Category: Events

The Rabbi’s Family Band

The Rabbi’s Family Band, made up of Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Lisa Mayer, and son Zachary Mayer, come from long lines of rabbis and cantors and bring the most beautiful and authentic nigunim— wordless melodies– to the concert stage, the dance floor or to the Sabbath table.

Steeped in tradition but with a fully modern and inclusive sense of Yiddishkeit, the trio has performed all over the world, headlining and teaching at music festivals from Cracow Poland, to Jerusalem, across Canada, and from New York to California. Their unique combination of scholarship and musical virtuosity blends Hebrew, Yiddish, Klezmer and Jazz with poignancy, humor and joy!

7:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
8:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Event organizational partners: Base Boston and campus partner Jewish Arts Collaborative (JArts).

Tickets

Tickets: $5, $18, $36. Purchase tickets online here. Exact change or check only at the door.

Thank you to our Series Underwriters

The Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation
Kavod Boston and the Kavod Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Caucus (JOCISM)
Suzanne Priebatsch
Susan and James Snider
The William Davidson Foundation and The Wexner Foundation

>> DOWNLOAD THE SOUL SOUNDS SERIES FLYER

---

Our Performers

Multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Lisa Mayer and Sruli Dresdner play the clarinet, violin, accordion, bass recorder, cello and drum, and perform and teach Klezmer and Hasidic music and dance all over the country. They have been called “Superb musicians!” by the Los Angeles Times.

They have performed live on Polish National Television and Radio, were the featured Klezmer performers on PBS-TV’s “Another Mitzvah,” performed the klezmer soundtrack for the Showtime Movie “The Devil’s Arithmetic,”and frequently perform live on National Public Radio. Sruli and Lisa played sold-out runs of both “A Klezmer’s Tale” and “Kids and Yiddish” at the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre with Zalmen Mlotek which the New York Times called “Warm, tuneful and sprightly!”

Zach Mayer brings people together through the power of spiritual wordless melodies, rooted in Jewish tradition called nigunim. Zach channels his family lineage of four-generations of cantors before him, as he guides communities around the world in pursuing their own joyous voices in song.

Singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and teacher, Mayer has over 35 million hits on YouTube for his “Subway Sax Battle,” and has performed with John Zorn, Frank London, Michael Alpert, Joey Weisenberg, and Bobby McFerrin. He performs internationally with Zion80, a 10-piece Jewish Afrobeat band inspired by the music of Shlomo Carlebach, and his folk sextet, Night Tree, has toured internationally and has released two albums produced by Seamus Egan of SOLAS.

---

thank you to our series organizational partners

 

---

Support the Series

If you’d like to support more events like this, please consider making a donation here.

Catalan Mahzor Suite

(This concert will also commemorate Yom HaShoah)

Performers:
Ira Klein – Composer, Guitar
Rachel Linsky – Choreographer, Dance
Beth Bahia Cohen – Violin, Yayli Tanbur

Jerusalem-born guitarist and composer Ira Klein combines his love of traditional Jewish music and contemporary music to create a cutting-edge performance combining music, dance, and visuals, all inspired by the mysterious 13th-century Catalan Mahzor manuscript.

The Catalan Mahzor is a micrographical anthology of psalms and medieval Judeo-Spanish poetry, which weaves a story about spiritual redemption. Inspired by the haunting symbolism of the Mahzor’s imagery, and its turbulent history, Ira’s compositions fuse influences from Judeo-Spanish and Middle-Eastern music with the contemporary sounds of jazz and folk music.

Combining Ira’s musical compositions with dance created and performed by celebrated Boston dancer/choreographer Rachel Linsky, and live projections of images from the manuscript, The Catalan Mahzor Suite immerses audiences in a one-of-a-kind art experience. While doing so, it brings an obscure Jewish cultural treasure into the 21st century.

6:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
7:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Event organizational partners: Base Boston and campus partner Jewish Arts Collaborative (JArts).

Tickets

Tickets: $5, $18, $36. Purchase tickets online here. Exact change or check only at the door.

Thank you to our Series Underwriters

The Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation
Kavod Boston and the Kavod Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Caucus (JOCISM)
Suzanne Priebatsch
Susan and James Snider
The William Davidson Foundation and The Wexner Foundation

>> DOWNLOAD THE SOUL SOUNDS SERIES FLYER

---

Preview

Our Performers

Ira Klein is a guitarist, composer, producer, and educator from Jerusalem, and based in Cambridge, MA. Through his art, he shares his love of folk traditions and passion for artistic risk-taking. His main areas of focus are Middle-Eastern music, American folk and blues, and collaborations with visual artists and choreographers. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music, and a master’s degree from Longy Conservatory, Bard College.

Rachel Linsky. is a Boston-based contemporary dance artist. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A in Arts Administration from Elon University where she graduated summa cum laude. She directs and choreographs ZACHOR, an ongoing series that seeks to preserve the words of WWII Holocaust survivors through dance. She has presented work at venues throughout Boston including New England Conservatory, the Boston Center for the Arts, The Huntington Theater and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has presented dance films in national and international festivals such as Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance “Dance is Activism Film Festival ”, Prague International Film Festival, and many more. Most recently, Rachel was one of the 2022-23 JArts and CJP Community Creative Fellows, and is currently a member of the 2023-24 Next Steps for Boston Dance cohort.

Beth Bahia Cohen is a violinist of Syrian Jewish and Russian Jewish heritage. Inspired at a young age by the sounds she heard at family gatherings, she went on to study with master musicians from Hungary, Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. She plays the violin, viola, Greek lyras, Turkish bowed tanbur and kabak kemane, Norwegian hardingfele, and Egyptian rababa. She has performed with Led Zeppelin, Itzhak Perlman, Eubie Blake, Phillip Glass, numerous orchestras, and Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, and Klezmer ensembles, among others.

---

Save the Date!

Spring Soul Sounds June Concert

June 6: The Rabbi’s Family Band
Featuring multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Lisa Mayer, Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Zachary Mayer
7:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
8:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Steeped in tradition but with a fully modern and inclusive sense of Yiddishkeit, the trio has performed their beautiful and authentic nigunim (wordless melodies) all over the world.

>> Learn more & purchase tickets

---

thank you to our series organizational partners

---

Support the Series

If you’d like to support more events like this, please consider making a donation here.

Join us virtually on Wednesday, February 21 at 7 p.m. EST as we gather online to share remembrances of beloved instructor Norman H. Finkelstein z”l and, together with his family, recognize the closing of shloshim (the first month of mourning following the funeral).

The Zoom link will be provided to all who register as we get closer to the event.

Ceremonies: June 2, 2024 | 25 Iyar 5784

Hebrew College
1860 Washington Street
Newton, MA 02466

Commencement Ceremony

12-1 PM

Rabbinical Ordination

1:30-3:30 PM

Reception

3:30 PM

---

Honorary Degree Recipients

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, dedicated advocate in the struggle for universal human rights; senior rabbi of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City; and commissioner on President Biden’s United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

 

Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, expert on international law, human rights, and feminist theories; law professor at the Reichman University and the Davis Institute for International Relations at Hebrew University; and founder and head of the Dvora Institute for Gender and Sustainability Studies.

Parker J. Palmer,  writer, speaker and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He is founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal.

Read the honorees’ full bios here.

---

More information

• Directions & Parking 
• Visit the Commencement website

Join us for a Taste of Me’ah Classic

We invite you to join us for a virtual “Taste” of Me’ah Classic on Monday evening, March 25, 2024 from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom.

During this one-hour program, you will learn more about Hebrew College’s Me’ah Classic program with one of our instructors, Rabbi Benji Samuels.  Me’ah Classic takes adult learners on a fascinating journey through the narrative of the Jewish people from ancient to present times.  Me’ah Classic is a comprehensive, engaging, and in-depth adult learning experience open to adults of all ages. Students take a 100-hour (“Me’ah” is Hebrew for 100), two-year journey through the narrative of the Jewish people. Classes are led by outstanding faculty who empower students to become part of the conversation.

---

Our Instructor

The evening will be facilitated by Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, a wonderful and long-time instructor in our Me’ah Classic program.

Rabbi Samuels has served since 1995 as rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, Mass., and has been a member of the Me’ah faculty since 1996. He received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University and is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program. Rabbi Samuels earned his PhD in Science, Philosophy and Religion at Boston University.

---

Register

> > Learn more & register 

If you know of others who may be interested in this program, feel free to invite them to join us for this session.

If you are unable to attend this upcoming Taste of Me’ah but would like additional information, please watch a recording of a previous Taste session from earlier this year on the Me’ah Classic home page.

---

Hebrew College’s Me’ah program is supported by Combined Jewish Philanthropies.