Klezmer davenning in Philly
A quick shout-out to the Society Hill Synagogue, just south of the Old City in Philadelphia. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Judy and I were guests at the congregation's "fourth Friday" singing shabbes, and greatly enjoyed it. To paraphrase congregational clarinetist Bob Blacksberg, it felt very good to bring doinas and other klezmer (and hassidic nign, and lots of singing, ranging from modern Debbie Friedmanish tunes to traditional Conservative nusakh.
I was down in Philly a couple of years ago to work on the election, and Adobe technical evangelist Leonard Rosenthal showed me around some of the synagogues in the area—it's worth remembering that Philadelphia was the center of American Jewish life until about 150 years or so ago. It's also a nice measure of how the original musical interests that sparked this website have broadened, just a bit, to include actual davenning: traditional and new age and unclassifiable.
So, fourth erev shabbat of the month, Society Hill Synagogue, Philadelphia. Tell 'em the KlezmerShack sent you.