Original Article Published On The Jewish Ledger

It is not easy to define “Jewish music.” And it is even more difficult to define Jewish “religious” music.

Fortunately, Boston’s Robert Cohen, writer, lecturer and music historian, has been tackling questions of Jewish music for many years. He has just released a compilation CD of contemporary music, “Open the Gates: New American- Jewish Music for Prayer, Vol. 1.”

Cohen asks provocatively in the liner notes, “Jewish religious music that sounds like American folk or roots music rather than Eastern Europe, the Sephardic Mediterranean, or Israel? That owes more to Woody Guthrie or Judy Collins than to the great cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, more to Peter, Paul & Mary than to the synagogue choirs of the 19th and early 20th centuries.” Travel the country and visit synagogues and you will hear worship services which run the gamut – from the traditional to upbeat to folksy.

Cohen has been sharing his musical and historical expertise through a series of lectures on Jewish music at the JCC of Greater New Haven. The lectures are part of a year-long celebration of the 350th anniversary of Jewish Life in America.

Cohen’s first lecture, entitled “The American-Jewish Immigrant Experience in Song” addressed the issue of music as social l history. Cohen’s second lecture, was entitled “Jewish Music Into the Mainstream: Themes in Popular, Classical and Folk.” In this talk, Cohen noted, “Throughout the past century, American-Jewish composers and some non-Jewish musicians as well have infused mainstream musical forms and styles: from popular song and musical theater to folk, bluegrass and country and from classical and jazz to reggae and world music.”

Cohen’s final lecture at the JCC of Greater New Haven will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 7:30pm In “American-Jewish Music Comes of Age,” Cohen will lead the audience through an exhilarating range of styles, with a focus on Hassidic and American folk music, and consider the key sources and influences behind this musical renaissance.

Cohen is perhaps best known for the documentary he wrote for NPR, entitled “One People, Many Voices.” The documentary, broadcast on NPR, incorporated 100 pieces of contemporary music and was narrated by Theodore Bikel. The program is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of TV and Radio in New York City. Cohen has also been a featured speaker on both Jewish music and American folk and popular music at the New York Council for the Humanities.

Original Article Published on The Jewish Ledger

NEW HAVEN — Elie Wiesel, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Rabbi Hillel would have been proud.

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven assembled a group of Jewish, Christian and community groups for a rally at New Haven City Hall, on Dec. 10, Human Rights Day, to focus attention on the atrocities in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Dr. Milton Wallack, chairman of the JCRC, served as moderator of the rally which featured eight speakers, including rabbis, ministers, an alderman, and an aide to Rep. Rosa DeLauro. “We are here to stop the inhumanity, to express outrage, to appeal to the government to do even more,” explained Wallack. “More than 70,000 people have been killed due to the fighting, disease and malnutrition since March, 2004; two million people have been driven from their homes; and 350,000 are expected to be killed in future months.” Wallack continued, “We cannot and will not accept inhumanity to mankind. That is why we have assembled this interfaith, intercommunity group.”

Sydney Perry, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater

New Haven, delivered a passionate address which recounted atrocities of the past century and stressed the Jewish imperative to “remember.” “I have been to Auschwitz-Birkenau four times and I ask, NOT Where was God?’ but Where was man?’” Perry stated. She told the crowd it is time for decisive action to stop “wholesale destruction of villages, poisoning of wells and government backed killing militias.”

Rev. Eric Smith, president of Interfaith Cooperative Ministries, reminded the group that “people of all faiths stand for righteousness” and that we must “stand up for justice.” Rabbi Rick Eisenberg, spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Jacob and a member of the board of the JCRC quoted from the Torah and Abraham Joshua Heschel and offered hope that “the lights of Chanukah and the Christmas season will help brighten these dark days of late autumn and early winter. We pray for the determination to bring light and hope to alleviate suffering in Darfur.”

Other speakers, including Alderman Yusuf Shah, Yale student and Yale Daily News columnist James Kirchick, and David Waren, executive director, Connecticut Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League, offered history, stories and calls to action to address the situation in Darfur.

According to various information packets distributed at the rally, Darfur is an impoverished region in western Sudan. Darfur is part of a longstanding civil conflict over land, resources and political power. The Sudanese Government has backed Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed reportedly “ride into villages on horses and camels, killing men, raping women, destroying the villages and stealing whatever they can find.”

Rally leaders reminded the group that the rally was being held on Human Rights Day. They said that humanitarian agencies have run into roadblocks, including lack of funds from the international community and Sudanese bureaucratic obstacles.

At the conclusion of the rally, attendees were encouraged to sign petitions “calling upon the Government of Sudan and the United Nations to take immediate steps to alleviate the human suffering and to urge the international community to take decisive action to end the atrocities and to allow humanitarian aid to reach the starving, injured and displaced refugees of the region.”

For more information, call the JCRC at (203) 387-2424 ext. 318.

Original Article Published On The Jewish Ledger

GUILFORD – For the Greenberg family, Thanksgiving is all of the Jewish holidays rolled into one.

“This is our holiday!” says Wendy Greenberg, mother of Adam Greenberg, an outfielder who has thus far played on Double and Triple A teams in the Chicago Cubs organization.

“With Adam on the road ten months of the year, it is hard to celebrate the September holidays and Passover together as a family,” notes Wendy, who said she and husband Mark were pleased that four out of five of their children were together this Thanksgiving.

Max, 20, had a good excuse or not being there – he his studying abroad in Australia. His absence was partially offset by the attendance of new brother-in-law Mike Ball, who joined the family in June when he married Keri, the Greenberg’s oldest daughter. Adam 23, is finally home after what he describes as “ten months straight of baseball, baseball, baseball.”

This is Greenberg’s time to “rest mind and body” and otherwise “regroup.”

As a member of a small group of Jewish ballplayers which includes Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and current players Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler, Greenberg, with his obviously Jewish name, has heard all of the usual questions.

“Are you related to Hank Greenberg?” he is frequently asked.

“It is always put in my face,” Adam says. “The truth is – my grandfather’s name was Hank Greenberg. So, yes, Hank Greenberg is my grandfather (but no relation to the famous baseball player). But, until I saw the movie about the baseball player, which was pretty amazing, I hadn’t realized what he had to go through (as a Jew) when he played baseball – with the fans, his service in the military, etc.”

At Guilford High, Adam excelled on the baseball, soccer and basketball teams. He was the first player in Connecticut history to be named to four All-State teams, and he graduated with honors. Even with his busy schedule and dedication to sports, Greenberg found time to attend Hebrew school at Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, where he celebrated his bar mitzvah.

Following graduation, Greenberg attended the University of North Carolina, where he was a scholar/athlete, majoring in communications.

Following Adam’s career has been a family affair for the close-knit, athletic clan. Various family members trekked to North Carolina to see Adam’s baseball games. And the family speaks with Adam daily during the season.

“He shares his highs and lows,” reports Wendy.

There were a few lows at UNC, when Greenberg would hear negative comments from teammates about being Jewish.

“Most had never met a Jewish person. I did hear a few wisecracks, but most were just curious and wanted to learn. So I found myself explaining a lot about Judaism,” says Greenberg.

Greenberg, 5’9”, is able to play all three outfield positions, with a reputation as a solid lead-off hitter with a high on-base percentage.

In 2002, Greenberg was drafted by the Cubs in the ninth round of the First-Year Player Draft. He has spent several summers in the Florida State League with a team in Daytona. After a stellar season playing in the outfield and hitting.291 in 91 games, he was sent to West Tennessee, a Double-A team before being again promoted – this time, Greenberg was sent to the Triple-A Iowa team, for the playoffs.

Then he had a chance to compete for the big league job, when he was sent to the Arizona Fall League. There, he hit.328 and stole four bases in 67 at-bats with the Mesa Solar Sox.

Where will Greenberg be when spring training comes? “They don’t tell you until the day before you have to leave,” notes Greenberg.

As of now, Greenberg is still a member of the Cubs organization. But he was not

“protected” by the Cubs and is therefore not a member of their 40-man roster. This means that, under Rule 5, he is eligible for the one-day draft in December—where he may remain with the Cubs or be picked up by another team.

For now, Greenberg will enjoy his time home with his family and await word of where he will report come February.