Stephen Wise Free Synagogue mourns the passing on Monday, August 16, 2021, of Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch, father of our Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch; father-in-law of Alison Hirsch; and grandfather of Abigail Hirsch. He was predeceased by his beloved wife Bella Hirsch.

Rabbi Richard Hirsch z”l has been called the architect of Reform Zionism and the worldwide movement for Progressive Judaism. He was founding director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C., from 1962 to 1973, and he helped pass the landmark Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965. In 1973, he moved to Israel with his family to become executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

The Hirsch family memorialized Rabbi Richard Hirsch in a letter Tuesday and outlined plans for a memorial to take place in Israel in the near future

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement: “Rabbi Hirsch was a genuine Jewish pioneer. He charted his own remarkable course, based not on popularity or prestige but on his unclouded intuition, his broad understanding of shifting realities and his deep connection to the Jewish People and the State of Israel.” 

“Rabbi Richard Hirsch was a gentleman of great warmth and brilliant humor, an exemplar of social justice and a magnificent storyteller. He was a friend of my father’s, the late President Chaim Herzog, and a friend of mine. I mourn the loss of this great visionary and beloved Zionist leader.”

“At a time when so many think that human rights and Zionism pull in the opposite direction, here is a leader who proves by his own life that the struggle for Zionism and the struggle for human rights are one and the same,” said former Jewish Agency chairman and activist Natan Sharansky.

“The hardest part was hearing how disappointed our kids were,” says Director of Youth Education Rabbi Rena Rifkin, who had to call 14 Religious School families in March to coordinate new b’nai mitzvah plans. “Our students spent a full year in tutoring and were getting so excited — but just as they were setting up for a field goal, the goal post moved back.”

Justin Fradkin had planned to celebrate his bar mitzvah at the Kotel, but his family had to cancel their mid-March trip when Israel locked down. A few days later, New York shutdown, too. “We decided that a hurried, virtual bar mitzvah was not what we wanted and so we postponed until we could do it in person,” says Justin’s father, Uzi.

Rabbi Rifkin worked with Justin and the other families to reschedule their dates — and keep them engaged in the interim. “I had a Zoom session every couple of weeks with Whitney or Rabbi Rifkin — and, as I got closer, I met with Cantor Singer and Rabbi Hirsch — to help me stay focused and keep everything I’d learned fresh,” says Justin.

Meanwhile, the Religious School staff had to keep up with all the other b’nai mitzvah students who were already on the roster. “We were most concerned that everything could get cancelled at the last minute,” says Pam Unger, whose daughter Hayden was excited “to finally become a real part of the Jewish community” and didn’t want to mess up when her big day finally arrived this fall.

“We’ve had to rethink everything we do and why we do it — and we’ve come up with some creative new ways of teaching that will impact how our Religious School students learn going forward,” says Rabbi Rifkin. “Our families, too, have had to reimagine what this lifecycle event means for them and focus on the essential experience. While it’s been tough, these have been some of the most joyous and spiritual events I’ve ever been to.”

When Justin was finally able to celebrate on November 7, it was a truly meaningful moment for him and his family. “In many ways it brought us even closer to the Stephen Wise community and it highlighted what’s important about the occasion,” says Uzi. “Our family and friends who attended virtually said they felt as though they’d been there because of the intimacy of the service and the warmth it radiated.”

“It was a really special experience for me,” says Hayden, who became bat mitzvah on November 28. “When we first started planning Hayden’s bat mitzvah over a year ago, this is not what we had in mind,” says Pam. “It ended up being a great experience. All the restrictions actually forced us to bring everything back to the intention of the day: the service. And we probably had more people tune in than would’ve been able to come in person!”

Whether you joined us in-person or online these past High Holy Days, we’re sure you noticed that our services were a little bit different this year — in quite a few ways!

What you might not know is how much effort went in to creating a hybrid worship experience that was familiar yet allowed our congregants to participate no matter where they were. Here’s a look behind the scenes…

Retrofitting the Sanctuary 

To protect everyone in the sanctuary, our synagogue engaged a team of health and hygiene experts who helped us create very extensive safety protocols ahead of our reopening. As part of this effort, we improved air flow and circulation and fitted our podiums and choir member stations with plexiglass surrounds and plastic sheeting.

“We made all kinds of creative changes to make the worship experience as happy as possible, as uplifting as possible and as safe as possible,” says Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. 

“Around our virtual table we had a team advising us on industrial hygiene, security, our building’s architecture and engineering, medical issues, ventilation and airflow, government relations and legal matters,” says Executive Director Sandy Divack Moss. “Without spending countless hours consulting with these people, we never would have been able to open as safely and smoothly as we did. And not a week goes by without our continuing to seek their advice.”

And we’re sure you noticed the two 10-foot screens flanking the ark and which allowed us to bring in congregants and musical talent who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to participate.

Behind The Curtain

We needed people who were familiar with our service to operate the two laser projectors mounted on our balcony. So our communications director, Ryan Greiss, and communications associate, Steven Morris, who had both worked closely with Rabbi Samantha Natov and our honors committee to produce all the videos you saw, learned to use the equipment in only a few days.

“It’s always been my job to play the Bergen Belsen recording at exactly the right moment in the Yom Kippur afternoon service — and that was always a little nerve-wracking,” says Ryan. “This time, I had to worry about playing everything at the right time!”

Controlling our three high-definition cameras — and live streaming the services to the world — was our longtime videographer and technician, Edgar De La Vega.

“Usually we prepare to work for a few long days on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” says Edgar, who’s been behind the camera at Stephen Wise’s Shabbat and holiday services and b’nai mitzvah for more than four years now. “But this year we had to work around the clock every day for about a month before the High Holy Days — while also making sure Shabbat services and b’nai mitzvah went off without a hitch.”

I Want To Be A Producer

Without our members, there would have been nothing to play on our 10-foot screens! Led by Rabbi Natov and organized by our honors committee, congregants met with Rabbi Natov, Rabbi Shira Gluck, Cantor Dan Singer and our communications staff over the course of two weeks to record each of the honors.

“It was important to us that we found a way for congregants to participate in honors over the High Holy Days even though we couldn’t be together on the bimah,” says Rabbi Natov. “SThe clergy, together with our ritual committee and communications staff, worked tirelessly, reaching out to and recording our congregants in advance of services.”

 “Ensuring that all of our more than 100 honorees were recorded and that their footage was then edited together to make 35 final videos — some with multiple versions — meant that we needed to keep a lot of information organized,” says Steven.

“Participation from the congregation has always been a fundamental part of our identity and our services. We wanted these High Holy Days to feel as close to ‘normal’ as possible — and to allow for those who were in our sanctuary and those who chose to stay home to have the same meaningful experience,” says Cantor Singer. “Following strict protocols regarding singing and wind instruments to keep everyone safe, we prerecorded all of the High Holy Days music with our band and a quartet of masked singers over the course of a very long day. We used that music for services and for the backing tracks accompanying our very talented congregational soloists, so that everyone could participate and it looked and sounded as if everyone was in the sanctuary, singing and playing together.”

 “Being able to see our members together on screen throughout worship on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur made all the difference in helping us feel connected to each other,” adds Rabbi Natov. 

After production wrapped, Ryan and Steven closely reviewed the hours of footage before delivering it to Edgar — with meticulous notes — so he could edit the 35 final videos that played during this year’s High Holy Days services.

“After Ryan and Steven sent me the footage and their notes, I would organize and edit each video — which often took several hours and several emails back and forth to get exactly right,” says Edgar. “I had to mix and match footage from different recording sessions and loop some videos and cut others to make sure prayers were synchronized and that video shot separately would work together and look as natural as possible. Then I added name titles and labeled each video so we would know when in the services they should play.” 

An Online Rabbi 

“We had an amazing turnout for tot and family services,” says Rabbi Gluck, who led the virtual services for young families with Rabbi Rena Rifkin — and is running virtual Family Experiences until we can gather in person again. “Before the holidays, we provided Tot Shabbat kits with all sorts of objects to help families learn and interact virtually. During Tot Shabbat I like to invite our kids to cuddle their plush Torah scrolls while I teach about Torah. It’s absolutely adorable.”

And since so many of our congregants had to join the main services remotely this year, Rabbi Gluck was there with our viewers on Facebook and YouTube, making sure everyone could keep up with the electronic prayer books she’d prepared and offering ways to connect with the services and with each other.

“People were so happy that they were able to feel like they were in the sanctuary from afar, and they loved seeing their friends from the congregation up on the screens,” she says. “We got so many messages of appreciation from people who were homebound — and not just because of COVID — thanking us for giving them the opportunity to worship during the holy days, and for having a rabbi with them online to guide them through the services.” 

A Herculean Effort

We knew it would take a lot of time and resources to produce a meaningful High Holy Days experience for everyone who would be joining us online and in person.

“We spent a lot of time and a lot of money creating something that was safe and that would allow people to come together,” says Stephen Wise President Marc Bernstein. “Someday, we’ll all be back in the synagogue again. But until that day comes, please, please continue to support our synagogue as generously as you possibly can. Our synagogue rests upon the shoulders of the generations before us and the future of our synagogue depends on us.”

It is with deep appreciation that we thank those who contributed to Stephen Wise’s Yom Kippur Appeal. If you haven’t already made a gift, it’s not too late to support our efforts to strengthen Judaism in our local community and beyond. Your contribution, no matter the size, is vital to our community!

Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is excited to welcome our cantorial intern, Joseph (Joe) Flaxman!

Joe grew up at Temple Shalom in Succasunna, New Jersey, and was raised on stories about his grandfather, also named Joseph, who had dreamed of becoming a chazan. After earning his master’s in vocal performance at the Manhattan School of Music, he went on to perform in cities across the country and the world. After Joe met and then married his wife Laura, they had their first son Elias. Realizing that he wanted to change careers, Joe felt the pull to explore his own childhood dream of becoming a cantor. During his year of study in Jerusalem at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, he and Laura welcomed their second son, Isaiah, into the world.

Joe is looking forward to working and learning at Stephen Wise, where he’ll be assisting us as our cantorial intern and working closely with Cantor Dan Singer.

We sat down with Joe so we could get to know him a little better.

Q: What was the “a-ha” moment when you realized you wanted to be a cantor?

A: In my previous career, I was as an opera singer — I even sang right around the corner at Lincoln Center a few times — and after an audition, I realized that the best-case scenario was that I’d get the job and then I’d be miserable because my work was no longer bringing me joy.

The idea of being a cantor was something I had considered since I was very young as my grandfather (after whom I’m named) dreamed of being a chazan. Based on my skill set I thought I might make a good cantor, so I left my manager the next day and got in touch with Hebrew Union College about pivoting to my second career. 
Mini “a-ha” moments happened when I was singing in the choir at Park Avenue Synagogue, as well as when I was singing in various cities throughout America and connected to local Jewish communities to celebrate Shabbat or holidays. There was always a feeling of being “home” that made me re-visit the idea of becoming a cantor.

Q: What’s the most challenging part of cantorial school? The most fun?

A: Balancing class, work, and family is definitely a challenge, but the most fun part is how each one seems to teach me how to be my best and most present self for the other parts of my life.

Q: What is your favorite Jewish song?

A: I can’t pick just one, but I did narrow it down to two! “Elohai N’shama” is a beautiful daily cleansing breath for the soul and “Eilu D’varim” constantly reminds me that my capacity for doing good deeds is infinite.

Q: What’s your favorite instrument? Your least favorite? 

A: I love the piano, and if I had to pick a least favorite, it’d have to be the trombone.

Q: Favorite band?

A: I listen to a ton of classical music (Mozart, Verdi, Bach, von Weber, Berg, Rachmaninoff, Monteverdi, Ravel… the list is long and varied). But I’m also a big fan of Weezer as well as 80s music in general.

Q: What’s something you learned at HUC that really blew your mind?

A: OK, brace yourself… the melody you think of for the “Four Questions” is actually quite new! It’s a melody from early in modern Israeli history. Prior to that, the typical “Ashkenazi” melody for the “Four Questions” was the same one people used to study Mishnah. I never thought about it, but I just figured that my father probably sang those questions in the same melody at his Seder growing up, and his father before him… then I learned that the tradition of a child singing the “Four Questions” is also newer!

Q: What about being a cantor are you looking forward to most?

A: Helping people create community through the power of Jewish music!