TELL April-May 2019

{CREATING A SINGING COMMUNITY}
By Cantor George Mordecai
A few years ago, I had the
good fortune to encounter Joey
Weisenberg. He is a musician
and composer of Jewish music
who spends almost every Shabbat
in a different congregation
teaching people how to truly
build a singing community.
We were both presenting at a
liturgical workshop and co-led
a Kabbalat Shabbat service at a
Masorti convention in Chicago.
I had heard about Joey and read
his book, “Building Singing
Communities,” but apart from
a few you tube clips of him
leading his singing workshops,
I did not have an opportunity
to experience him in action.
Joey’s teaching and music
has inspired so many people
throughout synagogues and havura
communities in the United States
and beyond. He is not afraid to
speak to the issues that inhibit
communities from realising their
musical and spiritual potential.
To build a true singing community
takes a lot of work. This is not just
the result of an in-built tendency
most of us have to resist that
which is not familiar. It is because
the melodies we have been raised
with at synagogue have heart-felt
resonances that vibrate at the core
of our innermost being. These
emotions are very deep. Despite
this however, if we don’t challenge
ourselves to embrace new and
innovative approaches to music
in sacred spaces, we will fail to
grow and evolve as a community.
Creating a singing community in
synagogue space requires attention
to many different details. Aside
from uplifting melodies, how we
arrange space, bringing people
closer together during davening
contributes to the ruach of a service.
At the convention after Friday
night dinner, we all moved to an
adjacent room in the social hall. The
chairs were arranged in concentric
circles and we were all encouraged
to sit close together. This simple
yet important move created the
conditions for an intimacy rarely
experienced in synagogues. We
could all hear each other singing
and it increased the ruach and
participation in the room.
This kind of intimacy is crucial
to creating the conditions for a
true spiritual experience. We sang
together, each of us in our own
special way adding our unique
voices to the collective sound that
ascended and took us to a deep
place, a place that we could not
have reached on our own or even
by putting our trust in a Cantor or
Rabbi to “deliver the goods” for us.
Many of the participants that night
were transformed by the experience.
As a Cantor and musician, I am
passionately devoted to music as
an art form but I have always felt
that music is a vehicle, a means to
an end, not an end in itself. It is a
powerful way to connect with the
divine life force that flows through
us and all creation. When we pray
together like we did that Friday
evening at the convention with
Joey, we were doing more than just
singing together, we were creating a
place for the divine to dwell among
us and recognising the divine in each
and everyone us who was present.
The Emanuel community is truly
blessed to have so many members
who care deeply about Judaism and
our synagogue. We are a committed
and diverse community and the
directions we take now at this crucial
juncture will have a lasting effect
for generations to come. In order
to journey down the path which
will ensure that our community
grows and remains strong, we
are going to need to experiment
with different approaches to
music, space, education and
communal organisation.
Let us embrace the future with
excitement and enthusiasm in the
knowledge that our community
will continue to grow and thrive
because we are a loving, caring place
that is not afraid to experiment
with and embrace change.
Ilan Kidron with Cantor George Mordecai
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