Tzama Nafshi: Ashkenazi Melodies for Shabbos Zemiros
Feb
3
to Feb 24

Tzama Nafshi: Ashkenazi Melodies for Shabbos Zemiros

Mondays on Zoom | Feb 3, 10 & 24 
6-7:30pm ET / 5-6:30pm CT / 3-4:30pm PT

Throughout even the most difficult moments in history, Jews have been gathering around Shabbat tables to eat, bless, and sing with friends and family. Join Batya Levine for this 3-part virtual series as we dive into the practice of communal resourcing, through the rich tradition of singing Askenazi melodies for Zemiros (traditional songs for Shabbat). These songs range from being educational tools for the laws of Shabbat, to emotional expressions of love and yearning. They are convoluted and simple, and everything in between. Zemiros often have many words, and we will be learning them as such, but don’t worry, we got you! This class is open to everyone. Learn these Ashkenazi melodies and bring them into your Shabbos life.

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Ashir Shirah: Singing Kabbalat Shabbat and Reading Torah in Moroccan Nusach
Feb
7
to Jun 6

Ashir Shirah: Singing Kabbalat Shabbat and Reading Torah in Moroccan Nusach

Fridays on zoom | 10:30 am -12 pm EST / 9:30-11 am CST / 7:30-9 am PST / 4:30-6 pm CET
15 class course, February 7 - June 6 (with two week break for Pessah/Passover, April 11 & 18)

Sliding scale $150-$540, no one turned away for lack of funds. Automated Captioning provided. 

Join Laura Elkeslassy for a 4-month deep dive into the liturgy and melodies for Kabalat Shabbat and Teamei Hamikrah (Torah trope) in Moroccan Nusach. Ashir Shirah is being offered in collaboration between Egalitarian Sephardi Mizrahi Kehilla of NYC and Let My People Sing! and is open to all, with a focus on equipping Sefardi/Mizrahi/JSWANA community leaders on the margins with the skills to lead and participate in prayer in their own communities. 

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Kedmah Concert for Shabbat Shira with Kol Tzedek (Philadelphia)
Feb
8
7:30 PM19:30

Kedmah Concert for Shabbat Shira with Kol Tzedek (Philadelphia)

Kedmah excavates the power and beauty of Mizrahi Jewish expression through ancient poetry and song. Their debut album, Simu Lev, was  released in April 2024 on Rising Song Records. Led by past LMPS Lead teachers, Yoni Battat & Rabbi Yosef Goldman, Kedmah invites listeners to experience the spiritual and emotional depth of Middle Eastern piyyut (liturgical poetry) and the traditional Arab melodies that adorn them. We will close out Shabbat Shirah, the shabbat of song, with Kedmah in concert at Kol Tzedek. Co-sponsored by Let My People Sing!, Tribe12, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Tickets are sliding scale $36-72.
This event will take place in-person at Kol Tzedek Synagogue - 5300 Whitby Ave, Philadelphia. This event is mask optional.

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Oseh Shalom Singing Workshop with Batya Levine in Minneapolis
Feb
19
7:00 PM19:00

Oseh Shalom Singing Workshop with Batya Levine in Minneapolis

Oseh Shalom: singing into shlemut (wholeness) and fragmentation
with Batya Levine

Wednesday, February 19th
Doors at 6:45, event 7-8:30
Studio 105W, Center for Performing Arts
3754 Pleasant Ave, Minneapolis
Suggested donation $10-$72
In collaboration with Ilu Finu

We are living in a time of profound rupture and fragmentation on the individual, communal, and societal levels. This can make it difficult to access or even imagine of a sense of wholeness and integration in the world. How can we move towards shlemut when we cannot access it in ourselves? In this workshop we will utilize the practice of singing to explore fragmentation and shlemut (wholeness/ integration) and the wisdom they can weave together. We will be using song, reflection, and sharing about our experience as pathways into these themes.

Access info: ADA accessible building, mask required, leader will unmask.


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Shabbat Tisch & Havdallah in Minneapolis + Philly
Mar
1
5:30 PM17:30

Shabbat Tisch & Havdallah in Minneapolis + Philly

Minneapolis, in collaboration with Ilu Finu
Doors at 5:45, event 6-7:30pm, New City Center, 3104 16th Ave S
Access info: ADA accessible building. This event is mask required, with the option to unmask while leading. Extra masks will be available on site. For other specific access request, let us know in the RSVP form below, or email access@letmypeoplesing,org.

Philly, in collaboration with Kol Tzedek
5:30-7pm, Kol Tzedek, in the Multi-Purpose Room (KT #2, 5300 Whitby Ave).
Access info: This event is mask required, with the option to unmask while leading. Extra masks and tests will be available on site. For full access notes, please click here.  For other specific access requests or questions, please email accessibility@kol-tzedek.org.

Description: The word "tisch" is Yiddish for "table," and is an opportunity to gather together in immersive song. Throughout even the most difficult moments in history, Jews have been gathering around Shabbat tables to eat, bless, and sing with friends and family. Join Let My People Sing!, Ilu Finu and Kol Tzedek as we dive into communal singing with Zemirot for Shabbat and melodies in honor of Rosh Chodesh Adar (new moon of Adar)! This tisch is happening as part of the culmination of a 3-part virtual series offered by LMPS on Ashkenazi melodies for Zemirot, and we’ll be singing some of the melodies learned there. (Class participation not required to attend these tischs.)

Are you interested in organizing a tisch in your community on March 1st? Add details including time, location, access info and a sentence or two about yourself or the community that will be hosting to this community populated map! Or email info@letmypeoplesing.org. Zemirot class participation recommended.

These events are free, and donations are welcome.


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Songs for Prayer & Protest: a community sing
Jan
7
7:00 PM19:00

Songs for Prayer & Protest: a community sing

Facilitated by Arielle Rivera Korman & Batya Levine
Tuesday, January 7th on Zoom
7-8:15pm EST | 6-7:15pm CST | 4-5:15pm PST
This offering is free and open to all.

With fascism on the rise, and inauguration drawing closer, we know that we need to be resourced to resist and to make it through the months and years ahead. This Let My People Sing! style community sing is an opportunity to gather in community and share songs for protest, for prayer, and for channeling our joy, heartbreak, and rage.  The space will be facilitated by song leaders Arielle Rivera Korman and Batya Levine, and also co-created by all of us, meaning that all who want to are invited to share a song.  We hope to sing with you then!

Automated captioning will be provided.

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Dec
17
10:00 AM10:00

Songs for Prayer & Protest: a community sing

facilitated by Arielle Rivera Korman & Batya Levine
Tuesday, January 7th on Zoom
7-8:15pm EST | 6-7:15pm CST | 4-5:15pm PST

This offering is free and open to all.

RSVP for zoom link. Automated captioning will be provided.

With fascism on the rise, and inauguration drawing closer, we know that we need to be resourced to resist and to make it through the months and years ahead. This Let My People Sing! style community sing is an opportunity to gather in community and share songs for protest, for prayer, and for channeling our joy, heartbreak, and rage.  The space will be facilitated by song leaders Arielle Rivera Korman and Batya Levine, and also co-created by all of us, meaning that all who want to are invited to share a song.  We hope to sing with you then!

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Dec
17
7:00 AM07:00

Songs for Prayer & Protest: a community sing

facilitated by Arielle Rivera Korman & Batya Levine

Tuesday, January 7th on Zoom
7-8:15pm EST | 6-7:15pm CST | 4-5:15pm PST

This offering is free and open to all.

With fascism on the rise, and inauguration drawing closer, we know that we will need to resist, and we know we will need to resource ourselves in the months and years ahead. This community sing is an opportunity to gather, and learn and share songs with each other. The songs we will be sharing and learning in this space will be ones that can be used for protest, for prayer, to channel our joy, heartbreak, and rage. This will be a Let My People Sing! style Community Sing – facilitated by Arielle Rivera Korman and Batya Levine — and co-created by all of us, meaning all who want to are invited to share a song.

RSVP for zoom link. Automated captioning will be provided.

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Sing, My People: Concert + Dance Party + Fundraiser
Dec
5
7:00 PM19:00

Sing, My People: Concert + Dance Party + Fundraiser

Roulette | Brooklyn, NY

Featuring 2024 Teachers and LMPS Team Members:
Yoni Avi Battat | (DJ) Rabbi Shir Meira Feit | Dodie Whitaker | Laura Elkeslassy | April Centrone | Anat Halevy Hochberg | Aly Halpert | Batya Levine | Marques Hollie & Margot Seigle

Sliding Scale: $72 - $1800
Ticket includes light appetizers and an alcoholic or non alcoholic drink of your choosing.

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Songs for the Soul
Dec
4
to Dec 18

Songs for the Soul

Wednesdays on Zoom | December 4, 11 & 18
7-8:30pm ET / 6-7:30pm CT / 4-5:30pm PT

Songs for the Soul is an affinity space for Jews of Color to explore the intersections of their ancestral lineages through song. This workshop, facilitated by Rabbi Dr. Koach Baruch Frazier and Maggid Marques Hollie, will creatively engage with the psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat by connecting with our ancestral lineages to create rooted, personal niggunim and songs. This workshop will offer opportunities for ancestral reflection and connection, community-building with other Jews of Color, and bringing our whole selves to the pages of the prayer book. We can’t wait to sing with you.  

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Trans Voices: Singing Our Whole Selves with Shula Pesach & Mazal Etedgi
Nov
17
to Dec 1

Trans Voices: Singing Our Whole Selves with Shula Pesach & Mazal Etedgi

Sundays on Zoom
Dec 1 @ 4:00 - 5:30p EST / 3:00 - 4:30p CST / 1:00 - 2:30p PST
Dec 8 @ 5:30 - 7:00p EST / 4:30 - 6:00p CST / 2:30 - 4:00p PST

Trans Voices is an affinity space for gender expansive (trans*, nonbinary, genderqueer, gender blessed) folks to be in songful discovery together. This two-part workshop, facilitated by Shula Pesach and Mazal Etedgi, will be ritually and creatively engaging with the complex feelings, sensations, and narratives of the voice. How do we relate to our voice when we are changing? How do we hold ambivalent, dysphoric, and joyful feelings in harmony — and dissonance? This workshop holds care and emphasis for those of us who are currently, have previously been, or anticipate being on hormones. We can’t wait to be together and make space for our holy voices to be true, broken, changing, ours, and free.

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MPLS Post-Election Song Circle
Nov
10
5:30 PM17:30

MPLS Post-Election Song Circle

FREE

5:30-7pm
Sunroom at the Center for Performing Arts.
3754 Pleasant Avenue Minneapolis, MN.

Weeks like this one can be flooding to our nervous systems, discouraging for our hearts and spirits. We’ll gather again on the other side of the election, and sing songs to help soothe our cells, support grief to move, and touch back in with our sense of collective agency and power.  

Chairs provided, BYO floor cushion or blanket if you wish to sit on the floor. Limited space available, we’ll do our best to fit everyone who joins!

We’re going to try out streaming the song circle via instagram so that the song we create together can ripple out beyond the room. We’ll designate a “no photo” section if you wish to not be visible on the livestream.

Access info: masks required except when leading a song. ADA accessible (ADA compliant main entrance off of 38th St.). All ages welcome. Find transportation and more accessibility info here.

Questions? Email info@letmypeoplesing.org.

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Sing & Pray with LMPS this Election Day
Nov
5
10:00 AM10:00

Sing & Pray with LMPS this Election Day

FREE

PHILLY

10-11am Avodat Lev with Batya Levine and Aly Halpert
5020 Cedar Ave. (backyard), Philadelphia, PA 

Join us to start election day with an Avodat Lev* service. We’ll move through a simple structure of songful morning prayers with space for prayer and reflection in order to ground us in spirit, breath, community and connection as we move into the rest of the day and beyond.
*This model of songful prayer was started in the Adamah Fellowship at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center.

Access info: This gathering will be outside, and mask optional. There will be some chairs set up, please bring your own if it's easy to. There are 2 steps up to get to the yard, and the pavement in the yard has some chunks missing. There’s a restroom on the first floor of the house which is 5 steps from the back yard or 7 steps from the front sidewalk.

MINNEAPOLIS

5:30-7pm: Song Circle with Margot Seigle and Friends
Sunroom at the Center for Performing Arts.
3754 Pleasant Avenue Minneapolis, MN.

We'll sing songs for courage and resilience to help settle our nervous systems and give us the strength to turn and face whatever is to come. 

Chairs provided, BYO floor cushion or blanket if you wish to sit on the floor. Limited space available, we’ll do our best to fit everyone who joins!

Access info: masks required except when leading a song. ADA accessible (ADA compliant main entrance off of 38th St.). All ages welcome. Find transportation and more accessibility info here.

Questions? Email info@letmypeoplesing.org.

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To Yearn and Return: An Elul Sacred Song Circle with Eliana Light
Sep
25
7:30 PM19:30

To Yearn and Return: An Elul Sacred Song Circle with Eliana Light

Jalopy Theatre, 315 Columbia St - Brooklyn

Join The Neighborhood and Lab/Shul and other community partners to lift your voice in a collective and contemplative musical journey led by Eliana Light (beloved LMPS teacher), alongside musicians Carla Friend, Coleen Dieker, Drew Cohen, Jesse Chevan, and Shira Kline. (Let My People Sing! is proud to be co-sponsoring this event!)

The Hebrew month of Elul leads up to the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jewish traditions observe the month of Elul as a sacred time in which we can open our hearts, souls, and voices to prepare for the days of awe ahead. This month calls us to connect and reflect; to yearn and return; to open ourselves to the possibility of transformation. What better way to undertake this journey than through a communal gathering centered around sacred song?

Eliana Light envisions a joyful, vibrant, heart-centered Judaism that speaks to the soul and moves the spirit, reminding us that we all are One. Her fourth album of playful & soulful original melodies, ORAH HI, was released in fall of 2023. Eliana is also the founder of the Light Lab and host of the Light Lab Podcast. Based in Durham, NC, Eliana visits communities around the country as an artist-in-residence, making Jewish liturgy and prayer practice accessible and meaningful through leading, teaching, and song.

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Moroccan High Holidays Learning Series with Laura Elkeslassy
Sep
22
to Oct 6

Moroccan High Holidays Learning Series with Laura Elkeslassy

Mimaamakim Karati Yah: From the Depths I Call to Yah

3-part series on Zoom

Sunday, Sep 22 | 6-7:30p ET 

Sunday, Sep 29 | 6-7:30p ET

Wednesday, Oct 9 | 8-9:30p ET

The high holidays are upon us. In a time of deep sorrow and despair, the texts invite us to reflect in our own hearts upon our individual and collective wrongdoings in the last year. In preparation for this arduous spiritual journey, join us for a 3-part virtual series led by Laura Elkeslassy, to dive into the liturgy of the high holidays. This series will cover piyutim (liturgical poems) from Selichot, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur in the Moroccan Nusach. It is intended for all who would like to familiarize or deepen their knowledge of the Maghrebi Nusach for Yamim Noraim (High Holidays). This series is open to all.

Cost: $36-$360 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds, please email info@letmypeoplesing.org if cost is a barrier.

Live captioning provided. The deadline to request ASL has passed, but if this is a need for you, let us know and we will do our best to meet it.

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Singing the Mother Letters: Being Together as Sick & Disabled Folks in Song
May
19
7:30 PM19:30

Singing the Mother Letters: Being Together as Sick & Disabled Folks in Song

with Nomy Lamm & Sol Weiss

This will be a three part series over three months, where we focus on one mother letter in each class. Sefer Yetzirah teaches that שׁ (shin), מ (mem) and א (alef) are the “mothers” of all other letters, and symbolic figures for the elements that are the foundation for all of creation. Each letter is connected with an element and a body part that we will explore through song and practice in each of our three sessions. As sick & disabled people, finding relationship between our bodyminds and song, earth, fire, water, and air supports us in breaking isolation and grounding in connection with the world.

Sundays on Zoom
May 19*, June 30, July 28
7-8:30pm EST | 6-7:30pm CST | 4-5:30pm PST
*May 19th session starting at 7:30pm EST to allow folks to attend who may be attending MPLS Sings!

Cost: Sliding scale from $36 - $360.
This is a NOTAFLOF event (no one turned away for lack of funds), and folks who aren’t able to pay at this time are invited to email info@letmypeoplesing.org for a discount code.

ASL & Live Captioning available upon request.

Nomy Lamm is a musician, illustrator, kohenet, and the Creative Director of Sins Invalid, a disability justice based performance project. Nomy creates ritual tools for embodied queer Jewish feminist practice, including the Dreaming the World to Come planner and the Omer Oracle deck. They are dedicated to anti-colonial, anti-racist practices, and to witnessing a Free Palestine in their lifetime. They live on occupied Squaxin land in Olympia, WA, with their partner Lisa and their animal companions Dandelion, Momma, Romance, and Chanukah. www.nomyteaches.com, @nomyteaches

Sol Weiss is a white Ashkenazi artist, ritualist, educator and cultural organizer on Nipmuc Pocumtuk lands in Northampton MA. When they’re not in the print shop, the kitchen or the garden, Sol currently serves as Director of Communications and Resource Sharing at Tzedek Lab, a national network of visionaries and changemakers moving the Jewish community to end antisemitism, racism and white supremacy. Sol's work explores how land connection, art, kinship and tradition can support us to overcome oppression, heal from colonization and build new worlds. 

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You, The Instrument
Apr
14
1:00 PM13:00

You, The Instrument

1:00 - 2:30p EST | 12:00 - 1:30p CST | 10:00 - 11:30a PST

A virtual class with Marques Hollie.

When we sing,  our bodies themselves become our instruments. Join Marques Hollie for this session on learning about how to care for our voices.  Vocal care helps us sustain singing without burning out or hurting ourselves, and it can support us to sing with more of our self and voice. Topics will include: vocal anatomy, warming up, the importance of breath/breathing, and common myths and misconceptions about singing.

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