We had approximately 90 people join us at Westwood Hills Nature Center for an alternative Kol Nidre musical experience! I am so grateful to everyone who came - thank you for trusting us with this experiment on what many consider the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar.
It was so powerful to see this vision come to life, to unpack the themes of the High Holy Day liturgy through teaching and contemporary music. It was so moving to make these connections in real time as opposed to contemplating them while driving on the freeway listening to Leonard Cohen's Who By Fire. I believe that what we did together was an expansion of what it means to pray in a Jewish setting and I'm excited to continue thinking about what else this might look like for future programming. A huge thank you to the talented musicians who performed, and particularly Rachel Calvert for taking the lead. It was such a joy to partner together for this program.
A number of you have asked whether we livestreamed/recorded the program. Though we didn't have a professional videographer or professional video technology, we are able to share an amateur (iPhone) recording of the program. Perhaps in future years we will be able to offer a professional livestream for these types of musical events. If you don't have time to watch the entire thing, here's a break down of the program:
0:01 - Words of Welcome and Introduction, Candle Lighting, Teaching on Hineini
13:25 - Hineini Prayer Read
16:18 - You Want it Darker, Leonard Cohen
20:58 - God, Turn me into a Flower, Weyes Blood
27:50 - Introduction to Unetaneh Tokef, and reading of Unetaneh Tokef
35:30 - Who By Fire, Leonard Cohen
38:00 - Atonement, Lucinda Williams (don't miss this!)
43:50 - Introduction to Kol Nidre
50:50 - Kol Nidre (Traditional, Sung)
54:25 - Your Forgiveness, Paul Simon
1:00:50 - Rest of My Life, Nickel Creek
