By Elana Kahn-Oren
Rarely do Jews have the opportunity to celebrate true unity. Too often, our differences come between us.
Engraved in my heart are instances of intolerance on both sides: sitting at a table hearing an Orthodox friend blast the Conservative and Reform movements as illegitimate; blocking inferences that my Orthodox parents have gone nuts; mutual insensitivity and lack of trust.
In Israel the chasm is enormous, some say the breeding ground for civil war. In Milwaukee, the issue has smaller proportions, but breaks the heart just as completely in two.
Community-wide holiday celebrations often don’t embrace the Orthodox, perhaps out of habit, perhaps thoughtlessness. And when non-denominational opportunities arise to celebrate or mourn together, are the Orthodox there in numbers?
Who’s wrong? Everybody’s wrong. Who wins? Clearly, nobody. What’s not so clear is how to navigate the gray space between.
On Oct. 15, I witnessed a crack in the armor of both sides at Keshet of Wisconsin’s benefit concert, “Women & Children, Hopes and Prayers,” held at the Zelazo Building of the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The evening included music by the Milwaukee Women’s Ensemble and the Milwaukee Girls’ Choir, groups of Orthodox women and girls led by Devora Gross; Reform cantors Ruth Berman-Harris of Congregation Sinai, Karen Berman of Congregation Shalom and Milwaukee native Nancy Abramson of The Park Avenue Synagogue in New York; and the Milwaukee Women’s “Seder Singers,” led by Berman.
Through this impressive concert, Keshet of Wisconsin, a program of Jewish Family Services, seems to have extended its usual holy work. Beyond providing educational, cultural and social services to children with special needs from across the religious spectrum, Keshet has drawn our community together in an uplifting and creative way.
Throughout the Milwaukee Women’s Ensemble’s opening songs, I had the distinct feeling of crossing the proverbial tracks. In my experience of straddling two religious worlds — visiting the west side Beth Jehudah community and then going to my east-side home — their spirited performance felt like a monkey-wrench thrown into reality, and I liked it.
After the warm Ashkenaz Hebrew of Shabbos and Yisroel came the beautiful twirl of Cantor Berman-Harris’s modern Hebrew. Her songs, resonating with Zionism and Israel, included “Shir La Shalom,” the last song Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin heard at the peace rally where he was assassinated seven years ago. In my longings for my home in the Middle East, I felt thankful that I could share with observant women the beauty and flavor of my Israel.
The evening ended, most appropriately, with all the performers singing together, first “Al Shlosha Devarim” (“On Three Things,” Pirke Avot 1:2). The audience joined them in singing: “The world stands on three things — on the Torah, on our labors and on acts of loving kindness.” The words felt prophetic; if we are to speak of the foundation of the world, we must sing it together.
Though the evening’s music mostly came from the realm of the spirit, I was warmed and relieved by the last song — “Hatikvah.” All the women, performers and audience members, women from all corners of Judaism, sang together about our commitment to Israel.
Indeed, if there is any hope of healing the world, only our combined voice will discover it. I applaud Keshet for so thoughtfully organizing this event, and hope it is a sign of additional community-building to come.
Loading ...