Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland presents
On The Threshold of Freedom: Passover Music in Poland April 13 and 14, 2019
Press Release
For questions call 310-592-8960
Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland’s fourth annual concert series brings Jewish music from Poland to the Los Angeles area on Saturday night, April 13 at 8:14 pm at Beth Shir Shalom in Santa Monica and Sunday, April 14 at 3 pm in Studio City, at Beth Ohr Congregation and 7:30 pm at Temple Beth Israel in Pomona, CA.
The theme this year is “On the Threshold of Freedom: Passover Music in Poland.” The performance will include a diverse selection of music including Seder melodies, remembrance of Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Song of Songs and melodies from Hallel.
Rabbinic student, Dr. Menachem Mirski, who is training for the Rabbinate at American Jewish University will again be featured along with soon-to-be Cantor, Anna K. Silverman. Menachem Mirski and Anna Silverman were in the first cohort prayer-leaders trained by Beit Warszawa’s program lay cantor’s institute.
The lay cantors’ training program is an ongoing part of “Jewish Music in Poland” initiated by a grant from Dennis Gilbert in 2012. The program this year will memorialize Shane Gilbert (1987 – 2018), son of Nancy and Dennis Gilbert. We will also remember nationally known educator Barbara Kadden (1954-2018), who taught in the program with her husband Rabbi Bruce Kadden in 2014 when they were on sabbatical.
We welcome Cantorial Soloist, Andrew Henry, as well as Rabbi Shana Chandler Leon, participating in all three concerts on April 14. They will repeat a crowd stopper song translated to Yiddish from the Spanish Civil War.
Rabbi Neal Comess-Daniels our host at Beth Shir Shalom will participate in the April 13 program along with members of the Beth Shir Shalom band. They will joined at this concert by Cindy Paley who will share songs from her recent visits to Poland.
We are pleased to having Novi Novog a member of our Congregation Beth Ohr and professional violist will participate, April 14 at 3 pm. Cantor Paul Buch
Neal Brostoff has been our musical director for the several concerts. This year we will feature music from the world of Polish – Jewish composers of the pre-World War II era.
Anna Silverman
Anna Silverman is a third year student of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. She came to New York from Warsaw, Poland in 2014. She learned about being Jewish when she was 26 and decided to pursue it even later in life, starting as a member of a Jewish vocal group Shir Aviv and a member of non-orthodox synagogue Beit Warszawa in 2010. She is still a shlichat tzibur of her congregation Beit Warszawa inWarsaw and serves as such whenever she comes to Poland. She was one of the first shlichei tzibur who were serving in different cities, trying to re-create non-orthodox Jewish life in Poland within the framework of the Jewish Renewal in Poland project. She studied voice in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is a graduate of the Music Academy in Warsaw. She is a mother of two daughters, both staying in Warsaw. She loves all animals, her favorite sport is hiking and she is an avid reader. View video here.
Dr. Menachem Mirski
Menachem Mirski is a rabbinic student at American Jewish University’s Ziegler program. Mirski is an accomplished musician and has completed Beit Polska’s two-year study of cantorial arts as well as leading a Klezmer group, The Klezmerholics. He completed his doctorate in Lublin University last year. His dissertation is a groundbreaking study comprehensive reflection on theological thinking about the Holocaust by Polish Jews and Catholics as well as other Jewish and Catholic thinkers outside of Poland. It will be published next year in Polish and in English. Mirski describes his journey to Judaism as beginning in his love of Jewish music especially Klezmer. Mirski is a graduate of the Padeia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden. Mirski worked as an organizer for Jewish cultural and religious projects in Katowice and Lublin as well as Gdansk. His ability to bring music to audiences enhances his skills as lecturer and teacher. This past summer, he has toured and played with his group and joined forces with Cindy Paley, a Yiddish folk singer and cantorial soloist (view here), and in Poland.
Andrew Henry
Andrew Henry has been the Cantorial Soloist for Congregation Beth Ohr since 1996. Prior to that, he led various services at Tikkun Olam and Temple Beth Hillel. Originally from Montana, he moved to Los Angeles to attend USC and has lived in the San Fernando Valley for more than 2 decades. In addition to his commitment to Jewish Music, Andrew is the father of 2 amazing boys, Jonah and Eli, is proud to be a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, and is supported in all things by the love and wisdom of his wife and best friend, Rabbi Shana Chandler Leon. Here is a memorial concert in memory of Leonard Cohen
Shana Chandler Leon
Shana Chandler Leon is the rabbi of Congregation Ner Tamid in San Francisco. She was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion – CA in 2015 and served as Cantor and Educator in Los Angeles-area synagogues for 20 years. A native San Franciscan, she graduated from the American Jewish University and UCLA. Rabbi Shana is most grateful for her two beautiful children, Adena and Jared, and for the immense blessing and honor of being married to Cantor Andy since November, 2017.
Neil Comess Daniels
Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels is the heart of Beth Shir Shalom. He brings his passionate expression of Judaism and his strong sense of social justice to the pulpit. He helps us create our Jewish community, facilitates our discovery of our spiritual selves and works with us towards Tikkun Olam – healing the world. Rabbi Neil’s accessibility makes him responsive to our congregants. He uses his singing and musical talents to communicate the riches of our Jewish tradition.
Cindy Paley
For over 35 years, Cindy Paley has delighted Jewish communities across the country with her spirit and rich repertoire of Jewish music. As a Cantorial Soloist, Cindy is the soul of Lev Eisha and the Valley Beth Shalom N’shama Minyan, both creative Shabbat women’s services in Los Angeles. She has also served as the High Holiday Cantorial Soloist at numerous synagogues in California, Arizona and Washington. As a performer, she invites audiences to experience her beautiful renditions of Yiddish folk songs, Ladino love songs, and exuberant melodies of modern Israel, as featured on her Yavo Shalom, Zing Along and Koleet CDs. Cindy’s Jewish holiday CDs (Chanukah, A Singing Seder, Shabbat and Celebrate with Cindy) are well known by teachers and families across America. For the past two summers Cindy toured Poland, performing concerts of Yiddish and Hebrew Folk Songs with a Polish klezmer band and presenting Yiddish music workshops at the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival.
Novi Novog
Novi Novog, born in North Hollywood, California, is an American viola player. She is sometimes simply credited as “Novi” and is the cousin of Lauren Wood (also known as “Chunky”). View her playing various and sundry styles of viola and piano here.
Paul Buch
Hazzan (Cantor) Paul Buch has served Temple Beth Israel’s since 2003 and is a graduate and ordainee of the Academy for Jewish Religion/California in Los Angeles (www.ajrca.org). Cantor Buch leads 
music at religious services and life cycle events, teaches liturgy, scriptural chanting and music in our Beit Sefer (religious school) and mentors students preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah. He contributes musically throughout our congregation, and his soulful, energetic approach has been described as both “deeply spiritual” and “cheerleading for G-d.” He participates regularly in our Adult Jewish Learning program and currently leads our Introducton to Judaism course. Cantor Buch comes to the cantorate after a 25 year career in television and film production in Los Angeles, New York, and Portland, OR which he embarked on after his graduation from Boston University with a degree in journalism. A native of Buffalo, NY, Cantor Buch credits his parents, David and Drena (z”l) with inspiring a love for Judaism and especially Jewish music in him at a very young age. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWiilUNY6YM
Neal Brostoff
Neal Brostoff has soloed as pianist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and also functioned as orchestra pianist and/or soloist with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, New West Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Burbank Symphony and COTA Orchestra. Active as a chamber music recitalist, Mr. Brostoff performed regularly at the Monday Evening Concerts at LACMA, on tour with the American Ballet Theater, and he has recorded for motion pictures and television. He has also participated as chamber and orchestral pianist in European concerts and festivals. Additionally, Mr. Brostoff has held the positions of music specialist for the Skirball Cultural Center, cultural affairs director for the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, and concert manager of The Pasadena Symphony. From 2011-16 he taught Jewish music history and performance courses at UCLA in connection with the Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music, where he also served as Music Programs Coordinator.
In November, 2017, Mr. Brostoff was a scholar-in-residence at the University of Michigan, at the invitation of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and the School of Music. In May, 2018, he organized a similar concert in Calgary, with students, faculty and alumni of the Mount Royal Conservatory (Mt. Royal University).
Since 2015, Mr. Brostoff has focused on the musical aspects of Jewish renewal in Poland. Following a visit to Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow in 201t6, he has organized concerts of Polish-Jewish art songs and chamber music in Los Angeles, and he looks forward to a return visit to poland in 2020 to participate in Jewish Music Festival at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews