Song is the Pen of the Soul—An Interfaith Interchange

Song is the Pen of the Soul—An Interfaith Interchange
Sunday, November 15
Wilson Chapel
Andover Newton Theological School
3:30–5:45 p.m.
Free and open to the public
Seating is limited – please register now.

Dr. Joshua Jacobson and the Zamir Chorale of Boston
Reverend Burns Stanfield and the Andover Newton Community Choir
Commentary by Rabbi Daniel Lehmann and Priscilla Deck

Please join the Zamir Chorlae and the Andover Newton Community Choir for a rousing performance, discussion and sing-along of inspiring music from Jewish and Christian faith traditions. Rabbi Daniel Lehmann will discuss the Jewish spiritual music tradition, illustrated by the Zamir Chorale of Boston under the direction of Dr. Joshua Jacobson; the program will feature selections of Hassidic music and works by Louis Lewandowski, Shlomo Carlebach and Ernest Bloch. Priscilla Deck will lead a discussion of Christian spiritual music, complemented by a performance by the Andover Newton Community Choir, directed by Reverend Burns Stanfield.

You’ll have a chance to join in the singing, led by Cantor Louise Treitman. The afternoon also includes an opportunity to learn more about the many programs of Hebrew College’s School of Jewish Music (SJM), ranging from pluralistic cantorial ordination to certificate programs in Jewish sacred music and Jewish music education.

For more information, please contact Renee Tepper, 617-559-8622, rtepper AT hebrewcollege.edu


Dr. Joshua R. Jacobson, DMA, Acting Dean of the School of Jewish Music and one of the foremost authorities on Jewish choral music, is Visiting Professor of Jewish Music at Hebrew College and Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University. He is also founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston. His many musical arrangements, editions and compositions are frequently performed by choirs around the world. His book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation, was published by the Jewish Publication Society in 2002.

A Jewish innovator who has devoted his career to pluralistic Jewish education, Rabbi Daniel L. Lehmann became the eighth President of Hebrew College on July 1, 2008. Previously the founding Headmaster of Gann Academy-The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston, he was also Founding Director of BIMA-The Berkshire Institute for Music and Arts. A frequent lecturer on Jewish education, he has published numerous journal articles on Jewish education and has contributed several chapters in books on religious education. Rabbi Lehmann is a former member of the Zamir Chorale of Boston.

After a period of recording and performing as a professional musician, Burns Stanfield was ordained in 1991 as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to pastor Fourth Presbyterian Church, a congregation in a low-income neighborhood of South Boston. Once near closing, Fourth Presbyterian has since grown substantially and is now a vital community presence. Reverend Stanfield conducts the Andover Newton Community Choir as part of his class, Christian Worship, Christian Music, and also teaches at Harvard Divinity School. He continues to write music, perform and record.

Priscilla Deck, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Andover Newton Theological School, has always maintained a parallel career as a free-lance violinist. Although she sees herself primarily as a church musician, she frequently serves as an art and music critic to area newspapers and journals. Convinced of the unique spiritual power of the aesthetic experience, she teaches in the Worship, Theology and the Arts program at Andover Newton.