music

100 dancers, one heart

The executive of the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society at their annual BeLev Echad event, which took place May 29-31 this year. (photo by Galit Lewinsky)

Over the weekend of May 29, the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society hosted their annual BeLev Echad (With One Heart) event. This year’s gathering brought dancers from across North America: Toronto, Chicago, Halifax, Boston, Portland and San Francisco. Workshop director Nona Malki was joined by instructors Marcelo Marianoff (Argentina) and Dror Davidi (Israel).

The workshops culminated in a party on Saturday night, attended by more than 100 guests. Beginning with a Havdalah service, the party was DJ’d by local dance teacher Yael Levy Morantz, announcing the tunes, many of which were played by request.

The evening was filled with almost nonstop dancing and singing. A buffet table of snacks and treats was on offer. While some of the dances were energetic and fast-paced, there were also couples and line dances. Giant fans kept the dancers cool.

Dancers took a short break to watch a phenomenal tap dance solo by 11-year-old Li-Ya Atia, who had come up from Washington with her dance teacher parents, Ohad and Victoria. An accomplished dancer with a repertoire covering five different styles, she also studies musical theatre. Li-Ya’s mom threw in a couple of split-jumps in the middle of one dance.

According to longtime VIFS member Arthur Weinstein, Israeli folk dance is a terrific example of cultural growth and conservation. “Anyone can choreograph a dance to a song they have chosen and register the steps with an agency in Israel,” he said.

photo - VIFS T-shirts — *(photo by Galit Lewinsky)*

New dances are sourced from the agency and shared at events like BeLev Echad, with teachers memorizing the steps to bring home to their students. This way, an international group can gather anywhere in the world – and dance together, in unison. It’s a great way to stay connected to the global Jewish community, exercise and enjoy good music.

The evening also featured a silent auction for a unique set of wind chimes. While Israeli hostages remained in Gaza, many VIFS members wore “Bring Them Home” dog tags to keep them front of mind. When all the hostages were finally returned to Israel, VIFS members removed their dog tags but, rather than hiding them in a drawer, the tags gained new meaning as a piece of collaborative art created by Glenda Leznoff, Rina Vizer and Dave Smith. (See jewishindependent.ca/a-chime-of-metal-tags.) Avi Malki made the winning bid.

Music included traditional favourites like “Hine Ma Tov” (“Behold How Good”), familiar Israeli songs like “Naama” by Ofra Haza and contemporary mixes. There was also an offering from Chava Alberstein (1992), “Shir Megaresh Et Hachoshech” (“A Song Dispels the Darkness”), which it certainly did.

Many VIFS members are passionate about dance and loyal to their roots. Esti Livne has been coming consistently for 30 years. The only time she missed it, she said, was when her son was graduating from Yale University.

The goal of VIFS is to ensure that Jewish culture is both accessible and affordable. Thanks to donations by local sponsors, VIFS can offer these inclusive programs. Indeed, the party welcomed visitors from all over the Lower Mainland, not all of whom were Jewish. The inclusivity was also apparent from the playpen in the corner of the hall, which allowed young parents to dance without excluding the rest of the family. During his visit to Canada, Marianoff took the time to teach wheelchair folk dance at Louis Brier Home and Hospital, and gave classes on Vancouver Island.

According to teacher Levy Morantz, “every part of the weekend was filled with joy.”

For more information about VIFS, contact Pam Wolfman at 604-839-3931, Malki at 778-834-3488 or Levy Morantz at 604-993-0223. You can also visit vancouverisraelidance.com.

Shula Klinger is an author and journalist living in North Vancouver.

Celebrate our culture

The May 31 Festival of Jewish Culture finale will be a concert by a trio of musicians coming in from Los Angeles: Rabbi Tori Greene, accompanied by Yonatan Dror (wind instruments) and Daniel Feldman (percussion). (photo from JCCGV)

A local artisans market, food trucks, dance performances, workshops and a concert – the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Festival of Jewish Culture takes place on May 31, from noon to 4:30 p.m. The event is the culmination of the JCC’s celebration of Jewish Heritage Month.

The marketplace will include Elmwood Candles, Lana’s Jewelry Collection, Keep Turning Studio, AMLiora Designs, Rheya Taylor Designs, Sind Studio, Creative Beading, Lind 3D Wurm, Circles by Nava, Nomi’s Paletas, Braids On, and Egg Plant and Co. Planted Love and Ping BBQ food trucks will be on site.

The festival will once again feature a dance showcase in the Rothstein Theatre, starting at 12:30 p.m. There will be performances by JCC Orr Chadash and Orr Yeladim, Vancouver Talmud Torah, Richmond Jewish Day School, Kol Halev, Aviv Dancers, Dena Wosk School of Performing Arts and others.

At various points in the day, there will be workshops for which people will need to sign up to attend: Israeli dance, krav maga, hamsa-making, and how to make hummus and Israeli salad. There also will be a community street art-mural-making workshop in the arts and crafts room.

The day’s finale is a concert of global Jewish music, sounds and prayers from across the Jewish diaspora and Israel, by a trio of musicians coming in from Los Angeles: Rabbi Tori Greene, accompanied by Israelis Yonatan Dror (wind instruments) and Daniel Feldman (percussion).

“I’m so excited this year for the sense of togetherness made possible by the incredible artists we’re hosting. From professional dancers to chefs to musicians, it’s truly a gift to experience it all beyachad, together. I can’t wait to see everyone, happily full of great food and fun finds, arriving at the Wosk for our grand musical finale,” said Nomi Zysblat, coordinator of Jewish and Israeli engagement at the JCC.

The May 31 program caps off a month of activities at the JCC centring on Jewish culture and heritage.

On May 10, 10 a.m., there is Hebrew Sunday Storytime & Breakfast ($7.50/adult, $5.50/child).

The Project Heroes concert with Israeli singer and storyteller Gilad Segev – celebrating courage, resilience, Jewish pride and unity through music and personal stories – takes place May 13, 7 p.m., in the Rothstein Theatre ($18/$36/$54; $10 for VTT, RJDS, KDHS and Hillel students).

There are two author talks: Caryl Eve Dolinko on A Woman’s Guide to World Travel, hosted by Circle of Friends for Women 55+ on May 14, 2 p.m., at the centre; and Adeena Sussman on Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes, hosted by Hadassah USA/Canada online on May 19, at 4 p.m. For a review of Dolinko’s book, go to jewishindependent.ca/traveling-as-a-woman.

Lilian Broca’s exhibit Lilith – in which she revisits the myth of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, exploring the struggle of an empowered, independent woman whose conflicts echo those faced by women today – opens at the Zack Gallery May 20, and runs through June 29. Broca gives a talk and slide presentation on the exhibit on May 26, at 7 p.m.

For Shavuot, there will be ice cream served in the atrium on May 21, 3-5 p.m., and candlelighting on Shabbat May 29. There will be a community Shabbat dinner (dairy) for Hebrew speakers, including a short Kabbalat Shabbat with songs and readings, on May 22, at 6:30 p.m. Another Hebrew-oriented event is the May 24, 7 p.m., sing-along with Miriam Benny.

There is a community tiyul and picnic – a family nature walk, ending with a snack picnic and games on the beach – on May 24, 10 a.m., and a piano recital at the centre on May 27, 11:30 a.m., featuring Dmitri Kristalinsky showcasing the music of Jewish composers.

For more information, tickets and/or registration for any of these events, visit jccgv.com/may-events-programs. For more information on the May 31 festival and to register to attend, go to jccgv.com/program-category/jewish-festival.

– Courtesy Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

What makes us human

Michael Posner, author of Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories, was Kolot Mayim’s final speaker in this season’s Zoom lecture series. (photo from Michael Posner)

Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 Zoom lecture series on Jewish music concluded April 12 with a talk by Michael Posner on Hallelujah and Beyond: Leonard Cohen’s Torah of Song.

Posner, a playwright, author and journalist living in Toronto, penned Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories, covering the musician’s life from his early years in Montreal to his death in Los Angeles in 2016. Posner drew on more than 500 interviews with Cohen’s family, friends and others to offer a complete portrait of the man and his art.

“It won’t surprise many of you to know that Leonard was a very complex character, a very complicated individual,” Posner said. “In fact, when I speak about the Jewish soul of Leonard Cohen, it’s necessary to attach what I would call an asterisk to that description. The asterisk is actually very appropriate to Leonard, and maybe essential, because he was a man of many moods and many masks, many manifestations and many contradictions.”

Cohen had a profoundly Jewish soul, according to Posner. Not only was he a kohanim (descendant of Jewish priests), but an ancestor was the unofficial chief rabbi of Montreal, his grandfather was a talmudic scholar and portraits of Cohen’s forefathers feature prominently on the walls of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal.

“From the time that he starts writing, as a teenager in the early 1950s, Jewish themes and motifs, Jewish imagery and history infuse his art – they are a very essential part of the first four books of poetry that he wrote,” Posner said.

It is through his music, however, that Cohen achieved international fame, and many of his songs “cleverly exploit Jewish ideas and scripture,” said Posner.

In “Who by Fire,” for example, which echoes the Unetaneh Tokef prayer of the High Holy Days, Cohen is not rejecting faith, so much as trying to establish, in the wake of the Holocaust, the grounds of continuing faith, argues Posner.

“The metaphor here,” he said, “is a kind of corporate secretary fielding phone calls on behalf of humanity itself, some of whom will live and some of whom will die in the next year, according to the decree of the caller. But who, exactly, is the caller? Who is at the other end of the line? Dear God, it’s me, Leonard. Are you still there? Can you please identify yourself? This is a theme that Cohen mines continually.”

In “Hallelujah,” Posner spots irony in the line, “There was a time you let me know / What’s really going on below / But now you never show it to me, do you?”

The song is often perceived as a celebration of God, but, Posner said, “I don’t think people have paid close enough attention to the lyric, because the lyric is really saying, we want to believe in you, God, but it’s not that simple.”

Posner discussed Cohen’s struggles with established Judaism and his spiritual exploration that delved into other faiths, including Christianity, I Ching and Sufism; Cohen was devoted to Rinzai Zen Buddhism and ordained as a monk in 1996. Nonetheless, there were several aspects of Judaism that Cohen honoured.

“In the 1970s, he began to study with a Chabad rabbi in Montreal and routinely traveled when he was on tour with his tallis and tefillin bags,” Posner said. “In later life, he joined a synagogue in Los Angeles, whose rabbi, Mordecai Finley, was deeply steeped in kabbalah. And, later still, he studied online with Yakov Leib HaKohain, another rabbi who was immersed in the mystical aspects of Judaism.”

Cohen, in Posner’s view, touched upon everything that is human – magnificent, brilliant, humorous and generous, yet capable of being cynical, depressed, angry and jealous.

“I think that is really what I ultimately draw from this fantastic human being – that enormous complexity, an enormous soul that tried to reach beyond our everyday lives and look at the enduring qualities that make us human,” Posner said.

Kolot Mayim’s next series starts in November, with the theme of “Lech Lecha: Journeys of the Soul.”

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Story of Israel’s north

Kiryat Shmona musician Ben Golan will perform at the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations in Vancouver April 21. (photo from Ben Golan)

“Music for me is a way to say: we are still here, still alive, still building a future. It gives people a place to feel, and also the strength to keep going,” said Ben Golan, who will headline our local celebration of Israel’s 78th Independence Day, on April 21.

Golan is a musician and producer from Kiryat Shmona, a city in our community’s partnership region, the Upper Galilee, in Israel. He is the founder of the initiative Patifon.

“For 17 years,” he said, “I’ve been producing music and running a recording studio in the city. Over time, I realized that my work isn’t just about producing songs. It’s about building something that can sustain a real musical community in the north, giving a stage to local creators and creating a movement that feels connected to this place.”

Patifon, which means record player or turntable in Hebrew, serves as a hub for local artists.

“It all started simply, with jam sessions in the studio,” explained Golan. “People began coming to play, sing, meet and connect. Slowly, it grew, until the gatherings were too big for the studio to handle. There wasn’t enough space, but there was a hunger for music. Then, thanks to the youth centre and the amazing Elad Kozikaro, who gave us a budget and the perfect space, we got a shelter, which, in times like these, is a valuable commodity in the north. We moved in, completely renovated it and turned it into the most beautiful music lounge; a place where you can come and feel at home, even if it’s your first time there.”

The lounge morphed into Patifon.

“We started filming live sessions of artists and bands there, with proper sound and respect for the music,” Golan said. “All the sessions were uploaded to YouTube under Patifon and, over time, it started to catch on and reach more and more people. Suddenly, what began as a small local gathering became a stage watched by people outside the north.

“As the audience grew and we realized this needed more breathing room, we opened a community pub. Students from Tel-Hai College volunteer there as part of a scholarship program and help keep the place alive and running.”

For Golan, Kiryat Shmona is not just where he was born and grew up. He calls the city and the Upper Galilee his “inner language.”

“In this city, I learned what the rhythm of a community really is: people who know each other, who will always help you when you need something. There’s a different kind of air here,” he said.

“I have a stream right by my house. It seeped into my music without me even intending it to – a mix of rough and tender, of truth and esthetics, of wanting to shout and needing a moment of quiet to breathe,” he explained. “The nature here, the open space and the distance from the centre taught me how to really listen – not to the noise, but to what lies underneath it.

“Continuing to create in the north, especially after Oct. 7, is not a romantic choice for me – it’s a stance,” he said. “The region went through a real upheaval: fear, evacuation, uncertainty and, also, a kind of pain that people who don’t live here sometimes don’t fully understand. Out of all of that, creativity becomes a tool for connection and healing.”

Golan chose to stay in Kiryat Shmona out of a sense of mission.

“I believe the periphery holds immense talent, real hunger and stories you can’t fake – it just needs infrastructure, a home and support,” he said. “I want the young people and artists here to feel that they don’t have to leave in order to become something. On the contrary – that this place itself can become a source of inspiration, an opportunity and a creative centre that generates culture rather than just consumes it.”

Coming to Vancouver for Yom Ha’atzmaut, Golan said he brings messages of resilience and hope – and he takes those words seriously.

“Independence, for me, is also the ability to choose to create despite the difficulty, to choose community, to choose light,” he said. “I want to bring the story of the north: people who continue to build, to organize events, to create music and to hold each other up even when reality is complicated. In my music, there is room for both joy and pain, because both are part of our lives – especially in this time.”

On April 21, Vancouver band HaOptziot will also take the stage at the community celebrations, playing covers of various Israeli hits.

For tickets ($36/adult, $12/youth, $75/family pack) to the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations, go to jewishvancouver.com/yh2026.

Drawing on his roots

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ezra Ben-Shalom’s debut solo album, Known and Unknown, was released in 2025. (photo by Michelle Behr)

With his debut solo album, released last year, Kelowna musician Ezra Ben-Shalom shows off his personal side, with a uniquely Jewish touch.

For Ben-Shalom, who reconnected to Jewish ritual practice around five years ago, Known and Unknown – his first solo project – is a deeply personal one. The focus of his music and daily life has become all about asking questions, he said. It’s about finding ways to be of service in the world and creating a connection with something larger than himself.

“I’m doing my best to be of value to the world and to the culture. And, you know, you step in front of a room of people and take a deep breath and open your mouth and sing – I want to offer something that’s real, that’s authentic and that’s meaningful,” the 43-year-old said in a phone interview.

The album is highly Jewish-inspired, owing to his own reconnections – and, he said, he hopes it will encourage empathy among listeners.

“I think the album title was maybe a hint to myself to come from that place of humility, that we don’t have the answers, as much as we think we know or that we learn,” said Ben-Shalom.

The songs on Known and Unknown include some Hebrew words, and the sounds of a shofar on two tracks, though the lyrics are largely in English.

Jewish themes shape much of Ben-Shalom’s interpretation and highly personal expressions; however, he emphasizes that, while his path is Jewish, he sees the disc’s new compositions as something more broadly accessible. The songs, he said, are “about inner experiences and feelings and reflections, and they’re about living in the world as a human being, not as a Jewish human being.”

Themes of transformation, vulnerability and boldness underline the album’s adult alternative and folk-adjacent sounds, and Jewish references abound, with songs titled “Shechina,” “Shake the Dust,” and “El and Gil.”

New name, old passion

Ben-Shalom is the new-ish musical handle of producer and multi-instrumentalist Ezra Cipes, who grew up in Kelowna and has played in bands since he was 14 years old, he told the CJN.

By the time he was 19, Cipes and one of his three brothers co-wrote a song with Indian-born Canadian punk/alternative music icon Bif Naked, who grew up in Winnipeg. He’s also performed regularly and recorded with the Calgary-born indie-pop-folk artists Tegan and Sara. (Bif Naked’s bassist, Chris Carlson, produced, co-wrote and played most of the other instruments on Ben-Shalom’s 2025 album.)

Prior to the new project, another band featuring the musical Cipes family had been nominated in 2022 for a Juno Award in the children’s music category for the second disc by the troupe, called the Oot n’ Oots. The five-piece band comprised Ezra; his three brothers, Matthew, Gabe and Ari; and his daughter, Ruthie, who was the singer.

When that project wound down following the end of 2023 summer festivals, the guitarist and keyboard player turned to exploring a different expressive musical language. He had set out on that musical exploration when the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, refocused his artistic lens.

“Oct. 7 put a lot of things into focus and showed the ways that, really, we’re all lost in one way or another,” he said.

The way the world responded after Oct. 7 was a “frustrating and painful” experience, he said.

“You think, ‘What can any of us do?’ And none of us can fix it – you can’t completely change all these cultural narratives and people’s ideas and correct the record or bring a higher perspective on our own, but we can do our part. We can stand strong in our own truth and share it, proudly and with strength and humility.”

Explaining that he’s always needed “a little spiritual medicine in my life,” Ben-Shalom described reading at night, from literature and philosophy to spiritual and self-help books, and had long realized he needed to do that, even before he connected with Judaism.

Pivotal turn to Judaism

Growing up, while his family – who own a successful organic vineyard – belonged to a local synagogue, they weren’t traditionally observant, though he became bar mitzvah and attended Jewish summer camp.

But, as an adult, he reflected, he was “totally disconnected” when it came to traditional Jewish practice and observance.

It was a moment in 2020, early during the pandemic, following a sweat lodge ceremony led by Ron Hall, a longtime family friend who’s an Indigenous artist and biologist, that brought Ben-Shalom an epiphany.

“It [the sweat lodge] was one of those moments that really flipped a switch in my whole life, and it was just a hinge moment. I thanked him [Hall] for the ceremony, and I shared with him how powerful it was and how meaningful it was, how deep it was,” said Ben-Shalom.

“And I said to him that he’s lucky to have the traditions to draw on to connect with his own soul and with the creator and I said to him: ‘All I have is this shallow materialistic Western culture.’

“And he said, ‘What are you talking about, Ezra? You’re Jewish. You come from an Indigenous people.’”

Nobody had ever said that to him before, Ben-Shalom recalled, and it became a turning point.

“I had grown up thinking it was cool to be Jewish and, like, neat, but also vaguely embarrassing to be Jewish, and it was something I didn’t really like to talk about or get into very much because … I always felt othered,” he said.

The COVID-era wave of social justice movements brought a resurgence of ideas “about decolonization and equality,” he said. “It’s good to support the Indigenous people keeping their culture, keeping their language, keeping their tradition, keeping the oral culture alive.”

He felt a tinge of hypocrisy. “And then I realized I was not honouring my own ancestors and I didn’t know my own language. I didn’t know my own story,” he said.

Ben-Shalom now attends the local Chabad, lays tefillin and wears tzitzit and a kippah.

He described one of the first times he performed the new music at a live show at the Kelowna venue Revelry in 2024.

“I got off stage and my whole body was sore, from holding myself and breathing and keeping myself grounded and keeping myself in a state of service,” he said. (Since then, he’s felt “a little bit more relaxed” performing the new material.)

“The songs are almost like prayers, and you have to kind of get into that place to sing them, where there’s a genuine connection and not just notes and not just words.”

Ben-Shalom hopes to bring the album in a live performance to audiences across Canada, and to ensure that includes Jewish audiences, he told the CJN.

“I’d like to play for all audiences that will have me, but, in particular, I want to go and play for Jewish people,” he said. “I want to share these songs with Jewish people. I want to bring inspiration, pride and honour to our tradition, to Jewish people.”

Jonathan Rothman is a reporter for the CJN based in Toronto. This article was originally published on thecjn.ca and is reprinted with permission.

Songs in war of peace

Naomi Cohn Zentner shared how music in the time of war can offer resilience and hope. (photo from Naomi Cohn Zentner)

Earlier this month, ethnomusicologist Naomi Cohn Zentner gave the lecture Music and War: An Optimistic View. Her talk was the fourth in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 Many Voices of Jewish Music Zoom series.

Speaking from Israel, Cohn Zentner, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, examined how music in the time of war can offer resilience and hope, and is not solely about tragedy and mourning. She started with a photograph of Leonard Cohen and Israeli musician Matti Caspi, who passed away on Feb. 8, the day of her talk. The pair were performing for soldiers during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Ariel Sharon at their side.

Cohn Zentner then played two songs, composed more than a century apart: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written during the American Civil War, and a 1967 performance by the Nachal Entertainment Troupe called “Hallelujah.”

Contrasting the two, Cohn Zentner argued that the former is a sacralizing, providential song in the war hymn tradition, seeing war very much within a religious way of life and values, while the Israeli song – with lines such as, “If there were no need for rifles anymore, then we would sing ‘Hallelujah’” and “If children could play by the border, then you’d hear their mothers sigh in relief, ‘Hallelujah’” – offers a hope for peace, or a prayer for peace.

“It’s an Israeli war song tradition, which shows just how important peace was in these fighting units,” Cohn Zentner said. “We can see this as two opposing examples of what war songs are about.

“The religious hymn of the Civil War is ‘Glory, Hallelujah.’ The conflict itself is very religious and violence, while terrifying, is also cleansing and purifying, and death and martyrdom make men free,” she said. In the Israeli song, war is de-romanticized, death is not glorified but used as a reason to end wars, life itself is considered holy, peace is the desired goal, and the music is more national and secular in outlook.

Last year, on the Israeli reality show, Hakokhav Haba (Rising Star), during which a contestant is chosen to represent the country at Eurovision, Daniel Weiss, from Kibbutz Be’eri, selected Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as one of his songs. Weiss, who lost both of his parents during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, performed a duet with Arab singer Valerie Hamaty in both Hebrew and Arabic.

“Of course, this image was so powerful and iconic – of them singing this song together in Hebrew and Arabic after everything that had happened. It was a very emotional moment,” Cohn Zentner said.

Another song Weiss performed, in honour of his parents, was “Ani Guitar” (“I Am a Guitar”) by Naomi Shemer, which contains the lyric “I remember all those who played on me before, and I say thank you.”

“This symbolic issue of a guitar, which used to be a tree, but still has in it the ability to thank all those who [have] played on him … is very, very emotional,” she said.

Weiss lost out to Yuval Raphael in the contest to represent Israel. Raphael, a survivor of the Nova music festival, performed ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” as her final song in the show. She dedicated it to those who died at Nova.

“I sing about the angels who weren’t fortunate enough to be here now. It hurts because I had this chance not only to come back [from the festival] and to live, but to fulfil my dream. There are those who stayed there, and the shadow behind me is the only thing left of them,” said Raphael, who went on to place second in the 2025 Eurovision with the song “New Day Will Rise.”

At the end of her talk, Cohn Zentner played “Not Alone,” a song penned by Doror Talmon of the band Jane Bordeaux in the weeks following Oct. 7. The song speaks to the feelings of being in the close-knit community of a kibbutz in which everyone has a role and nobody is dispensable; if one person is lost, it affects the entire community.

“The song starts by telling us about all the sad and tragic things that happened, and asks who is going to bring the kibbutz back to what it was,” Cohn Zentner said.

Then, she pointed out, there is a shift in the song to where it answers, “We’ll all extend a hand, we are not alone, and we are partners in fate, in pain and in love, as one people. We will cry and we will overcome, we’re not going to break, we’re going to come together, we have each other, the roots of the trees will go into the earth, and we’re going to be rebuilding.”

The next speaker in Kolot Mayim’s series is Joshua Jacobson, an author, composer and choral director. Jacobson, professor emeritus of music at Northeastern University in Boston, will delve into the history and ongoing evolution of Jewish music in his April 5 talk, Jewish Music: What’s That? For more information, go to kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Music can comfort us

On Dec. 3, in the second webinar of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 Building Bridges Lecture Series, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz guided an interactive examination of the potential to harness the power of music, especially that which provides solace, be it secular or liturgical.

Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, director of prayer and music at the Hadar Institute in New York. (photo from Hadar Institute)

The director of tefillah (prayer) and music at the Hadar Institute, an educational organization in New York City, Sacks Mintz showed how, through text study, deep listening and participation, comfort (or anchor) songs can ignite creativity and provide strength, resilience and hope in an individual – and also serve communities in times of disruption.

“Tumultuous times are unfortunately nothing new. Times have been tumultuous since the dawn of humanity. And, also since the dawn of humanity, folks have drawn comfort from a variety of modalities,” she said, emphasizing that one of those modalities is communal song.

The talk began with a listening and reflection exercise around the question of comfort. Before playing a version of Hashiveinu, performed by Sacks Mintz and members of the Nigun Circle at Hadar, she asked participants to write down something that gives them comfort. The answers were varied and dynamic, ranging from prayer, food and song to family, friends and nature.

The role of comfort music in Jewish text was explored, starting with 1 Samuel: “So, it came about whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand, and Saul would be refreshed/re-expanded, and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.”

Some in the Zoom audience described what happened in this passage as a possible early form of music therapy, bringing Saul healing and comfort.

Moving ahead several centuries, Sacks Mintz quoted Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s encouragement for all to sing a niggun (wordless melody, often used in prayer): “It is good for a person to accustom oneself to reviving oneself with a niggun, because niggun is a powerful and mighty tool, and it has the great strength to awaken a person and point their heart towards the Blessed Name.”

Nachman called everyone to music, even those who could not play an instrument or were able to sing, said Sacks Mintz, for music has the power to revive the self, “for the lift of a niggun cannot be measured.”

She explained, “[He’s] not saying, wow, you should become a pro jazz musician and an amazing singer, and then you too can be sustained by song. You just have to be willing to engage in it on your own, and that can revive the self. It’s about being in a relationship with your internal world.”

Sacks Mintz shared two different pieces from the Jewish canon that comfort her, while asking the audience to reflect and unpack what might be core elements in the language of comfort they offer. She also asked the audience to consider what constitutes a comfort song for them.

One piece was by Rabbi Menachem Goldberger, a prolific composer of niggunim. It was an example of the various feelings one can experience in a piece of music. Reactions ran the gamut from feeling rejuvenated and uplifted to grounded and anchored. Similar feelings were expressed after “Mi Yiten Li Ever,” a song based on Psalm 55:7 by Rabbi Miriam Margles and the Hadar Ensemble, was played. The translation on its Bandcamp page reads: “Who will give me the wings of a dove, that I might fly away and find rest? I would flee to the wilderness; finding refuge from the tempest, from the sweeping wind.”

As well as being a facilitator of Jewish communal music, Sacks Mintz is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. As a performer and composer, she has collaborated on more than two dozen albums across the Jewish soundscape, including her original spiritual works The Narrow and the Expanse (2020) and Yetzira (2023), with Rising Song Records. A third album is expected in early 2026.

Sacks Mintz received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, holds a master’s degree in women’s and gender studies, and earned degrees in music and religious anthropology from the University of Michigan.

Founded in 2006, the Hadar Institute strives to build communities in North America and Israel, offering various programs to support the development of Judaism that is both traditional and egalitarian.

The next lecture in the Kolot Mayim series will feature Broadway historian and lecturer David Benkof on Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. Benkof will deliver his talk – Spotlight on Jewish Broadway with the Broadway Maven – in Victoria in person and on Zoom. For information, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

An oral song tradition

Shenandoah University Prof. Lori Şen spoke about Sephardic music on Nov. 2, as part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 lecture series. (PR photo)

Kolot Mayim Reform Temple started its 2025/26 Building Bridges Zoom lecture series – six music-themed talks running through April – on Nov. 2, with Lori Şen, a professor of vocal pedagogy at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va.

The title of Şen’s lecture was Classical Echoes in Ladino: Sephardic Songs Reimagined.

“This talk is especially meaningful to me, as it reflects a journey that began about eight or nine years ago with my doctoral dissertation in voice performance,” she said.

“What started as an academic project has since grown into a broader exploration and celebration of a rich and underrepresented genre within the Western classical tradition – Sephardic art song.”

Şen spoke about the Sephardim, their history, language and culture, before discussing the elements of traditional Sephardic music. Later, she introduced Western classical arrangements of Sephardic folk songs for voice and various instruments, and spoke about the development of this genre, playing excerpts from a variety of songs.

Within the expanse of what constitutes Sephardic culture, there is a language, most commonly called Ladino or Judeo-Spanish, a mix of 14th- and 15th-century Castilian, with contributions from Galego-Portuguese, Catalan, Valencian, Aragonese, Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic and others, such as Greek, French, Italian and Balkan languages.

“A certain linguistic creativity is inherent to Judeo-Spanish, which has even been used as a vehicle for expressing verbal revenge through humour in an oppressive society,” Şen said, citing examples of plays on words that can be found in Ladino.

Şen quoted from linguist Marie-Christine Varol, author of Manual of Judeo-Spanish: “Irony, distance, puns and endless plays on meanings and stylistic nuances bouncing back and forth make this language of quotations, double entendres, discrete jokes that seem undecipherable of implied and overly clear meanings into an original and eternally renewed linguistic system steeped in a devastating sense of humour that can only be achieved through a knowledge of several languages, a knowledge that gives it its strength, its richness and its freedom.”

Şen said the types of Sephardic song are defined based on musical parameters such as structure, melody and rhythm, as well as the text and the relationship between the music and text. Many songs were passed down orally, making their origins difficult to trace. Others are Ladino translations or adaptations of Turkish, French and Balkan songs, incorporating dance rhythms like tango and foxtrot, and sometimes referencing familiar operettas.

“Since this repertoire represents such a wide range of cultural exchange, the musical analyses of them require vast musical knowledge,” Şen said. “Sephardic music possesses elements of Western classical music of all periods, starting from medieval, Spanish, Moroccan, Balkan and Greek musical traditions, and Turkish folk and classical forms, including makam.”

Makam is the Middle Eastern modal practice with more pitches than we’re used to in our Western 12-tone notation system.

According to Şen, although instruments were employed on occasion, the Sephardic song repertoire is essentially vocal. When instruments were involved, they were mainly percussive, a tambourine, for instance, though mandolin and oud were also employed.

Traditional Sephardic folk songs, since they were transmitted orally, incorporate a large amount of improvisation. Thus, the melodies of the same songs can differ significantly between communities and across generations.

On her website, lorisen.com, Şen has a catalogue she compiled that includes lists of Sephardic works and composers, works categorized by instrumentation, and songs. Based on archival research and interviews she has conducted with Jewish musicians and music scholars, Şen has identified more than 45 composers who have arranged more than 190 different traditional Sephardic folk songs in the art song form for voice and various instruments. Also on her website is a Ladino diction guide designed to assist singers interested in performing Sephardic songs.

A mezzo-soprano and Fulbright alumna, Şen’s range spans opera, art song, musical theatre and jazz, and she has performed throughout Europe and the United States. Her teaching and research specialize in vocal literature, pedagogy and voice science. Further, through her background in physics, she explores the art and science of the singing voice.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Explore Jewish music

On Dec. 3, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz will speak on Harnessing the Potential of Our Comfort Songs, as part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s Building Bridges Speakers Series. (photo from Hadar Institute)

Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s annual six-part series of free lectures – the Building Bridges Speaker Series – returned earlier this month with the Nov. 2 talk by Dr. Lori Şen of Shenandoah University on Classical Echoes in Ladino: Sephardic Songs Reimagined. It continues Dec. 3, with Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz of the Hadar Institute speaking on the topic Harnessing the Potential of Our Comfort Songs.

The Building Bridges Speaker Series’ theme for 2025/26 is Kolot Zemirot: The Many Voices of Jewish Music. In the wake of the dramatic rise in antisemitism following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, it is more important than ever to celebrate and amplify the rich tapestry of Jewish culture, history and heritage. This series of lectures will explore the role of music in shaping and sustaining Jewish identity across generations and around the world, delving into the diverse expressions of Jewish music – its history, traditions, and its cultural, religious and secular aspects. Music has always been a source of strength, resilience and hope for the Jewish people, and this series will highlight its power to unite communities and inspire pride in our shared heritage.

An educator, practitioner, composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and facilitator of Jewish communal music, Sacks Mintz will explore, on Dec. 3, how Jews use the internal strength we source from singing our own anchor songs to serve our communities in times of disruption. For Sacks Mintz, the power of communal music ignites spiritual creativity, fosters participation and deepens connections within Jewish life.

Historian and lecturer David Benkof, “the Broadway Maven,” will speak in person in Victoria on Jan. 11, with hybrid access for a wider audience. His presentation will dig into Jewish creators, characters and themes that have shaped – and continue to shape – the world of Broadway, revealing how musical theatre reflects and influences Jewish identity.

A leading voice in the study of contemporary Israeli music, ethnomusicologist, Dr. Naomi Cohn-Zentner of Bar-Ilan University observes that Israeli songs about the war and the army have always been about a hope for peace, and this was even more the case after Oct. 7. Her Feb. 8 talk – called Music and War: An Optimistic View – will examine how Israeli musicians have responded to the tragedy, offering an exploration of music’s role in processing grief, inspiring resilience and connecting community in times of crisis.

On March 8, Dr. Joshua Jacobson, author, composer, scholar and founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, will speak on Jewish Music: What’s That? One of the world’s leading authorities on Jewish music, Jacobson will share his expertise in the history and ongoing evolution of Jewish music. His presentation will invite listeners to consider what we mean by Jewish music and how musical expression is a rich part of our identity.

Toronto author and biographer Michael Posner wraps up the 2025/26 series on April 12 with the lecture Hallelujah and Beyond: Leonard Cohen’s Torah of Song. Posner will explore Cohen’s Jewish heritage, philosophy and musical legacy and how Judaism influenced the singer-songwriter’s lyrics, philosophy and life.

The Jewish Independent will feature coverage of the lectures in future issues, including Şen’s Nov. 2 lecture, which can be viewed on Kolot Mayim’s website.

Kolot Mayim, from the Hebrew “Voices of the Water,” is Victoria’s Reform Jewish Congregation. The Building Bridges lecture series is partially supported by the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island and donations are gratefully accepted, with tax receipts available for contributions over $25.

The webinars are free and mostly occur monthly mostly on select Sundays (with the exception of Sacks Mintz’s), at 11 a.m., on Zoom. Pre-registration is required via kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

– Courtesy Kolot Mayim Reform Temple

Series explores music

Building Bridges, Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s annual six-part free lecture series, returns this year, beginning Nov. 2, 11 a.m., on Zoom. The theme for this season is Kolot Zemirot: The Many Voices of Jewish Music, exploring the role of music in shaping and sustaining Jewish identity across generations worldwide.

The series opens with Dr. Lori Şen presenting Classical Echoes in Ladino: Sephardic Songs Reimagined. Rooted in the folk melodies of Sephardi Jews and shaped by centuries of migration, Sephardi art song brings a distinctive voice to the Western classical stage. Şen explores the transformation of Ladino folk songs – an expressive Judeo-Spanish language enriched with influences from Turkish, Arabic, Greek and other cultures encountered throughout the Sephardi diaspora – into Western classical art song.

Through musical examples, historical context and stories from her research, Şen reveals a genre that not only preserves Jewish memory but also expands understanding of what Jewish classical music can be. Her presentation offers listeners a rare sound world that bridges history, culture and art.

Şen is a Turkish mezzo-soprano and Fulbright alumna known for her versatility across opera, art song, musical theatre and jazz, with an international performing and teaching career. She uniquely bridges the worlds of art and science with a background in physics coupled with vocal pedagogy and voice science. As a dual citizen of Turkey and Spain, her multicultural perspective drives her pioneering research in Sephardi art song. She is recognized as the first to catalogue Western classical settings of traditional Sephardi folk songs and to create a Ladino diction guide specifically for singers.

Currently assistant professor of vocal pedagogy at Shenandoah University and part of the voice faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Şen has shared her work worldwide.

For more information about the Building Bridges series, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com. The series is partially supported by the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island. Donations are gratefully accepted, with tax receipts for gifts over $25.

– Courtesy Kolot Mayim Reform Temple