With Hudson Temple’s new voice you can easily sing a new song
Sandra Boynton writes beautiful stories and songs for children. One of my family’s favorite songs is “Singing in the Shower.” When my son was little, he loved this song. Today he is 12 and still sings in the shower. My wife and I smile every night when we hear it. He loves to sing.
My wife, who is also a rabbi, loves to sing. She has a wonderful voice and regularly leads her congregation in singing and prayer. I don’t have a wonderful voice. I have a simple voice. But I love the power of singing and am fortunate to sing with our cantorial soloists at Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson and our student leaders at Hillel at Kent State. Singing unlocks something deep within me that sets me free. Singing with my congregation connects me to the songs and prayers we sing, and it connects me to each congregation member who joins in the sacred act of singing.
In early June, I joined a new Jewish music project, Nariya Cleveland. This group had started in the spring. Once a month, on a Thursday night at Beth El-The Heights synagogue in Cleveland Heights, a dozen vocal leaders, half a dozen musicians, and a handful of rabbis meet to rehearse liturgy and compositions. Rabbi Micah Shapiro had created and led this type of project in Boston for several years and now has brought it here to Northeast Ohio. The next night, at our Friday night service, something magical happened. About 100 people came to this wonderful service. They came from more than six different Jewish communities. And we all sat together and sang in a series of growing singing circles. Our songs opened our hearts, and we experienced this deep feeling of connection and gratitude for the prayers we were singing. Then we went downstairs to a delicious Shabbat dinner.
Last week, Temple Beth Shalom hired a new cantor, Deb Rogers, to lead our Shabbat and holiday services. A few times, a handful of members joined her to sing choral hymns that cheered us with their beauty. This week, Deb and I began musical planning for the upcoming high holiday season.
For the past 18 months, I have been studying with a group of rabbis and cantors. We study mindfulness meditation, yoga, and text study. Every morning we meet for a transformative hour of songs and prayers that ground us in our practice and radically open our hearts. Our final retreat is next week. I can honestly say that these moments of shared prayer and song have opened my heart time and time again to the wonder and pure joy of singing in community.
One way to overcome our divided, polarized times is to come together and sing. As we celebrate the Fourth of July this week, I want to encourage all of us to find our voice in song. And I want to encourage spiritual seekers to heed the imperative of Psalm 97: “Sing to God a new song!”
Sing for joy, sing for hope, sing for gratitude. Your soul will thank you.
Michael Ross is Rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson and senior Jewish educator at Hillel at Kent State University.
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