Our Hope is Not Yet Lost: Sacred Music in Jerusalem

On Wednesday, October 28, classical Shabbat melodies met contemporary Jewish creativity in a powerful celebration of Jewish sacred music.

The Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra, soloists, and Year-In-Israel cantorial students came together for a concert featuring the music of Kabbalat Shabbat that bridged generations through beloved traditions and fresh musical interpretations.

Presented as part of the Hatikvah Project, an initiative of Sharon Azrieli and The Azrieli Foundation, the concert brought the comfort and unity of sacred Jewish music to communities across Israel.

Cantor Jill Abramson, Head of Seminary Programs (interim) and Director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, expressed that "few opportunities are as meaningful for our students as sharing the stage with renowned musicians and cantors in a program of such depth and beauty. Through this concert, they are not only honing their artistic skills but also experiencing firsthand the power of sacred Jewish music to connect generations, communities, and hearts. We are deeply grateful to Sharon Azrieli for her vision and leadership through the Hatikvah Project, which has created meaningful opportunities for music, healing, and connection during a challenging time. It is a privilege to take part in an evening that celebrates our musical heritage while helping to shape its future."

Cantorial student Sydney Levy added, "As a cantorial student at Hebrew Union College, participating in this concert has been an extraordinary honor. Sharing Jewish sacred music, both contemporary works and the melodies I grew up with, alongside the Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra has been a deeply meaningful experience. I am especially grateful to Sharon Azrieli and the Hatikvah Project for making opportunities like this possible and for investing in the next generation of Jewish musical leaders. To be part of a program that celebrates hope, resilience, and Jewish tradition is a privilege I will carry with me throughout my life."

Perhaps the evening was best captured by Cantor-Rabbi Shani Ben-Or, with the following reflection:

It has been an extraordinarily moving experience and a tremendous privilege to create a musical program for the wider Israeli public during the month of October-a month that, in these painful years of war, has become associated with so much grief, anguish, and collective trauma.

Through Sharon Azrieli's remarkable initiative, this month has been transformed into an opportunity for music, connection, and hope. We are deeply humbled to have been entrusted with leading the closing concert of this extraordinary series, bringing to life the music of Kabbalat Shabbat in a unique collaboration between the Jerusalem Camerata and the cantorial voices of Hebrew Union College.

Most of the works in this program were heard in orchestral arrangements for the very first time, including original liturgical compositions by our institution's distinguished faculty and alumni: Cantor Eliyahu Schleifer, Cantor-Rabbi Shani Ben-Or, Cantor Jordan Frenzel, Cantor Danielle Mutlu, and Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller. Their music was presented alongside works by celebrated Israeli composers, including Paul Ben-Haim and Yehezkel Braun, and the magnificent musical legacy of Louis Lewandowski.

This program is also a source of tremendous pride for our institution and for the Reform Movement. From the era of the Enlightenment to the present day, our movement has helped transform the experience of Jewish worship through instrumental music, choral harmony, and the inclusion of egalitarian voices. This musical heritage has influenced not only our own denomination but the broader understanding of Jewish prayer in the modern world. Tonight, we have the privilege of bringing that legacy into a new musical conversation, rooted in tradition and speaking directly to our contemporary Israeli experience.

We know that hundreds of Israelis will fill the concert hall tonight, and we cannot wait to meet them through music-especially during these dramatic and uncertain hours for our country.

Whatever tomorrow may bring, we gather with the conviction that these difficult days, too, shall pass. Our Jewish experience teaches us not only that better days are possible, but that we have a responsibility to bring them into being. As we sing, "הביאו את היום"-bring forth the day-we remind ourselves that hope is not merely something we wait for. It is something we create together.

And as the words of our national anthem remind us, and as the title of this concert so beautifully declares: "עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו"-our hope is not yet lost. It is a hope thousands of years old, carried from generation to generation, and one that we continue to renew through our actions, our voices, and our shared humanity.

How meaningful it is that this concert will take place at the Jerusalem YMCA, just down the street from our Hebrew Union College campus, hosted by our dear friends, partners, and Christian neighbors. In the heart of Jerusalem, this collaboration itself is a powerful expression of what music can make possible: an encounter across communities, traditions, and identities, grounded in mutual respect and a shared commitment to a better future.

Tonight, we raise our voices together in prayer, in music, and above all, in hope.

עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו.

Our hope is not yet lost.