“Our theme for these High Holy Days is the Year of Improvisation. As we journey from the storytelling of 18th century Ukraine, to the mystical courts of 12th century Cairo, and into the music scene of 21st century New York City, we will search for ways to live life with a sense of lightness and play.
Improvisation is the art of listening, of taking what comes your way, and adding to what’s given. The improvisor’s response comes from the soulful center of one’s being. We improvise when we relinquish our expectation of control and result, and instead enter into the scary yet liberating space of the present moment. Come improvise with us!”
SERVICES RECORDINGS
by Jacob Mccoy
PHOTO GALLERIES
by Itamar Dotan Katz and Nichol Hutsel. Email itamar@newshul.org if you would like a high resolution file of any of the images
Erev Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah
Tashlich
Kol Nidre
Yom Kippur Morning
Yom Kippur Neilah
Children’s Service
MUSICIANS
Sir Frank London is a Grammy-award winning trumpeter-composer and co-founder of The Klezmatics. His works include the Yiddish-Cuban opera Hatuey Memory of Fire; the klezmer trumpet concerto Freylekhs for Trumpet & Orchestra , folk-opera A Night In The Old Marketplace, Davenen for Pilobolus Dance Theater; and 1001 Voices: Symphony for a New America. He has made over 40 recordings of his own music, most recently Ghetto Songs, Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars' Rooftop Concert; the Klezmatics' Letters to Afar; and the score for Salomé: Woman of Valor. He has worked with everyone from Itzhak Perlman to Iggy Pop; is featured on over 500 CDs, and was on HBO's Sex And The City.
Dana Herz is an Israeli, New York City-based singer and composer. Currently working on her debut album creating unique layers of sounds from Jazz, Soul, and Folk. Dana has been dedicated years to explore the human voice and its power to heal and connect people. Dana is currently leading her own band and has performed her original music in some of the most prestigious venues and festivals in Europe, Israel, and the United States, including WOMAD festival, The Troubador London, The Sunset Sun-side Paris, Le Poisson Rouge NYC, Muri Switzerland and many others.
Yonatan Gutfeld grew up in Jerusalem, where he studied music composition. He was active in the Tel Aviv singer-songwriter scene and toured the country with his band after releasing his debut album. He lives in NYC where he records his songs, teaches and writes music for theatre productions. Yonatan is also The New Shul's Music Director.
Daphna Mor is an internationally renowned musician, hailed by the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune for her virtuosity, as well as a passionate educator. Daphna has performed on such prestigious stages as Summer Stage, NY, with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, and as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and Tanglewood. She also performed in festivals and concerts in the United States, Canada, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Greece, and Israel. Among her many recordings, Daphna appears on Sting’s CD "If On a Winter’s Night." Christopher Hunt of MSN writes: "Ms. Mor leaves all who witness her playing with a smiling jaw-dropped expression.” Since moving to Brooklyn in 2000, she has established herself as a leading musician and educator/prayer leader, serving as a Musician in Residence at B'nai Jeshurun Synagogue, and leading the Early Childhood program and services at Brotherhood Synagogue in Gramercy Park. Mor is a passionate performer and teacher of liturgical music of the Jewish diaspora (Piyutim), focusing on brining awareness to the global element of prayer and including those melodies in Beineinu rituals. She was invited to Mumbai India where she gave a master class of Piyutim, while learning new local Indian ones and incorporating them in Beineinu Shabbat ceremonies. In other educational initiatives, Daphna acts as the Musician to the Education Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art connecting Art and Music Education. Daphna lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with her husband Daniel and their two children.
Saskia Lane is a Brooklyn-based Juilliard-trained bassist, composer, performer, puppet maker and educator. Saskia continues to tour her show BIRDHEART, which has captivated audiences worldwide, including a performance in Belgium graced by the presence of the Dalai Lama. For nearly a decade, Saskia was an integral part of the renowned Salzburg Festival, lending her multifaceted skills as a musician, actor, and puppeteer to the cherished annual production of JEDERMANN. In addition to her life as a performer, Saskia composes and directs operas for the very young, OTOYOTOY (2017), NOOMA (2019), and CAMILLE’S RAINBOW (2022), all of which premiered at Carnegie Hall. She just received her fourth commission of its kind, slated for the fall of 2024. Her work has received residencies at The New Victory Theater, BRIC, Park Avenue Armory, Watermill and St. Ann’s Warehouse. A classically-trained musician with a strong grounding in jazz, Saskia has appeared with artists as diverse as Jay-Z and Beyonce, Marc Ribot and the Kronos Quartet.
Yuval Lion is a New York based drummer, born in Tel Aviv. Lion has worked with some of the world’s most distinguished rock, pop, r&b and jazz artists including Chrissie Hynde, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Meshell Ndgeocello, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Lionel Loueke and more recently with David Byrne, Suzanne Vega Duncan Sheik and David Broza. In addition to worldwide tours Lion maintains a high profile in New York City's live and studio scene. Yuval is a member of the New York iconic guitar noir trio Big Lazy.
SPECIAL GUESTS
We're thrilled to welcome Rabbi Abby Stein this year as a member of our Rabbinic Chavurah and our 5784 Scholar in Residence. Rabbi Abby was born and raised in a Hasidic community, is a direct descendent of its founder the Baal Shem Tov and attended an “all boys” Yeshiva, as a student in the Chassidic community in Williamsburg. She is steeped in the world of her ancestor, Rabbi Nachman and the other Chassidic voices that we will be mining these High Holidays. Ordained in 2011, Rabbi Abby is an educator, author and activist. After leaving the Hasidic community, and coming out as a woman of trans experience, she has given 500+ speeches, around the world on all 7 continents, raising awareness on LGBTQ issues in Judaism, antisemitism, media, and more. Her Book, Becoming Eve, was published in 2019. In 2020 she was named by Prospect Magazine 1 of The World's Top 50 Thinkers.
Martin Reckhaus is Co-founder and Director of Loretta Auditorium, a collective of theatre/film artists. Emerging from the experimental theatre scene of NYC’s Lower East Side in the 1980s, this company has consistently produced provocative new works for theatre and, more recently, film. He studied theatre at the Studiobuehne, Koeln. “Rhythm, history and the belief that the stage—the world—as we construct and perceive it—can be and is changed by sensual means: this is what drew me to the theatre. Born into German post-war society, active participation in the social, aesthetic, and civil renewal was a necessity, more than a question of choice. Originally, I engaged in politics, attracted by the potential of the public assembly. However, I quickly became disillusioned with this realm. At that point, I was offered a role in a play. The world opened. I was possessed by the conviction that change comes about through a poetic and philosophical quickening.”
Erika Sasson is one of a handful of people in the country running restorative justice processes in cases of homicide, sexual harm, and domestic violence. A 2023 recipient of the prestigious David Prize for extraordinary New Yorkers, Erika has worked for the last decade on developing her approach. She spends months in conversation and in preparation with each of the parties involved-- and their loved ones--and she has learned deep lessons about forgiveness, repentance, and the question of whether people can change.