Music at Or Zarua
Shiru laShem Shir Hadash!
At Or Zarua, our prayer services and Torah reading are led by a variety of
congregants across a spectrum of musical abilities. Sufficient motivation,
desire and competence to help conduct our lay-led services, rather than any
specific level of musical talent, are the criteria of our service leadership.
Nevertheless, we are continuously striving to enhance the musicality and
spirituality of our already wonderful participatory services. We aspire to
cultivate as many capable service leaders as possible, but also to inspire their
fellow congregants to experience the religious and aesthetic satisfaction that
attends musically pleasing tefilah (prayer).
Toward the ends of ever greater ruah (spirit) and kavvanah (focus) in our
tefilah, we have endeavored to imbue our prayer services with increasing musical
richness and diversity, by employing a broad range of liturgical melodies and
styles. Over the past several years, Joey Weisenberg -- Or Zarua's 2010-11
musician-in-residence -- has led a series of singing modules dedicated to
particular components of the Shabbat and holiday liturgy, including the Kabbalat
Shabbat, Musaf and Hallel services. Through our music sessions, Joey has taught
us both old and new nigunim that have been incorporated into our prayer
services. Those spirited melodies have enriched and enlivened our tefilah from
week to week, and are now emblems of our heightened ruah. For those congregants
who prefer the polish of a trained voice, we have enjoyed the beautiful singing
of our cantorial intern, Jonathan Angress, who this year has led services on a
monthly basis.
Beyond tefilah, enthusiastic singing has been a hallmark of our communal
Shabbat meals, when zemirot bring together the voices of adults and children.
Or Zarua's own homegrown klezmer band similarly lends liveliness and joy to
various communal events. We also have sought to bring cutting-edge Jewish music
into our midst through periodic concerts in our acoustically favored sanctuary,
including recent events featuring Chaim Dovid's rousing neo-Carlebach tunes,
Weisenberg's meditative and variegated nigunim, and Angress's medieval-style
Jewish madrigals.
The enjoyment of music and singing at Or Zarua is recurring and pervasive --
please join us as we "sing a new song to the Lord" throughout the year.
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Click on each link to listen to the named recording, or right-click and select "Save Target As..." to save to your hard drive or mp3 player.
Kabbalat Shabbat
Mizmor Shir l'Yom haShabbat
Shaharit
Yismach Moshe - Modzhitz
End of Ashrey
Hallel
Torah Service
Etz Hayyim Hee
Musaf
Al Keyn Nekaveh from Aleynu
Anim Zmirot - Version 1 (Od Yishama tune)
Anim Zmirot - Version 2
Eyn Keloheynu
L'ma'an Achay v'Reyay
Musaf Amidah
M'khalkel_Hayyim
Musaf Kedushah - First Half
Musaf Kedushah - Second Half
Kedushah Niggun - Twerski
Sim Shalom
Yis'm'chu v'Mal'khutkha
Havdalah
Eliyahu HaNavi
Niggunim
March - Mordechai ben Dovid
Kane Street Synagogue Niggun