I believe that one of the things that endeared me to the Temple Sholom search committee way back in 1999 was when I told them that I had grown up at a congregation nearby and knew “New Jersey Reform Judaism”. For most of my childhood, my father was the rabbi at Temple Beth-El, the next Reform congregation west of Temple Sholom. While I was growing up, the congregation had, every service, a non-Jewish organist and, for all but our last few years, a non-Jewish soloist, who stood on the bimah next to the rabbi, and sang all the music. The non-Jewish part is not relevant for their religion, but rather the background. Not knowing Hebrew, she sang the transliteration in much the same way that an opera singer might sing Italian or German - for the sounds rather than the words. For Classical American Reform, in much of the 20th century, music was performative. The congregation was allowed to sing along, at certain times, but the purpose of the music was the same as concert attendance - to move and to uplift the listener. By the 1970’s, the status quo was being challenged by the new folk music coming out of our youth movement (NFTY) and our camps. The symbol of the classical tradition was the organ and the new style - the guitar.
When I came to Temple Sholom, we still had an organist who played at least once a month at Friday evening services and at every Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Most of those services were held in the large theater-seating sanctuary, because that was where the organ was. Our sanctuary had seating for about three hundred, a raised bimah (with several stairs) and a very imposing architecture. The acoustics were designed so that the congregation could hear music from the bimah, but not the singing of the congregation. There was a large organ and even a choir space which was designed (but I do not know if ever used) for the choir to sing, invisible to the congregation, behind a wall with a mesh screen. At Temple Emanu-El in New York City, the choir and the organist are actually one story up, above the Ark, behind a similar wall. The worship space was designed to make the congregant an observer more than a participant.
Following trends which pre-dated my tenure, Temple Sholom had already begun to change. For several years, we had hired student Cantors from Hebrew Union College, who brought not only the formal style of classical Reform Judaism, but the hazzanut of Ashkenazic Orthodoxy, the neo-hasidism of Shlomo Carlebach, and Sephardic tradition, as well as the new Debbie Friedman camp music. On the non-organist Shabbats, music was either a capella or guitar. For the High HolyDays, we had a hired (non-member) choir for the High HolyDays, and the guitar was rarely used. Services had occasionally been held in the old sanctuary, known as the Nathanson chapel, with more informal seating and a (slightly) lower bimah. I arrived in the summer, and we began to have summer services seated in the round. As our student cantors were not available during July and August, we mostly sang a capella. The know well-known rule began - when there is no cantor, the congregation has to sing louder to drown out the rabbi.
Now, however, the secret agenda can finally be revealed. As we were encouraging our new student cantors to bring more and more guitar music into our worship, we began to alternate our worship between the formal sanctuary and the less formal chapel, based on attendance and feel for the service. When the time came to leave our Plainfield location, we made two important changes. In our new worship space, we sat in a semi-circle, rather than in straight rows. Our new student cantor, Shira Nafshi, developed a volunteer congregant choir. The new choir practiced every week and sang, formally, every month or so. Here’s the subversive part. We knew that many of the members of our choir were regular service attendees. We consciously taught them new music that the congregation could sing. The most important time the choir sang was not on the monthly Fridays when they led, but every other Friday when they sat mixed in the rest of the congregation and provided an example of joyous voices coming from the membership, not just from the bimah. Over the time that we spent in rental space, we transformed ourselves from a listening congregation to a singing congregation. Over time, one of the most important criteria when we interviewed student cantors was their guitar skills and ability to sing with and not over the congregation. It is no surprise that our current cantor, who sang from childhood in her congregational choir, was also a songleader in our NFTY region. We created a songbook with transliteration, so everyone could sing, regardless of their Hebrew knowledge. When the time came to design our new building, our acoustics were intentionally designed for the congregation to hear each other sing, as well as to hear the voice of cantor and choir.
As in our Proverbs quote this month, a house of worship is also built by wisdom and meaningful worship is established by understanding - understanding not just of what prayer may be, but how to participate. At the beginning of each service, the cantor and I work to bring everyone into worship. Our worship philosophy is that everyone should feel invited to participate in whatever way they are comfortable, but that we make the service as accessible as possible. On a Saturday morning, we spend ten to fifteen minutes introducing that unique congregation to our prayerbook, to our music, to our worship. Our B’nei Mitzvah are trained to be leaders of meaningful Jewish worship - and they know that it is a partnership between leaders and congregation.
Growing up in a congregation, in our Reform youth movement, in the music of our camps, my favorite song has always been Debbie Friedman’s “Sing Unto God”. Here it is, in its original, slightly dated, language. Thank you for singing with me (and over me) for the past 18 years:
Sing unto God, sing a new song
O sing praises to God, give thanks to Him with a song
O sing praises unto the Lord thy God.
Rejoice in the Lord all ye righteous
And cry out to the Lord with joy
Sing out from your hearts, O sing praises to God.
(Bless His name, O sing unto the Lord a song of prayer
Sing praises to the Lord, sing unto God) (2x)
Sing unto God, sing a new song unto (3x) God,
Sing a new song unto God (3x)
Songwriters: Debbie Friedman
Sing Unto God lyrics © A Side Music LLC D/B/A Modern Works Music Publishing
