Shabbat Shalom ~ Yitro 2021

Dear WJC Family,

This week I have Broadway on my mind! I know that no one has been able to see a show on Broadway for far too long, but this week all signs are pointing towards Broadway. First of all, the other WJC, that’s the Westchester Jewish Council, had their Gala last Saturday night featuring highly acclaimed Broadway performer Bruce Sabath, who was terrific and the gala was a lot of fun. Mazal tov to WJC member, and other WJC CEO, Elliot Forchheimer on a successful and fun Gala and thank you to the Council for all the great support they have given our community throughout the pandemic and always.

Next I am very excited for our World Jewry Committee event on Tuesday evening Live From the Borscht Belt: The Making of “A Walk on the Moon” – A New Musical, about the creation of the Broadway musical “A Walk on the Moon,” which is set in the Catskills in its heyday. Guest speakers will include WJC member and Tony Award winning producer Ruth Hendel, Sheryl Kaller, a Tony-nominated director, and Pamela Gray, the show’s writer and the original screenwriter of the film. It should be a pretty amazing look behind the curtain of  how a Broadway show comes into being from the people who know.

But mostly what got me thinking about musicals was this picture, though this was awfully far from Broadway. This is a picture of a baby Rabbi Arnowitz and a baby Rabbi Creditor, aged 16 years old, on the night of our camp play, “Shabtai Tzvi Superstar” (they wouldn’t let us do Jesus Christ Superstar at Ramah, but we could use the music and change the title character to a much more obscure, 17th century false messiah.) I am in costume, in case you weren’t sure.

I am so excited to be once again sharing a stage (bimah technically means stage) with my friend Menachem as he joins us this weekend as our Scholar-in-Residence. We will be exploring the theme, “Healing Ourselves, Our Communities, Our World.” The weekend will feature four great talks by Rabbi Creditor (I am looking forward to joining him in the discussion on Sunday morning on “Building Resilient Families,”) and Saturday night we will also be treated to a one-hour havdalah concert by Neshama Carlebach, the award winning singer, songwriter and educator who also happens to be married to Rabbi Creditor! It should be a pretty special Shabbat and weekend and I hope you will join us for several of the events—see the information and links below. (Please note that tonight’s 6:00pm service with Rabbi Creditor and Cantor Goldberg will include instruments. For those who prefer I will be davening in the sanctuary without instruments at 5:00pm).

One last thing – Sunday morning minyan is the International Brotherhood’s World Wide Wrap–I couldn’t think of a way to tie it to Broadway (pun intended), but I hope you will join us for online services at 8:00am and put on tefillin with us!

See you online,

 

Scholar-in-Residence Schedule

Friday, February 5
6:00pm: Live Stream Friday Night Service
wjcenter.org/wjclive
7:00pm: Live Stream Lecture “Strengthening the Spirit in the Zoom World”
wjcenter.org/wjclive

Saturday, February 6
10:00am: Torah Service and Musaf, followed by sermon “Cultivating an Evolving Jewish Community” 
wjcenter.org/wjclive
7:00pm: Neshama Carlebach in Concert on Zoom
Zoom Meeting ID: 
889 9897 4111 Passcode: 10543
8:00pm: Zoom Lecture “Judaism as an Essential Ingredient for a Healing World”
Zoom Meeting ID: 
889 9897 4111 Passcode: 10543

Sunday, February 7
10:00am: Panel Discussion 
“Spiritual Resilience 
for Families” with 
Rabbi Creditor and 
Rabbi Arnowitz, 
moderated by 
Jacques Steinberg Zoom
Meeting ID: 
859 2531 4713
Passcode: 10543