“The rhythm is gonna get you!”  Maybe, or maybe it’s the lyrics, or maybe it’s the drumbeat, but we all have that one song that speaks to us.  Music can be a powerful method of communication.  Music reaches out to our consciousness better than most other types of communication.  It is through music, that even if we do not understand the language (i.e.: Italian, French, or German in Opera or Hebrew in our prayers), the music helps to convey the meaning to our consciousness.  A Hazzan is the person in our T’fillah who takes the meaning of the Prayers and through his / her voice conveys the meaning to the consciousness of the Congregation.

“Music can be used for many purposes: entertainment, setting an environment, inducing certain moods, giving instruction, healing, and so forth. It is also a very powerful tool for personal/spiritual growth and conscious living. If inner growth is your goal, it’s essential to consciously surround yourself with music that truly supports that goal. For apart from music’s outer forms—genre, lyrics, etc.—every piece of music has more subtle and potent factors that influence us on deeper-than-conscious levels. Choosing music is therefore not so much a question of likes and dislikes, or of others’ opinions, but of what, exactly, any given piece of music actually communicates to you.” (Source: The Hidden Message of Music by Kraig Brockschmidt http://www.kraigbrockschmidt.com/the-hidden-messages-of-music/)

Throughout history there have been many songs written and sung about specific messages.  Songs about battles, songs of love, songs for peace, songs about hope, etc.  Look at many of our prayers, or think of the American National Anthem, the Canadian Anthem, or even Israel’s Anthem. Many of those messages have to do with peace (Shalom Rav; Oseh Shalom; Sim Shalom; etc.).  Regardless of the language, music helps to pass that message along to the listener, especially if the singer is conveying that message resoundingly through his / her artistry.

On May 30^th, 2019 – at Dix Hills Jewish Center (DHJC) we had our annual Cantor’s Concert.  We are living in a time fraught with violence, racism, and anti-Semitism.  The  theme for this concert was “Songs of Peace and Love”.  To help convey this important message we had four young talented Hazzanim from the Conservative Movement:  Cantor Bonnie Zakarin from Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre/Congregation Etz Chaim (HERJC); Cantor Ben Tisser from North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, IL; Cantor Sandy Bernstein from Temple Sholom in Greenwich, CT; and Cantor Asa Fradkin from Congregation Beth El in Bethesda, MD.  They were accompanied by the extremely talented Scott Stein on the Piano; Gaston Bernstein on Percussion; and Nathan Hevenstone (my son) on the Guitar.

Our song selections covered our Liturgy; Opera; Broadway; and even some Pop.  The focus of every piece of music was to convey to the listeners’ consciousness the themes of Love and Peace.  Through the artistry and talent of the performers we were able to take the message of love and peace to heart and pass that message along to others that we see and meet.

“Music is a fundamental channel of communication: it provides a means by which people can share emotions, intentions, and meanings. Music can exert powerful physical and behavioral effects, can produce deep and profound emotions within us, and can be used to generate infinitely subtle variations of expressiveness by skilled composers and performers, such that highly complex informational structures and contents can be communicated extremely rapidly between people. Music is something we do with and for other people.” (Source: How Do People Communicate Using Music by David J. Hargreaves, Raymond MacDonal* and Dorothy Miell – Musical Communication eds. D. E. Miell, R. MacDonald and D. J. Hargreaves – Oxford University Press [2005])

May the music of our hearts be filled with Peace and Love.  Know that in the future we will have more concerts at DHJC and I will be inviting more of my amazing colleagues to perform along with me on the “Bima”.  May the “Rhythm get us” and may our hearts continue to rise in song and glory.