Wow, the summer is flying by. Yes, it was really a hot one! Soon the temperatures will start dipping & we will miss the summer warmth. The most important thing is good health, happiness and community togetherness!
The High Holidays are fast approaching and I am planning programs for this coming year, 5780. Here are some HAPPENINGS/EVENTS & DATES TO REMEMBER…
Come join us for our SLICHOT SERVICE on Saturday Night, September 21st at 9:00 PM as we usher in the Yamim Noarim. We will start with some NOSHES and then we will begin our service at 10:00 PM.
Get ready for our continued “YIDDISH CLUB”. We will learn a bisel, laugh a bisel and nosh a bisel . We will start after the holidays. All are welcome! Dates to be announced soon…I am also planning our next series of our ”LEARN TO DAVEN” program. I know how much many of you love to sing along during the services so you will have the opportunity to learn how to lead a service. This will be a special time we can share & sing together! Come join us! All are welcome! Dates to be announced.
**SAVE THE DATE** Our SALUTE TO ISRAEL – GALA CONCERT will take place on Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 7:00 PM at the Lefrak Concert Hall at Queens College.
Featuring World Renowned Cantors
Cantor Raphael (Rafi) Frieder has served as Chazzan of Temple Israel of Great Neck since 1991. A performer of classical, Jewish and Israeli music, and musical theatre, he has appeared in venues from Carnegie Hall to Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium and Vienna’s Volkstheater. He has worked with some of the world’s leading conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Roger Norrington and Gary Bertini. Rafi received degrees in voice and choral conducting from the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He studied Chazzanut with leading Chazzanim in Israel, the UK and the US. In the past two decades, he has himself been a teacher of many young Chazzanim, while on the faculty of the Academy of Jewish Religion, and of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Cantor Frieder was a very dear friend of Mordechai Sobol and has worked very closely with him for many years.
Shai Abramson was born in Jerusalem. As a teen, he participated in the choir of the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. In 2008, Shai Abramson was appointed Chief Cantor of the Israel Defense Forces. Abramson serves as the Representative Cantor for the State of Israel, and participates in formal State occasions and ceremonies. He also accompanies various government representatives to ceremonies and events in Israel and abroad. He has performed as Cantor under the auspices of the Knesset, the IDF, the Ministry of Defense, and various other government ministries and agencies. Cantor Abramson performs with the most prominent Cantors and musicians of our generation, and participates in prayer services and concerts throughout Israel and the world with various musical ensembles, such as; the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Ra’anana Simphonette & the IDF Orchestra. Cantor Abramson collaborated with Ofir & Mordechai Sobol and recorded a beautiful video singing the very popular Avinu Shebashamayim composed by Cantor Sol Zim that hit the internet by storm.
I won’t bore you with my BIO. After all, you all know me so well.
We will be adorned with so many different types of music…Chassidic, Israeli Pop, American Pop, Opera, Yiddish and of course Cantorial. We will enjoy an array of musical selections. There will be a full (33 piece) Symphony Accompaniment in this Concert. The music & sound will be magnificent.
MAESTRO OFIR SOBOL (son of Mordechai Sobol z’l ) will conduct our Concert. Ofir follows in the footsteps of his father as being one of the most musically gifted individuals in the world of Jewish music today. Ofir studied orchestration at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. He is sought after by musical artists & performers all over the world for his unique and breathtaking arrangements. Ofir combines new and old, east and west, with contemporary techniques, yet without losing the authenticity of the music.
This year we are teaming up with TEMPLE ISRAEL OF GREAT NECK and presenting this Concert IN MEMORY OF DR./MAESTRO MORDECHAI SOBOL z’l (you all know Mordechai from our previous Gala Concerts where he conducted so beautifully). Mordechai was a very dear friend of mine and we also worked closely together musically for over 25 years. Mordechai was also a dear friend of Cantor Rafi Frieder, of Temple Israel of Great Neck, and worked closely with him for many years as well. Cantor Frieder and his synagogue are working with us to present this concert.
DR./MAESTRO MORDECHAI SOBOL z’l was a World Renowned Brilliant Musician, Cantor, Conductor & Composer and a true Mensch! The Jewish world misses him terribly but he will always live on through his Music and brilliant Orchestrations & Compositions. This concert is in his memory.
REMEMBER…Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 7:00 PM at Lefrak concert Hall!
** Join us for Noshes/Dessert following the Concert
June and I wish everyone Shana Tova, G’mar Chatima Tova and Chag Sameach.
Let us Pray together, Celebrate together and Bond Together as a Family Community!
By the way, please contact Maris Blechner at 917-941-8640 to buy your “Honey from the Heart”, through Sisterhood, for Yom Tov and let’s have a Sweet New Year!
See you in Shul.
Cantorially always, with love,
Cantor Sol Zim
