Cantor Emily Sleeper Mekler

Join the Big Chorus::

Nu???! There's still a place waiting for you to sing on Friday evening, November 30th as part of our Sinai Temple BIG CHORUS. Your participation will make it even bigger!!! Remember other times when some of you sang with the choir? You loved making music, especially with other Sinai members! Now is your chance to try it, again. As I said, just an 8-week commitment to rehearse and then we sing. I'm up for the challenge of helping to create another memorable choir experience in just 8 rehearsals. I KNOW we can do it!

Our Music Program:

Our religious services are enriched by our talented, committed Cantor Emily Sleeper Mekler. Besides her own extensive knowledge and ability, she periodically puts together plays, concerts by outside musicians, and writes special pieces for use at events such as Purim. She organizes our Adult and Junior Choirs, which perform at Shabbat, holidays and events in the community. All are welcome to join the choirs. Knowledge of Hebrew is not necessary. You may enjoy listening to our Junior Choir recorded at a Family Service.

Cantor Mekler Reports on Her Sabbatical:

Thank you for the exuberant greeting you gave me for my “guest” appearance on Purim! It was a fun, pie-in-the-face morning! Kudos to those who participated and to all of you who took the time to teach and learn the words to my Purim parodies while I was away.

So, here’s the sabbatical news. The time FLEW by SO fast! I had a fascinating and fulfilling time working on a fabulous project called Judaica Sound Archives (JSA) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The Judaica Sound Archives is “an internationally recognized major center for the collection and preservation of Judaica sound recordings.” Since its inception in 2002 JSA has matured from a small collection of 78 rpm records to over 60,000 titles in its inventory” which include, for example, Jewish popular music, Yiddish Theater, comedy, children’s music, classical music, Israeli folk, Cantorial, and Sephardic music recorded as early as 1901. A passionate team of volunteers and a few professional individuals organize, categorize and digitize old LP’s and 78’s of Jewish content, Jewish artists, or Jewish composers.

A great deal of the music in the JSA collection at FAU can be heard on the website at www.fau.edu/jsa, which continues to grow rapidly as more music is digitized. However, much of the collection is not copy written so it is not available over the internet. So here is the newest addition.

JSA is planning to increase FAU’s visibility and strengthen its image among Jewish communities around the country and the world. The plan is to create off-site access to the digital resources of the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU through a dedicated computer terminal to be used specifically and ONLY for research and listening. Here’s where my volunteer efforts were utilized. One of my responsibilities was, and still is, to contact Jewish Music Libraries, for example, at Hebrew Union College, Jewish Theological Seminary and other Jewish music libraries across the country and in Europe to try to encourage each to house a dedicated research computer from JSA as an off-site extension of the FAU Libraries. I arranged and was present for a tour of JSA with Cantor Bruce Rubin, who is the Director of the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College, and another colleague. HUC is definitely convinced of the value of the research station for cantors and rabbis and are in the process of making it a reality. And there will be more such opportunities as I continue to work on their behalf.

While I was assisting at JSA I had the joy of listening to hundreds of selections. Another one of my responsibilities was to choose a snippet from various recordings that is heard when the listener “clicks on” to search the website, as an example of the various artists and genres that are available. My ears were treated to voices and music that touched my heart and my soul. My dear father (z”l) would have LOVED the experience.

Now you, too, can enjoy some of this experience. Try it!! Click onto www.fau.edu/jsa. Then, go through your own private collection in your attic, den or basement and pack up and donate those old LP’s and 78’s to the following address: Judaica Sound Archives, Florida Atlantic University Libraries, 777 Glades Rd., Boca Raton, FL 33431-0992. In fact, take it a step further and make a tax-deductible monetary contribution to JSA. The information is on the website.

Cantor Mekler's New Year's Message - 5767

I am writing this at the end of July when the war in Israel is raging. It is a very frightening, sad time when many Israeli soldiers have lost their lives, cities are being attacked and residents are evacuating the northern cities of Israel and going to stay with relatives and friends in the south. I hope and pray, as we all do, that there will soon be peace in Israel and Iraq and wherever there are wars and oppression in the world.

I also pray that those who wrestle with losses, sadness and sickness will find inner peace. May this be YOUR year to find your way and also join with others in ways that energize you, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically.

Join us at Sinai Temple for the varied array of activities celebrating Sinai’s 75th anniversary. Don’t forget to give yourself the “Gift of Hebrew”, by signing up for 10 weeks of Hebrew classes of your choice which will begin the first week in October. Send back the registration sheet found in this bulletin.

I would also like to take a group of Sinai women on a “field trip” to visit Mayyim Hayyim in Newton, Massachusetts. It is a mikveh which is open to all denominations of Jewish women and men. ‘Mayyim Hayyim is the brainchild of a group of Boston-area Jews, including acclaimed author Anita Diamant, who dreamed of a place that would serve Jews-by-choice in a more welcoming manner and become a communal center. "I want a mikveh that encourages the prayers of the heart in Jews of every denomination and description… a welcoming and inviting place from the minute anyone walks through the door….a place for laughter and mazel tovs...a center for study and celebration," writes Diamant.

This would be a beautiful opportunity for Sinai women to come together and learn about an ancient Jewish ritual and its relevance in our lives today. Let me know if you would be interested in making this trip with me on a Sunday afternoon in November. Log on to the website at www.mayyimhayyim.org for more information. Call me at the temple at 736-3619, ext. 14.