There are plenty of reasons to feel down as discouraging news and images are all around us, yet it doesn’t take much effort to raise someone up or to recognize when someone has lifted us from sadness.
March 01, 2024
L’Or HaZichronot (By the Light of Memory)
Topic(s) / Music, Shabbat
Consider the moments that many of us remember from our own lives; remember the hostages and the sacrifice of all who died on and since October 7.
February 23, 2024
Joy in Sorrow – Yism’hu by Yossele Rosenblatt
Topic(s) / Music, Shabbat
In an anguished time, we sing of taking delight from keeping Shabbat. Interestingly, the reverse is also true: the rhythm of this musical setting of a joyful prayer is tinged with melancholy.
February 09, 2024
Makom L’d’agah (A Place for Worry)
Topic(s) / Shabbat, Music
Yehonatan Geffen (1947–2023) was an esteemed Israeli man of letters.
February 02, 2024
Shabbat on Broadway
Topic(s) / Shabbat, Music
Featuring leading theater stars, the production Shabbat on Broadway was an inclusive experience that blended prayer and inspirational show tunes – the first time a Shabbat service has taken place on the Broadway stage.
January 26, 2024
Pray for Peace
Topic(s) / Shabbat, Music, Israel
Let us pray for peace using these timeless words from the Amidah, sung in this familiar melody. Oseh shalom bimromav hu ya-aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol Yisrael, v’imru amen – "May the one who creates peace on high bring peace to us and to all Israel. And we say: Amen."
January 19, 2024
Bring Them Home
Topic(s) / Music, Shabbat, Israel
This week we marked 100 days since 240 women, children, elderly people, and other innocent civilians were brutally abducted from their homes and held in captivity by Hamas, sitting in dark terrorist tunnels under the ground, their condition unknown.
January 05, 2024
What the World Needs Now Is Love
Topic(s) / Shabbat, Music
Burt Bacharach was a star in the firmament of Jewish songwriting that rose over New York through the 20th century. As we approach Bacharach’s yahrzeit, his beautiful, wistful setting of the lyrics of his frequent collaborator Hal David echoes even more profoundly.
December 08, 2023
Ahavat Olam – Infinite Love
Topic(s) / Music, Shabbat
Debbie Friedman’s popular melody is lovingly offered here by Cantor Schwartz and his daughter, recorded during the 2023 High Holidays in a new arrangement commissioned by the PAS Music Center. Barukh atah Adonai ohev amo Yisrael – "Praised are you Adonai who loves the people Israel."
December 01, 2023
Heal Us Now
Topic(s) / Music, Shabbat
“We pray for healing of all people.
We pray for healing of the land.
And peace for every race and nation,
Everyone who needs a helping hand.”