Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz has built her career on the idea of bringing people together through music.
Now, she’s coming to Chevrei Tzedek Congregation in Baltimore to teach and perform at its upcoming Song & Spirit Shabbaton.
Co-sponsored by Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl and the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project, the Shabbaton will take place on the weekend of Nov. 10 and 11 at the Edward A. Myerberg Center. Sacks Mintz will host workshops, lead Shabbat services and perform concerts, all centered around the theme of communal music.
Peter Merles, a Chevrei Tzedek congregant involved with organizing the Shabbaton, said that Sacks Mintz’s work made her a perfect fit for the event’s subject.
“This event came about because we wanted to do a Shabbaton that would involve a lot of spirit and music,” said Merles, who has a background in community organization. “I’ve been a member of Chevrei Tzedek since its early days, and it was always clearly stated that we wanted to be a congregation that sang together.”
Sacks Mintz grew up with music, as her mother was a classical violinist. In addition to playing the cello, one of her earliest musical experiences was davening at her childhood synagogue. This love of music led her to study ethnomusicology, specifically focusing on the role of music in faith-based communities.
This eventually led to her role as a founding member of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute, where she serves as Hadar’s director of tefillah and music.
Sacks Mintz described the Rising Song Institute as “an incubator for Jewish communal music as a gathering tool and an art form. … We produce new Jewish music through our record label, and we create gathering opportunities around the country to explore singing as a spiritual practice.”
Though Sacks Mintz has been a part of several other Shabbatons and events around the country with a focus on Jewish communal music, this is her first time working with Chevrei Tzedek. The synagogue applied for The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore’s Jewish Education Enhancement Projects grant to host the Shabbaton, and Merles reached out to Sacks Mintz because he had heard about these other nationwide events.
“They reached out to the Rising Song Institute to say that they would love to explore [communal music] with their community, and that they would love to see if a musician, facilitator or scholar could partner with them,” Sacks Mintz recalled. “That’s how I got connected.”
While the Shabbaton is sponsored by Chevrei Tzedek, all are welcome to attend whether they belong to the synagogue or not. Merles said he has high hopes for its attendance, as there have even been people from the D.C. area who have shown interest in the event.
“We feel very optimistic about getting a large crowd. I know the Rising Song institute has followers throughout the region who are coming for the concert on Saturday evening,” he said.
Sacks Mintz said that she wants to explore the ideas of leadership and communal participation through the Shabbaton, and would like to encourage people to join in and contribute their own voices to the programming. She will be taking on a teaching role in educating about the role music and prayer play in the Jewish community, and she wants the Shabbaton to be a communal experience that everyone can feel that they are part of.
She also believes that, given tragic current events in the Middle East, music has the power to heal and that it is now more important than ever.
“Song has played a key role in shepherding the Jewish people in times of joy and in times of suffering,” Sacks Mintz said. “We have songs for both of those times. … In many ways, we’re being tested on that right now. How big and wide is our grief, and can we turn to song in this moment? But that’s what we really need to turn to right now to bring us together.”
Merles agrees, saying that this is a key part of Chevrei Tzedek’s culture.
“My goal was to give people a chance to learn to feel good and feel comfortable in joining in communal singing, whatever their singing ability is,” he said. “Singing together helps build community, and that’s always been a very vital part of the Chevrei Tzedek tradition.”
