Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

All services will be broadcast for free, live from New York’s Brooklyn Bowl, without an audience, via Fans.com.

NEW YORK – The coronavirus pandemic isn’t stopping The Brooklyn Bowl, the funky and famous bowling alley and music venue in Williamsburg, New York, from marking the High Holy Days, as it has done for the last nine years.This year’s “Bowl Hashana” will be online, however, as the venue’s owner, Peter Shapiro and the team at “Just Jewish” have gotten creative and found what they call “a suite of musically and spiritually driven High Holiday services” which also include Yom Kippur this year.

Four events – (all listed US East Coast, Brooklyn time) on the first night and first day of Rosh Hashanah (September 18 at 7:30 p.m. and September 19 at 10 a.m.), Kol Nidre (September 27 at 7 p.m.) and Yom Kippur day (September 28 at 10 a.m.) will be led by Rabbi Daniel Brenner and musical director and Antibalas co-founder, Jordan McClean. Jeremiah Lockwood, who was a member of Balkan Beat Box, will serve as musical and spiritual supervisor remotely.

“As a rabbi, I hope to draw on the spiritual power of the liturgy and ritual of the high holidays to speak directly to the anguish, soul-searching and desire for redemption that the last five months has brought upon us,” said Brenner. “Broadcasting the music and ritual of the Yamim Noraim [Days of Awe] from the Brooklyn Bowl, a place that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers associate with joy and the celebration of America’s musical diversity, will not only connect new audiences to ancient prayers, but will help comfort and inspire us at a time when we all could use some uplift.”Lockwood added, “I am grateful to have the chance to reunite this community at this deeply meaningful time of year. This format for presenting music will be unique in my experience as an artist and spiritual seeker, and I am very excited to see how the observers receive it!”
All services will be broadcast for free, live from New York’s Brooklyn Bowl, without an audience, via Fans.com.

Shapiro, publisher of Relix Magazine and a concert promoter, best known as the promoter for Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead,” is pleased Bowl Hashanah, and now Yom Kippur services, will continue to be offered at the Brooklyn Bowl, even during these unusual times.

“The Jewish Holidays are always a powerful time of the year, where renewal and hope and forgiveness help center us as we enter a new season and a new year. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will be even more meaningful this year, given the significant challenges that we are facing on a daily basis. Personally, I can’t wait to hear the sound of the shofar. I am really hoping for a very strong blow at the Bowl, one that really clears out the pipes, of both the Internet and our souls!”