News and Who's our Next Guest... We held our first SHIR HAMAKOM music worship service, at the Temple Beth Tefilah building on 465 Oak Street in East Hartford, on Friday May 8, 2009.  We are a casual, welcoming and down-to-earth community, each of us joined by our desire to rekindle the spirit of Torah in our own way. We began with a social hour at 5:30, followed by a music worship service from 6:20-7:30. We continued welcoming Shabbat with lively conversation and delicious dinner together following services. (CLICK to CHECK MUSIC WORSHIP SERVICE DATES). Our music worship is relaxed and casual, full of music, and heavily notated and transliterated so that people of all levels of Hebrew background can feel comfortable. We often have a guest musician and/or guest speaker at our service, to challenge the senses and the mind as we approach Shabbat. In the service welcoming Shabbat, the liturgy begins with a Psalm for each day of the week, mirroring the story of Creation, ending with L'cha Dodi, welcoming the Shabbat Bride. In this spirit, during the week prior to our services, we send out daily emails to you, with a "thought of the day" on some theme related to the creation story, anticipating Shabbat and bringing Judaism into everyday moments. . It is our hope that we all can "countdown to" and anticipate Shabbat more by becoming conscious of this weekly rhythm. Click Here to subscribe to our email list. Here is a news article link from the Hartford Courant on 4-May-2009 with our basic overview. Article from the Connecticut Jewish Ledger on 10-June-2009. December 10, 2010  Shir Hamakom welcomed special guests, Peter and Ellen Allard who lead us in their WOW Shabbat Worship.  Internationally aclaimed musicians and songwriters, the Allards skillfully blend music and their unique theater and parcipatory skills to draw us in and welcome Shabbat in a way that we will long remember.   More info... November 12, 2010  Arnie Davidson is joined by Rabbi Elias Lieberman,  Dr. Wendy Nelson and Pamela Rothstein (of Falmouth Jewish Congregation) to bring "Boomer Shabbat" to Shir Hamakom.  This fun and unique music experience takes the traditional Shabbat liturgy and substitutes a secular/pop song from the 60's and 70's that is thematically related.  Instead of a Siddur (prayerbook), worshipers receive a lyrics sheet to make this an evening of nostalgia and music.  Wear your 60's clothes, and bring a friend, ready to join the band in a Shabbat service that you will long remember, and that will leave you singing all week long.   September 6, 2010 - Shir Hamakom High Holy Days worship.  The music of our cantor, Robin Sparr-Rothman, soloist Shelly Aronson, guest flutist Eileen Ain and Arnie Davidson blend together in a unique and original service to welcome Rosh Hashanah and to worship together on Yom Kippur.  We celebrated a musical journey through the Yamim Noraim (days of Awe) with both traditional and new music. EJ Cohen was our guest on August 13, 2010. She is a performing Jewish musician, educator and interpreter for the Deaf, specializing in interpreting Jewish music and prayer. She has toured with Debbie Friedman, Julie Silver, Beth Schafer, and Josh Nelson in concerts around the world. She is a vibrant spirit and EJ adds an amazing visual dimension to worship music. Cantor Robin Sparr-Rothman, from Natick MA, joined us in song at our music worship on July 9, 2010.  Robin will be our chazan for the High Holy Days 2010. Eileen Ain, flutist and musician from New York City joined us on June 25, 2010 with her beautiful music and spirit.  Eileen has played with Shlomo Carlebach for over five years and is a seasoned jazz and classical musician. On December 4, 2009 singer/songwriter Eric Lichter, a performing musician from NYC who has played with Carly Simon, will bring his talent and music to our worship service. On October 9, 2009, singer/songwriter Rick Calvert, a Cantorial Soloist from New Jersey  joined our music worship service. On September 11, 2009, we welcomed singer/songwriter Chana Rothman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania   to join our music worship service. On August 7, 2009 we welcomed Rabbi Seth Riemer, playwright and Spiritual Leader at Congregation Beth Torah in Wethersfield, CT to our music worship service. On June 12, 2009 our community welcomed Rabbi Andrea Cohen Kiener, Director of the Interreligious  Eco-Justice network, and Spiritual Leader of Congregation P'nai Or in West Hartford, Connecticut.