge and intention combine authenticity results. And isn’t it really authenticity that we all—performers, audiences, worshippers and cantors—really seek What difference there is between performance and worship lays mainly in how great the distance between the singer/cantor and the persona he or she plays. We commonly think, for instance, that while the personality of the singer playing Don Giovanni is far removed from that of the rogue (of course there may also be surprisingly numerous points of commonality), the cantor is playing himself. But this is not really so. When a poet reads her own work she dons a persona—albeit one much closer to her own—and this doesn’t diminish her authenticity. So, too, does the cantor assume a persona when she ascends the bimah. She transmits, in a highly inflected musical form, texts that are many generations old, laden with metaphor and ambiguity. No cantor can effectively convey such a stylized message by just being her ordinary self, no matter how “natural” she may come to feel in her role. In other words, she performs the text. Authenticity, then, is not a function of place or the degree of artifice that conveys any particular performance or worship service. Rather, it is a function of the singer’s ability to commit to and fully embody, seemingly spontaneously, the message of the text, secular or sacred. My point may be best illustrated by what I have experienced in preparing children to lead prayers in worship services. The values I stress, whether with my children’s choir or individual b’nai mitzvah, are: study, proficiency, understanding, intention (or kavanah), discipline, singularity of purpose, respect (for place and others) and the ability to allow all these above to dissolve spontaneously through the joy of making music. Parents invariably remark that they have never seen their children so sincerely involved in prayer. While I believe this is true, I also know that my preparation of the children for a theatrical production differs in material only; the values taught are exactly the same. So aren’t the children on the bimah really performing every bit as much as those on the stage I believe so. And what this observation testifies to is the profound desire we all have— whether performers, cantors, audience, or worshippers—to find and create experiences that afford opportunity to achieve an altered state of mind. What we call this altered state—no matter how fleeting it may be—depends on the context. In synagogue we call it “prayer;” in the theater and concert hall we call it “performance.” In either case, at its best, we experience something otherworldly, something quite mystical—even Divine. And it is this that keeps us coming back for more wherever we find it. Cantor David Acker
Page 1 and 2: News from Congregation Ohev Shalom
Page 3 and 4: Volume 3, No. 9 Page 3 (Continued f
Page 5 and 6: Volume 3, No. 9 Page 5 Men’s Club
Page 7 and 8: Volume 3, No. 9 Page 7 Sisterhood S
Page 9: Volume 3, No. 9 Page 9 No More Fear
Page 13 and 14: Volume 3, No. 9 Page 13 Janet Stern
Page 15: Volume 3, No. 9 Page 15 Charitable
Page 18 and 19: Classifieds Please patronize our ad
Page 20 and 21: Agreatplacetolivethegoodlife. Intro
Page 22 and 23: Ohev Master Calendar May 2008 (East
Page 24: The Sally Balin Medical Center for

Honeyjar 0508 - Congregation Ohev Shalom

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