“The opportunity to give is, in and of itself, a gift. ” - Temple Isaiah

F R O M C A N T O R K E N T
From My Home
to Your Home
Since arriving in Los
Angeles two decades
ago, I have had three
homes. The first was
a multi-level condo;
the second was one of
those houses with the bird houses perched above
the garage that are sprinkled throughout the
Valley. And the most recent residence, our home
in Sherman Oaks, is truly my home. Nestled on
an undeveloped canyon that is part of the Santa
Monica Conservancy, my house in Sherman
Oaks is home to the four of us: me, Don, and
the two cats. As our back yard is also part of the
migratory space for a variety of wildlife, we also
begrudgingly share the gardens and hill behind
the house with a family of raccoons, a skunk
whose girth causes her to waddle comically, the
resident back yard lizards, a couple of snakes we
just ignore, and the family of deer that considers
our backyard vegetation their own private
twilight buffet.
“From the opening strains
of Hin’ni … to the final lines of
Neilah … I am bringing you
a bit of my home”
Although my office is also my work place
“home” and is well suited to singing, writing,
teaching and meeting, I often retreat to the piano
in my living room when I have new music or
challenging music to learn. It’s here, seated in
front of a 1927 Steinway that humbles me every
time I play, that I practice much of what you hear
at our High Holiday services. Surrounded by
the comforts of home- and two cats that actually
enjoy the singing and playing- I try to translate
the ancient words and hallowed melodies into
sacred moments for our congregation.
As I sing and practice the nusach, chazzanut,
and all the contemporary pieces that provide
our liturgy with its musical life, I become acutely
aware of all those chazzanim who preceded me
in life and how they too prepared for the Yamim
Noraim in exactly the same way. Year after year,
I start looking at the prayers almost as if I were
looking at them for the first time, and each year
the interpretation is slightly different. Singing
prayers is like interpreting Torah: although the
words may be the same, we are not the same
since the last time we looked at the Hebrew
lining the pages of our machzor. The prayers
remain the same, but we have moved on. Our
lives are different, the people we count as part of
our lives have changed, and the world of which
we are a part has been amended.
Each year, from the opening strains of Hin’ni
that begins our calls to prayer on Rosh Hashanah
to the final lines of Neilah that concludes our
service on Yom Kippur, I am bringing you a bit
of my home: the antique piano, the raccoons in
the back yard, the deaf cat who sits on my lap as
I play, my loving husband who encourages every
single eighth note. These words and music are
transferred from my home to the sanctuary of
Temple Isaiah- your spiritual home- and I hope
and pray the messages these songs deliver, the
stories they tell, become part of your true home,
wherever that may be.
This year as the prayers and songs recall the
ancient stories of our people and retell the
journeys of those who came before us, I offer
them to you as a housewarming gift. May these
gifts enliven your spirit, soothe your woes, ease
your burdens and help to usher in a joyous and
healthy New Year. •
Zip Code Sukkot:
Saturday, October 3
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 4
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
There are over twenty Temple Isaiah
families opening up their homes and their
back yard Sukkot to you and your family.
We’ll all gather at our local neighborhood
sukkahs for pot luck dessert and a chance
to make connections with people who
might live down the block from you.
Call the Isaiah office to find a sukkah
near your house. •
Selichot
Saturday, September 12
7:30 p.m.
The Selichot service is one of the most
beautiful of the entire year. Taking place
in the late evening, the synagogue is bathed
in shadow, the High Holiday melodies are
heard for the first time since the previous
year, and the messages of forgiveness and
repentance are prominent in the liturgy.
This year our Selichot service Saturday,
September 12 at 7:30 p.m. is preceded by an
extraordinary dramatic presentation written
by Debbie Pearl. Debbie is not only my covocalist
at our jazz services, but she’s a fine
playwright, as well. In her one-act work,
“Incomplete Strangers” two senior citizens
confront their past as they spend their days
in a convalescent home. By the conclusion
of the play, their memories and actions have
us asking ourselves if forgiveness is possible,
even in the most dire situations.
We welcome an all-star cast to Isaiah for this
semi-staged reading: Ed Asner and Shelley
Berman interpret the roles of the nursing
home residents with John Rubenstein and
Susan Hull rounding out the cast.
Ed Asner is well known as television’s Lou
Grant in the award winning “Mary Tyler
Moore Show” and most recently as Carl the
balloon seller in the animated feature “Up.“
Shelley Berman is a noted comedian, satirist
and author. He is a veteran of multiple
appearances on the “Ed Sullivan Show”,
“Jack Paar” and more recently “Curb Your
Enthusiasm”, “Boston Legal” and “Friends.”
Mr. Berman is also an instructor in the
graduate writing program at USC.
John Rubinstein is a veteran of film and
theater. He originated the role of Pippin
on Broadway and starred in such other
monumental works as “Children of a Lesser
God”, “Ragtime” and most recently in
“Wicked.”
Susan Hull is a veteran television actress,
producer and writer and appeared recently in
“Criminal Minds.”
Join us for Selichot as we begin to welcome
the New Year with melodies filled with the
spirit of Rosh Hashanah, prayers reflecting
the mood of these Days of Awe, and a
dramatic presentation that will provide
us with an opportunity to challenge our
assumptions of good, evil and forgiveness. •
Page two | THE ISAIAN September 2009