Emanu-El’s Showcase 2009 begins with ‘SMU Meadows Live!’ March 1
Calling all lovers of music, theater and dance; followers of the arts at SMU; people interested in Jewish literature and culture; families with children studying the arts — this year’s opening program of the Temple Emanu-El Arts Series (Showcase 2009) is for you! Faculty and students associated with the distinguished Meadows School of the Arts at SMU will offer a colorful afternoon of Jewish works evoking our diverse artistic heritage, from short stories to French song (and much more).
Culminating the March 1 presentation will be new choreography for KlezMuzik, an exciting composition in the klezmer style for clarinet and piano by Simon Sargon, longtime director of music at the temple and professor of composition at SMU. For this performance, the choreography is being composed by Danna Reubin, an MFA graduate of SMU and now associate professor of dance at Collin College, in collaboration with Tawanda Chabikwa, an SMU graduate student and recent alum of College of the Atlantic in Maine.
Ms. Reubin will also appear in a solo dance work from the repertoire of the renowned Anna Sokolow (1910-2000), set to Maurice Ravel’s musical interpretation of the Kaddish for High Holy Days. Created in 1945, Sokolow’s “Kaddish” evokes not only the pain of our people’s suffering in the Holocaust, but also our enduring strength. Cantor Richard Cohn will sing the vocal part, with Mr. Sargon at the piano.
Complementing the “Kaddish” will be a famous vocal selection by Leonard Bernstein, the “Lamentation” for mezzo-soprano from his “Jeremiah Symphony.” It will be sung by Virginia Dupuy, Professor of Voice at SMU, one of the finest recital and concert singers in the United States, with Mr. Sargon as pianist.
Ms. Dupuy, Cantor Cohn and Mr. Sargon will also interpret a delightful cycle of six Hebrew folksongs (“Chants Populaires Hébraïques”) by Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), composed in 1925. The songs, sung in French, are entitled “Havdallah,” “Song of the Watchman,” “Song of Deliverance,” “Lullaby,” “Glory to God” and “Chassidic Song” (the latter a “counting song” in the style of “Who Knows One?”).
Woven throughout the program will be staged readings of Jewish short stories, presented by students in the Meadows Division of Theatre, coordinated by Professor of Theatre and Division Chair Cecil O’Neal. Featured will be selections from “In My Father’s Court,” the renowned collection of stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991), winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature. Singer chronicles life in and about the Jewish Quarter of Warsaw in the period just prior to and during World War I. Characterized by a redemptive sense of humor and an honest appraisal of human nature, “In My Father’s Court” preserves and illuminates the heritage of the great European Jewish community.
“SMU Meadows Live!” is a presentation of the Temple Emanu-El Music Committee, reaffirming the close relationship between the congregation and the university. Ticket information may be found at www.tedallas.org/showcase.
From Ed of Ed’s Deli: a farewell and a new beginning
“Closing the doors at Ed’s Deli for the last time was one of the most difficult things my wife Ann and I had to do,” said Ed Brandt, who had opened the deli in 2005. “We had put every part of us into the store for almost four years and were unaware of the impact that we had made.
“Within two days after closing, the phone calls and the e-mails came pouring in. We received over 300 e-mails and have no idea of how many phone calls we answered. We still get at least three or four calls each day, many unaware that the store had closed. When we tell them, they all express their sadness and offer such warm wishes for our future success.
“I will save the e-mails forever. The care and concern they show to Ann and me is unbelievable. Aside from the job offers and those wanting to help finance us to open another deli, the mails were just filled with so many good wishes and compliments that made us believe, for the first time, that all of our work and the care we had given had made a difference.
“But life goes on. At my age, I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do. I did know that Ed’s had established a wonderful catering operation, much in part to our Catering Manager Randy Meltzer. We were delivering breakfasts, lunches, mid-afternoon snacks and even dinners to businesses and private homes all over the city. We were also doing Kiddush lunches at many temples for bar and bat mitzvahs. Ann and I particularly enjoyed that part of it. We attended every party and by the end of the event we were being treated like one of the family.
“So, the decision was easy. Randy and I got together and Totally Catering was born. We were able to take over one of the finest catering kitchens in Dallas and brought with us the key people from Ed’s.
“Our first week in business we catered over 400 lunches and it has gone up from there. We are also developing a delivery service to temples located 75 to 150 miles from Dallas. So many of these people had come to Dallas and bemoaned the fact that there were no good delis in their town. Working with this, we are now affiliating with seven temples away from Dallas and beginning our delivery service. We are also developing a home delivery service for the Dallas area. Responses to our e-mails indicated that there are so many former customers that would like the convenience of having some of our foods delivered to their homes and with minimal delivery fees. We can utilize our delivery staff that is now growing to help facilitate our home delivery service.
“So, Ed’s Deli may be gone but it did accomplish much and we are very proud to be a part of it. We feel that Totally Catering will, in many ways, fill a void and a memory that Ed’s left.”
Dallas Chevra Kadisha to hold 13th annual Zayin Adar dinner, March 2 at Ohr HaTorah
The Chevra Kadisha, or Jewish burial society, consists of volunteers who prepare the body, halachically and with dignity, before interment. This includes performing the taharah (ritual cleansing) and dressing the body in tachrichin (shrouds). Jewish burial societies traditionally hold their annual dinners on Zayin Adar, the seventh day of Adar, because that is the yahrzeit of Moses.
Reservations for the 6:30 p.m. dinner are required to be prepaid by Feb. 23. Cost is $35 per person, adults only. Checks should be made payable to Dallas Chevra Kadisha, Inc. and mailed to Dallas Chevra Kadisha, Inc., c/o Leni Hirschberg, 11770 Preston Road, Suite 660-226, Dallas, TX 75230.
A musical introduction to Goldstein Youth Village
Virtuoso piano music and an introduction to a youth-serving Israeli institution will come together Tuesday, Feb. 24 at a 7:30 p.m. dessert party hosted by two Dallas couples: Evelyn and Andy Rosemore, and Gail and David Greenberg.
The recital will be given by 17-year-old Russian pianist Lev Chebotarev, who recently made aliyah and is now living and studying at the Dr. Israel Goldstein Youth Village, a residential middle and upper school in Jerusalem.
For almost 60 years, Goldstein Village has provided a warm, loving home to hundreds of young Jewish immigrants from around the world, and to Israeli-born, at-risk youth. Judy Segal, the village’s development director, will be at the party to explain its work and answer questions. This stop is part of an informative, fundraising tour including stops in California, Florida, and London, England.Judy’s husband, Benjy Segal, a Conservative rabbi in Israel, is a former Camp Ramah director.
The Dallas event has come about, Mrs. Greenberg explained, because “Judy is the sister of Susan Grumer, my dear Hebrew school teacher when I was a young teen in Corpus Christi. That is how we made the connection.” Ms. Grumer also hopes to be present on Tuesday evening.
People interested in attending this event are invited to call Mrs. Greenberg at 972-407-9470 or e-mail gailgreenberg@sbcglobal.net for full details. Information about Goldstein Youth Village is available on its campus Web site, www.hava.org.il.