“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” — Billy Joel
Music has always been an integral part of TE, one of its defining features. Every time I ask our members about the most inspiring aspects of our communal life, music gets mentioned the most. Rabbi Jerry z’’l and his guitar have helped nurture multiple generations of TE members, elevating their experience in ways that only music knows how: by directly touching our souls.
For the last 15 years, I have been privileged to carry it forward, blessed with so much support and encouragement from our TE community, and partnering with our amazing band under the leadership of the incredible Laurel Shader. Being together and singing together makes my soul soar on any given Shabbat or Festival, as I am lifted by the beautiful harmonies that we create, filling our sanctuary with sound.
In 2016, when we said our final goodbyes to our teacher and our friend, we immediately began thinking of ways to institutionalize Rabbi Jerry’s legacy at TE. What better way to remember the man whose Hebrew name was Shir than with music? Generations of adults and children at TE have been entertained by Rabbi Jerry’s magic tricks and thus the name of our annual celebration was born: Shir Magic.
Every year we get to sing with one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music, celebrating Rabbi Jerry’s legacy. What a blessing it is! Every artist is different, but every single one of them has been blown away by what they find at TE — a community that gathers to sing (and knows so many of their songs and melodies already!)
This year’s Shir Magic artist is Eliana Light, an incredibly talented musician, educator and performer. Eliana envisions a joyful, vibrant, heart–centered Judaism that speaks to the soul and moves the spirit, reminding us that we all are One. She holds sacred space, writes music, trains educators, and consults with communities to bring this vision to life. Eliana’s music has enriched the Temple Emanuel services and celebrations over the years, and some of her songs have become a staple in our High Holy Day and Festival services for children and adults alike.
Last year, as we were still reeling from the events of October 7th, our Shir Magic concert with Elana Arian had given us a lifeline, helping us to breathe a little deeper breaths. Some of the music she shared with us that evening continues to sustain me over this difficult year. I know that Eliana Light will help us sing and heal together this year, and I cannot wait to share the experience of her music and her teaching with all at TE this year. And of course, the TE band will make a special appearance that evening.
Eliana will spend the entire weekend December 6-8 with our community as our musician–in–residence. Join us on Friday December 6 at 6pm for an everybody–friendly musical, meaningful service! We’ll sing, connect, and delight in Shabbat together with Eliana.
On Saturday, December 7 at 10am we’ll enjoy a Shabbat morning experience of songs, stories, and snuggles: Shabbat morning for kiddos 0-5 and their grown-ups are invited to build community. We’ll snack, schmooze, sing, and connect with each other. No Shabbat experience required!
“Shir Magic” with Eliana Light continues the wonderful Temple Emanuel tradition of celebrating Jewish Music and the legacy of Rabbi Jerry Brieger z”l. Eliana Light envisions a joyful, vibrant, heart-centered Judaism that speaks to the soul and moves the spirit, reminding us that we all are One. She holds sacred space, writes music, trains educators, and consults with communities to bring this vision to life. Eliana is the founder and head T’fillahsopher at the Light Lab, whose mission is to make Jewish liturgy and prayer practice accessible and meaningful to all seekers. She also produces and co-hosts the Light Lab podcast. Eliana’s music has enriched the Temple Emanuel services and celebrations over the years. Come and witness the magic of Eliana Light in person!
With a special appearance by the TE Band.
Get your tickets ahead of time and please consider becoming a sponsor – look forward to sharing this special musical evening with you!
When members of our community and our loved ones fall ill, we add their names to the Misheberach list that we read before reciting the prayer for healing, inviting us all to hold the community members in our prayers, alongside our own loved ones and friends. We often use the traditional formula of using someone’s Hebrew name to preserve the anonymity of the person, and at other times we use the full name, thus sharing the news of illness with wider TE community, reminding people to reach out and call/visit a friend. (Please note, according to our tradition you should ALWAYS check with the person you want to pray for whether they are comfortable with their name recited in public or added to the list read out in the synagogue)!
The prayer for healing is traditionally recited during the Torah service. In addition, a slightly different version of the prayer for healing is part of a weekday Amidah, which is not recited on Shabbat as part of our liturgy, when the 13 ‘middle’ blessings/petitions are replaced with one special blessing for Shabbat.
The words of Debbie Friedman’s Misheberach have become a staple of our Shabbat services, as it did in numerous communities all around the world – the powerful music, the inspiring words, combined with an opportunity to offer a communal prayer for healing have become an essential part of our Shabbat services. TE’s spiral-bound prayerbook Seder T’filot Emanuel has included the text of this prayer at the end of a Friday night Amidah, and it continues to be one of the most powerful elements of the service for so many of us. New words and new melodies continue to be written, and we often add the new prayers for healing to our services – but the presence of the prayer for healing in all our Shabbat and Festival services remains a constant.
Over the years our Misheberach list became surprisingly long. And while there is definitely a long accepted tradition of appointing an emissary to pray for one’s health if you can’t make it to the synagogue, our current minhag, or custom, that evolved at TE has led to the breakdown of the original intent of the prayer for healing: to be offered in person with intentionality.
Rabbi Dr. Daniel Landes, in My People’s Prayerbook, remarks:
“The Mi Sheberakh is not a magical incantation. It obligates the [pray-er] to give tzedakah and to pray personally on behalf of the person for whom the prayer is given. It summons us all to recognize our own utter powerlessness in the face of illness.”
The TE Ritual Committee discussed this at length at a recent meeting and agreed to modify our current practice. If you are thinking of a loved one, a family member or a friend, and would like to pray for their health – please come to Shabbat service, in person or online, and please think of them as you add their name – publicly or privately, to our communal prayer for healing. If you hear of someone’s acute illness and want to add their name (and you can’t get there yourself), please call/email the office, and the name will be added to our list, which will continue to be read every Shabbat. When the person gets better, please remember to let us know so we can remove their name from the list – we love hearing good news! After the name has been on the list for about a month, the list will ‘reset.’ Please note, the names of all TE members struggling with illness will remain on the list without any time limit.
I invite you to use the opportunity of the Misheberach prayer in our services to think of and to pray for healing for your loved ones. May all who are in need of healing be blessed with the love, care and support they need.
For most Jews, the Torah elicits a variety of feelings and meanings. The scrolls we use in our worship services teach us the lessons and history of the Hebrew people. Some think of the Torah as the divine word of G-d, others feel it is a chronological history of the beginnings of a people.
When the ark is opened and the Torah scrolls are revealed we can look in awe. It awakens a spiritual longing in many as well as a deep connection with who we are and what we are called upon to do. However, we relate to the text it is a symbol, perhaps the primary one, of our identity.
Temple Emanuel is currently home to six Torahs. Some we know a piece of their history and some we are less knowledgeable about. The following is a brief history of our Torah scrolls.
When Temple Emanuel first came together as a community in 1962, we did not have a Torah of our own. Instead, our student rabbi, Robert Goodman, would use a borrowed scroll when needed. In 1967, using our first Torah he performed a triple bar mitzvah for Andrew Levine, Jeff Lipson and Danny Salzman at the JCC in New Haven. TE had just acquired its first Torah, the Holocaust Torah.
Memorial Torah Scroll #1178
Written in 1880, the Holocaust Torah was used in Horazdovice, Czechoslovakia. During WW2 it was “collected” along with other articles of Jewish life, by the Nazis. The scroll’s congregation was exterminated. After the war, this Torah and approximately 1500 others were found and transported to Westminster Synagogue in London, United Kingdom. The synagogue had the room to store them and set about the task of having them restored and repaired. Once in good condition, they were given on permanent loan, to newly established congregations around the world. TE’s Lois and Paul Levine traveled to London to get ours. In 1967 we received #1178, our first scroll.
On a visit to Westminster, I was told that the restoration had been very slow and was expensive, as only trained scribes could do the work. However, in 1965 an itinerant scribe, David Brand, knocked on the door and asked if they might have any work? Twenty years later and after 770 Torahs, he had repaired all he could.
In 2007 this Torah was retired as it needed repairs. It was placed in a display case in the TE lobby until the congregation was able to restore it and return it to active service. It was returned to the Ark in 2020. Every family that wished to be invited to work with the scribe and restore a letter thus fulfilling the commandment to write a Torah. It was a wonderful experience. This Torah is easily recognized as the tallest and lightest in our ark. It is written in Beit Yosef font and is unglazed, making it lighter than a glazed scroll.
‘small’ Torah in our ark
In addition to the Holocaust Torah, Temple Emanuel acquired two Torahs in 1979 from Beth Israel in Derby, and in 1981 from Temple Rodeph Shalom of Ellenville, NY. The Ellenville scroll is a small, in height, Torah. It is glazed so it is heavy and is approximately 100 years old. It is originally from Romania and is currently in our ark along with the Holocaust Torah and a medium sized Torah, on permanent loan from the Jewish Home for the Aged by way of the Jewish Federation. We received this Torah in 2021.
‘medium’ Torah in our portable ark
The Torah scroll from Beth Israel in Derby was originally from Germany and is about 100 years old. It is said to have “beautiful writing” and is housed in a separate portable ark.
The other gift from Beth Israel, is a Polish Torah. It is housed in the Rabbi’s office awaiting restoration. It is about 90 years old.
Torah scroll on permanent loan
Our final Torah is displayed in TE’s lobby. This Torah is also on loan from the Jewish Home for the Aged through the Jewish Federation. We received it around 2020. It is not kosher as it is not in perfect condition and is unrepairable. While we cannot use it for services it is a welcome reminder of who we are when we enter the Temple. It also provides an up-close view of the text and how a Torah is written.
Some information in this article was gathered from Congregation Beth El’s (Berkeley, CA) website and Temple Emanuel archives and interviews with past and present congregants.
The Memorial Torah Scroll #1178 from Horazdovice is now proudly back in Temple Emanuel Ark!
Temple Emanuel houses in our Ark the Holocaust Memorial Scroll #1178, a scroll that belonged to the destroyed Jewish community of Horazdovice, Czechoslovakia, a community that perished in the flames of the Holocaust. This scroll is one of several hundred Czech Torah scrolls that survived the Holocaust, eventually coming to the Westminster Synagogue in London, and from there distributed to Jewish communities around the world. A young Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven was fortunate to receive the Horazdovice Torah back in 1967.
The Horazdovice Torah at Temple Emanuel
This scroll was part of every Bar and Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel from 1967 – 2007. A deeply meaningful Torah, this Holocaust scroll brought our community into the direct line of European Jews who were murdered by the Nazis and could not themselves perpetuate the Jewish people. As we read from and touched this sacred scroll, we carried out the laws and commandments of our faith, and we remembered and honored the Jews of Horazdovice whose voices were stilled. In 2007, the scroll was retired from service because it was damaged, fragile and deemed non-kosher. We placed the scroll in a case visible to all as we entered the synagogue, to preserve its meaning and connection to our history.
The Restoration of the Horazdovice Torah
In 2019, a Torah scribe inspected our Torah scrolls, those in the Arc and also the Holocaust scroll in its display case. The scribe found that 2 of our scrolls in the ark required some repairs to remain kosher. To our great surprise and delight, he found that the Horazdovice Torah scroll could be repaired and once again be made kosher! Many TE members were excited that this wonderful and important scroll might again be made kosher, and be returned to our ark. TE students researched and presented information about the Horazdovice Torah and its history. Temple Emanuel members rallied support and contributed funds to not only restore and rededicate this scroll but also to repair the other TE Torah scrolls and establish a small fund to support the continued maintenance of our Torah scrolls, and mounted a successful campaign to raise the funds needed to restore and rededicate this important Torah scroll. Each TE family had the opportunity to write a letter in the Torah scroll with the scribe, a meaningful fulfillment of the mitzvah. The now-kosher scroll was re-dedicated and returned to the ark. This scroll, connecting us to the hundreds of years of Jewish life from the lost community of Horazdovice, brings Jewish practice and tradition to new generations of Jews at Temple Emanuel. This rededicated kosher scroll now is once again being used at Temple Emanuel for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and for special Torah services.
The Story of our Holocaust Torah Scroll
Our Holocaust Torah was first endangered when the Munich Agreement was signed on 29 September 1938. Britain and France agreed to Hitler’s demand to be given the German-speaking border regions of Czechoslovakia, and the Germans marched in. The Jews from about sixty congregations in the prosperous industrial and commercial towns in the Sudetenland had 2 or 3 days to flee to the interior, which was still a free and sovereign country. They left behind their synagogues, which were in German hands in time for the destruction of the Pogrom of November 1938, when synagogues across the expanded Germany, which now included the Sudetenland, were burned or vandalized and looted. In almost every case the ritual treasures of these Sudetenland synagogues were destroyed or lost.
In the remainder of Czechoslovakia, which included Prague, the synagogues and their swollen congregations were safe for the time being, and there was no program of destruction, even when the Germans invaded the rest of the country in March 1939. In 1940, the congregations were closed down, but the Jewish community administration was used by the Germans to execute their stream of decrees and instructions. In 1941 the first deportations started and the mass deportations of the Jews took place throughout 1942 and into January 1943.
The Nazis decided to liquidate the communal and private Jewish property in the towns, including the contents of the synagogues. In 1942 Dr Stein of the Juedische Kultusgemeinde in Prague wrote to all Jewish communities, instructing them to send the contents of their synagogues to the Jewish Museum in Prague. Thus the Torah Scrolls, gold and silver and ritual textiles were sent, along with thousands of books. The remaining Jews were deported in 1943 and 1944, but quite a number survived.
The inventory of the Prague Jewish Museum expanded by fourteen times as a result, and a large number of Jews were put to work by the Germans to sort, catalogue and put into storage all the items that had come from over one hundred congregations in Bohemia and Moravia. It needed over forty warehouses, many of them deserted Prague synagogues, to store all these treasures. When the task was eventually completed, the Jews who had been put to this work were themselves deported to the Terezin concentration camp and death. There were few survivors.
It was once accepted that the accumulation of this vast hoard of Judaica was intended by the Nazis to become their museum to the extinct Jewish race. There is, however, no evidence that any such museum was ever planned. The Prague Jewish Museum had been in existence since 1906, and was not created in order to house the Judaica collected in 1942. In 2012, the Prague Jewish Museum published “Ark of Memory” by Magda Veselska, a history of the museum that includes a clear explanation of how it was the Jews of Prague that worked before, during and after the war to protect a legacy that was threatened with destruction.
After the defeat of Germany, a free and independent Czechoslovakia emerged, but it was a country largely without Jews. Most of the surviving Jews in Prague and the rest of Bohemia and Moravia were from Slovakia and further east from Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Prague, which had had a Jewish population of 54,000 in 1940, was reduced to under 8,000 by 1947, and many of these were to leave. On 27 February 1948, after less than 3 years of post war freedom, the Communists staged a coup and took over the government of Czechoslovakia. The Prague Jewish Museum came under government control, and was staffed mainly by non-Jewish curators.
In 1958 the 18th century Michle Synagogue became the warehouse which housed hundreds of Torah Scrolls from the large Prague Jewish community and what was left from the smaller communities of Bohemia and Moravia. The collection did not include scrolls from Slovakia, which the Germans had put under a separate administration. Eric Estorick, an American living in London, was an art dealer who paid many visits to Prague in the early 1960’s. He got to know many Prague artists, whose work he exhibited at his Grosvenor Gallery. Being a frequent visitor to Prague, he came to the attention of the authorities. He was approached by officials from Artia, the state corporation that had responsibility for trade in works of art, and was asked if he would be interested in buying some Torah Scrolls. Unknown to him, the Israelis had been approached previously with a similar offer, but the negotiations had come to nothing. Estorick was taken to the Michle Synagogue where he was faced with wooden racks holding anything up to 2000 Scrolls. He was asked if he wanted to make an offer, and replied that he knew certain parties in London who might be interested.
Rabbi Farbman carrying the MST#1178 scroll at a historic gathering of Holocaust Memorial Torah scrolls in New York
On his return to London, he contacted Ralph Yablon, a well-known philanthropist with a great interest in Jewish art, history and culture. Yablon became the benefactor who put up the money to buy the Scrolls. First, Chimen Abramsky, who was to become Professor of Hebrew Studies at the University of London, was asked to go to Prague for twelve days in November 1963 to examine the Scrolls and to report on their authenticity and condition. On his return to London, it was decided that Estorick should go to Prague and negotiate a deal, which he did. Two lorries laden with 1564 Scrolls arrived at the Westminster Synagogue on 7 February 1964. After months of sorting, examining and cataloguing each Scroll, the task of distributing them began, with the aim of getting the Scrolls back into the life of Jewish congregations across the world. The Memorial Scrolls Trust was established to carry out this task.
Each Memorial Scroll is a messenger from a community that was lost, but does not deserve to be forgotten. Temple Emanuel’s restored Horazdovice Scroll carries that message to our congregants and to our future.
