Sacred Bridges Interfaith Group

To Bring Jewish Music back to Italy

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

BOSTON - From June 29 to July 13, 2003, interfaith travelers will bring sacred Jewish music back to ancient sites in Italy in a joint effort of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the Zamir Chorale of Boston. The collaboration, Sacred Bridges, organizes interfaith educational programs to foster communication and understanding through music. Many of the areas, including historic synagogues, churches and concert halls in Rome, Mantua, Milan, Florence, Siena, and Venice, have not had audiences for Jewish choral music in years.

The tour’s scholar-in-residence, Benjamin Ravid, is the Jennie and Mayer Weisman Professor of Jewish History at Brandeis. His own studies focus on Venice’s Jewish community, which, reflecting church and state attitudes toward the Jews as well as the institution of the ghetto, can be viewed as a historical microcosm.

Steering Committee members represent the Anti-Defamation League, the Archdiocese of Boston, the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College, Hebrew College, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JRCR), Our Lady’s Help of Christians Parish, the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, the Theology and Arts Program, Andover Newton Theological School and the Zamir Chorale of Boston 

"It has been wonderful seeing non-Jews embrace our music, and hence, the culture of the Jewish people,” said Zamir Chorale General Manager Jan Woiler. “The concerts simultaneously heighten an awareness of our common humanity and create a bridge that is forged at a very deep level.”

The Zamir Chorale of Boston, under the Artistic Direction of Joshua Jacobson, began in 1969. It was recognized as “America’s foremost Jewish choral ensemble” by American Record Guide; its 1999 tour to Eastern Europe was the subject of the PBS documentary “Zamir: Jewish Voices Return to Poland.” The Chorale, with musical selections spanning thousands of years and four continents, has toured Eastern Europe, Great Britain and Israel, and appeared with the Jerusalem Symphony and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras.

“So many friends,” said Sacred Bridges Chair Ronda Garber Jacobson, “expressed the wish that they could have been with us as we met Polish audiences on a past trip to Eastern Europe, visited sites important to Jewish history, and brought Jewish music back to where it had been sung with great joy.”

“Working with Sacred Bridges has been a remarkable and enlightening educational experience,” said Woiler. “We have become sensitized to others’ issues and concerns. We are excited to extend these bridges of understanding through concerts in this area, and in Italy.”

On Nov. 6 at Boston College's Devlin Hall, the Chorale will perform following a talk by visiting Vatican Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, on "The Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: A Crucial Endeavor of the Catholic Church." For further information on this event and related exhibitions at the McMullen Museum at Boston College, “Reclaiming a Lost Generation” and Boston University’s, “Visas for Life,” visit www.bc.edu/bc_org/research/cjl/, or call the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College at 617-552-6027.

On April 3, 2003, the Chorale, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations at Merrimack College, will perform at its Rogers Center in North Andover. On May 8, a concert and lecture will be given at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, and on June 8, a Concert to Kick-Off the Musical Mission to Italy will be held at Regis College's Casey Theatre in Weston and will include the synagogue motets of Salamone Rossi that the Chorale will be performing on the trip.

For more information on Sacred Bridges and the Italy Mission, visit www.zamir.org.