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Let's Celebrate Together

Congratulations to the students, staff and volunteers for a fine religious school year. The students did very well with their class services, Musical Maccabiah, Matzah Ball Bash and final assembly. I am very pleased with their increased repertoire of Jewish music, both liturgical and folk inspired. After three years, the music program is building upon familiarity and increased appreciation of our musical heritage.

This past year was also a good beginning with the four ruach services. Eight more of these services are being planned in the next two years. Please contact me if you would like to be an instrumental or vocal leader.

On May 18th, I had an opportunity to participate in the Jewish community wide celebration of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). The program was hosted by Ner Tamid Synagogue, an orthodox community in Northwest Baltimore. I lead the Ma'ariv service and co-lead the Hallel festive prayers in honor of the holiday. There were two other cantors, three Rabbis and the Ha'Zamir High School choir who presented a one hour program of engaging Jewish choral music. High School teens are encouraged to audition for this choir.

This program brought community leaders and members together to celebrate without regard to Jewish affiliation or background. The theme of the evening was to understand Jerusalem as a both a historical site and a contemporary center of religious and national importance. The Jewish references to its prominence in our culture and religious expression were emphasized throughout the evening experience. We were challenged by a series of questions on how best to balance the importance of the city to Jews all over the world as well as Palestinians and people of other faiths and cultures. It was effective to have the high school youth sing of our aspirations and yearnings for Jerusalem to be a city of peace as well as being a central focus of our own faith.

I was moved by the collaborations with Cantors Yehoshuah Redfern and Isaac Koll as we presented the liturgy. The congregation joined us in the prayers with plenty of ruach. Yehoshuah, Isaac, and I brought to the service a variety of melodies based on our varied backgrounds of service leadership. Our presentation of prayers was a true moment of acceptance as everyone joined in musically despite the differences from the usual minchag (custom) of Ner Tamid congregation. This is the true goal of K'lal Yisraeil, the unity of our Jewish people. It is obvious that Bolton Street Synagogue has an important role within the greater Baltimore Jewish community in celebrating our heritage and exploring our differences. This has remained a strong motivation of my professional and personal involvement in Jewish life.

My family and I wish you a healthy, nice summer. L'Shalom,

- Alan Rubinstein

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