Cantor Bruce Rockman and the Sons of Tikvah Band will be among the musicians performing at the We Stand With Israel: Give a Child the Freedom to Play concert on Feb. 22.
If you go
What: We Stand With Israel: Give a Child the Freedom to Play concert
When: Sunday, Feb. 22, 4 p.m.
Where: Congregation B’nai Tikvah, North Brunswick
Tickets: Free, but seating is limited; for tickets, call 732-297-0696
Support: Donations to the Freedom to Play campaign can be made at www.jewishmiddlesex.org, by calling 732-432-7711, or by sending a check to the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, with Freedom to Play in memo line, at 230 Old Bridge Turnpike, South River, NJ 08882.
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February 17, 2009
A communitywide concert — featuring cantors and musical groups from throughout Middlesex County — will offer a “day of play” to children in Sderot and other Israeli towns who have suffered trauma from years of missile attacks from Gaza.
The free Feb. 22 concert, “We Stand With Israel: Give a Child the Freedom to Play,” will be held at 4 p.m. at Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick and is being sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County.
Cantor Bruce Rockman of B’nai Tikvah said he got the idea for organizing the concert after reading about the federation’s drive to raise $53,000 to send 1,000 traumatized children from southern Israel out of the embattled region for a day.
“I was reading the New Jersey Jewish News, and I began wondering what I could do to help,” he said. When he realized that the area’s cantors had not done anything together to aid the effort, he said, he called Cantors Anna West Ott of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick and Sheldon Levin of Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen to pitch the idea of organizing a concert. “They loved it,” Rockman said.
Rockman then contacted Gabriela Sadote Sleppin, director of the federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council, and Harry Bernstein of Colonia, an original organizer of the “Raise our Voices for Israel” concerts sponsored by federation in recent years.
The Sunday afternoon event will be run along the same lines as those previous concerts, with choirs, bands, and soloists presenting a program of Jewish and Israeli music.
To assemble the roster of performers, Rockman contacted other cantors, synagogues, and musicians throughout the county.
Not everyone was available, but those who were enthusiastically signed on to participate in a day that will be dedicated not only to musical enjoyment but to “letting people know what is happening in Sderot,” said Rockman.
Show solidarity
Despite the mid-January cease-fire in the conflict to end the rocket attacks launched by Hamas from Gaza, Kassams continue to fall on southern Israel, said Rockman. “This concert will give us the opportunity to show our solidarity.”
Sleppin said the federation is asking people to send $50 for each healthy child or grandchild they have, enough to cover the cost of sending an Israeli child “for a day of play.” The day trips are being run through the Jewish Agency for Israel.
“Just because the bombs have lessened doesn’t mean the fear of the children has lessened,” said Sleppin. “It has had a great impact on them psychologically. We are encouraging people to attend this concert because it is important for this community to make a statement on behalf of these children.”
The entertainers lined up include Rockman and the Sons of Tikvah Band and Makhelat HaMercaz, the community choir of central New Jersey led by Ott and Levin.
Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com
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