By Deb Silverthorn

Opening the doors to the 5787 High Holy Days, Dallas’ three Conservative congregations will come together for Selichot Saturday, Sept. 5, at Congregation Anshai Torah. The music-infused and introspective evening of Havdalah, concert and prayer begins at 8:45 p.m.

The annual service rotates among Congregation Anshai Torah, Congregation Beth Torah and Congregation Shearith Israel. This year’s program, featuring Iraqi Jewish musician Yoni Battat, is open to the community.

“Yoni is a musician, an actor, a storyteller and one whose soul comes through his music. He’s very, very special, and we are so excited to welcome him to Anshai Torah and to our community,” said Anshai Torah Hazzan Matt Austerklein. “Music is a wake-up call, and Selichot introduces the sounds and feelings of the High Holy Days by shaking us up and preparing us for the weeks to come.”

Battat, who specializes in traditional Arab and Mizrachi musical forms, will join Austerklein, Anshai Torah Rabbi Michael Kushnick and clergy from Beth Torah and Shearith Israel in helping prepare participants as the holiest days of the Jewish year draw near.

“Selichot is our first opportunity as a community to formally recognize the High Holy Days are approaching,” said Rabbi Kushnick. “It moves us into growing as individuals and human beings.

“Yoni’s melodies, combined with the words of liturgy, will have our souls feeling the power of the season.”

Battat amplifies and transforms the echoes of his Iraqi Jewish ancestry, preserving and sharing traditional and original melodies rooted in Arab musical forms.

“I grew up with very little community surrounding my Iraqi-Jewish identity and have had to make a concerted effort as an adult to learn the music, traditions and language of my ancestors,” said the multi-instrumentalist, prayer leader, vocalist and composer. 

“I bring this struggle into the heart of my music, allowing audiences to reflect on their own fragmented identities through the lens of my own journey and using creative tools I’ve picked up along the way.”

While this will be his first visit to Dallas, Battat has performed around the world. The classically trained violist, with degrees from Brandeis University and Boston University, recorded and performed with professional orchestras and chamber ensembles for years before turning his efforts exclusively to Jewish music.

“I’m excited to get to know the Dallas Jewish community,” Battat said. “I know my story will resonate deeply for participants of all backgrounds and can’t wait to see what I might learn from sharing it in a new setting.”

The founder of the Yiddish jazz band Two-Shekel Swing and a co-founder of Kedmah, a musical initiative that teaches and reimagines traditional Middle Eastern and North African piyyutim — Jewish liturgical poems traditionally sung or chanted — Battat said, “communal singing can powerfully transform community and foster spiritual connection.”

He collaborates with musicians around the world, including Joey Weisenberg, founder of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute and Anshai Torah’s 2017 artist-in-residence. He was also a cast member and violinist in 250 performances of “The Band’s Visit,” touring with the Broadway production in 27 U.S. cities.

Battat’s deep and complex humanity is channeled through his voice and his oud, a pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument common in Middle Eastern music, which he began playing at age 16. He pairs the diverse musical sounds of his heart and history with a love of languages, studying Arabic and Yiddish and singing in both.

His debut album, “Fragments,” whose songs will be featured during the Sept. 5 concert and service, explores the search for new ways to connect with ancestry and heal fragmented identities.

“Whether in the synagogue or the concert hall, sharing an experience of true beauty,” said Battat, “is what creates community amongst strangers and brings hope and holiness into a world that truly needs it.”

Austerklein first welcomed Battat into his home for an evening of concert and community in 2017, while Austerklein was living in Akron, Ohio.

“Teshuvah, repentance, is not just something in the synagogue. It’s a process, and now is the time for each of us to awaken to the moral and spiritual work we are about to do,” he said. 

“During Selichot we will change the dressing of the Torahs, from their regular covers to the white of the chaggim, and as a people, and within each of ourselves, we’ll get ready.”

— Submitted by Deb Silverthorn