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WINTER <strong>2022</strong> | 23<br />
folk music regularly with community<br />
members.<br />
“Jewish worship has always included<br />
music and song, going back as far as<br />
biblical days. And there's a beautiful line<br />
in the Scripture, ‘serve God with joy and<br />
come before God with singing,’ and that's<br />
what we tried to do, especially over the<br />
last decade, plus ramping up the music.<br />
And for me, re-embracing my own<br />
musical inclinations and skill set has been<br />
a wonderful way to transform in a joyful<br />
way here,” Meyer said.<br />
Most recently, he premiered his newest<br />
song, “A Song About Shoes,” on WERS<br />
FM radio. The song, Meyer said, follows a<br />
Jewish folk tale of a man from Chelm, an<br />
imaginary city full of fools who all believe<br />
they are wise men.<br />
Meyer said that he considered music a<br />
“mysterious” force that can connect people<br />
with each other and with their memories.<br />
“It's always easier to sing with someone<br />
else than to sing by yourself,” Meyer said.<br />
“There have been occasions when I've<br />
gone to a hospital or hospice, a nursing<br />
home with people who are essentially non<br />
communicative, but if I start singing some<br />
of the familiar melodies from their youth,<br />
it's like a key that reopens their cognition,<br />
their memories and their identity. It's a<br />
pretty stunning experience to be part of,<br />
and it is mysterious. I don't know. I just<br />
know that it works. I just know that it’s<br />
true.”<br />
Many of the babies Meyer named<br />
when he first came to Temple Emanu-El<br />
are now getting married, he said. When<br />
asked what his proudest achievement<br />
was in 31 years as lead rabbi, Meyer said<br />
that he takes pride in his family of two<br />
boys, Jeremy and Cory, alongside his wife,<br />
Marla, who, he said, played crucial roles in<br />
the community during Meyers’ decades as<br />
a religious leader.<br />
“It would be serving the congregation<br />
in the broader community while raising<br />
a beautiful family. I'm extremely proud of<br />
my family, my kids, the relationship I have<br />
with my wife, Marla and with all of the<br />
demands on my time, energy, attention,<br />
creativity, and heart. The fact that we've<br />
done it as a family in a lot of ways is<br />
something I'm very proud of,” Meyer said.
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