Dear
Friends,
Welcome
to my belated February newsletter!
Life has been a whirlwind of travel and family milestones and it has
been hard to sit still for long enough to publish this monthly manuscript.  We feel so blessed that my parents are
celebrating their 50th anniversary this month. Mazeltov!
This
will be a busy month and I love to connect with you when I'm on the road. South Florida Friends: C'mon down to
Boca Raton for a Shabbaton Spectacular at Congregation B'nai Israel February
19-21. They have booked me every
waking minute of the weekend with programs from Tot Shabbat to serenading
educators and the concert will feature my amazing Florida-based band, the CBI
adult band, the teen band, two cantors and two choirs!
Those
of you in the Northeast are welcome to my Shabbaton and Purim shows in NJ and
DE. Please note that I still have availability
in the tri-state area to make some rowdy music for a Purim feast on the
afternoon of the 28th. Finally, in March I will have a whirlwind tour of Israel, Atlanta
and Chattanooga. I can just
hear those frequent flyer miles accumulate!
I
had a unique Shabbat experience last weekend: I led a retreat in the
Philadelphia area and as we sang, studied and prayed over 28" of snow
accumulated outside. We were a captive
audience and we didn't care! I've
never seen it snow in multiple directions and I was actually afraid that we
might  lose the kids who were sledding through the head-high snowdrifts. With all the airports closed I had no
choice but to have some local fun:
I was taken to a great Super Bowl party (Go Saints!) and then had a day
to tour the historic core of downtown Philly with new friends. On the flight home I had a long shmooze
with a young Jewish man who was an F-16 fighter pilot in the USAF who had just
moved to LA. Thanks to Jewish
Geography we knew people in common and I realized meeting him must be the
reason G-d decreed that my flight be rescheduled. I'm excited to say that he's coming to my house this weekend
to spend Shabbat with my family.
My
new CD The Songs We Sing Volume Two is in mixdown...PLEASE order your discounted
advance copies today! PLEASE take
the time to read the article of the month "The Closest Thing to Judaism"
below. PLEASE give me feedback on
this newsletter! PLEASE pass it on
to friends. THANKS for your love
and support.
Sincerely,
Sam
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Preorder The Songs We Sing Volume Two!
Sam is currently wrapping up his 21st CD...the follow up to the ever popular Songs We Sing released in 2000.  Volume Two has twenty-eight lovingly recorded songs by Sam and his full eight-piece band and an array of guest vocalists. This monumental work breathes new life into these classic "common denominator" hit songs that unite the Jewish world. Preorder yours now at a 20% discount...it will ship in the first quarter of 2010 and you can count yourself among the first to hear it.
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Announcing the
CHAI TOUR 2010!
Be a part of Sam's 18th year on the road! Get your organization signed up on this special tour while the best dates are still available! Click here for the concert options and click here for the full schedule; dates are added weekly.
Event programmers: Uplifting contemporary Jewish music will bring all ages in your community together like no other activity. As always, we discount significantly for midweek shows and when Sam is already in your area. Sieze the date!
Upcoming stops include:
Boca Raton, FL
Palm Beach, FL
East Windsor, NJ
Wilmington, DE
Jerusalem, Israel
Marietta, GA
Chattanooga, TN
Albany, NY
Dallas, TX
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The Closest Thing to Judaism
by Sam Glaser
February 2010
I
have heard a resounding theme during my travels over the past several months:
that Chabad is a wretched institution.
That Chabad favors the rich, steals members from other  congregations and is steeped in misguided messianism. I have the opportunity on my annual fifty city tours to divide my time
between Reform, Conservative and Orthodox synagogues and a highlight is the heart to heart chats I have with the members of
clergy. Let me state for the
record that these conversations are usually enlightening and stimulating and
these rabbis and cantors are some of my dearest friends. As a rule they are entirely dedicated
to their holy work and wear their love for Judaism on their sleeve.
Nevertheless,
comments slip out like, "Oh, Chabad - the closest religion to Judaism!" Or,
"those *&^%$'s just opened down the street so they could siphon off our
membership!" First the dig and
then "but they do great work." After enough of these ripostes I was concerned
that this diatribe was a universal mantra. That was until a recent Chanukah Shabbaton in Orlando, FL
where I met Rabbi Gary Perras. He
is a veteran Conservative rabbi and hanging proudly in his office is a 3x4'
portrait of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
As we lit candles together in his home on one of those ubiquitous Chabad
supplied menorahs he explained his perspective. He was one of the only rabbis to welcome Chabad to Orlando
when the other rabbis were protesting. He argues that one can't "steal" members...they vote with
their feet and many crave the spiritual nourishment that Chabad provides. When Rabbi Gary's congregants opt for
Chabad he considers it a success story: they will be more likely to keep kosher
and marry a Jew. He stated "my job
isn't to retain members, it's to get people into Judaism."
I
am not trying to bite the hand that feeds me or get Rabbi Perras in
trouble. It's that I deeply want
Jewish people to love one another, as lofty and far-fetched as that may
seem. I feel this yearning in my
bones. I am a unifier and peacemaker.
Maybe it's an oldest child thing.
My folks raised their f our boys in a Conservative home filled with love
for all people, Jew and gentile, rich and poor. We unabashedly adored our Auschwitz survivor Orthodox aunts
and uncles and our arch-Reform relatives equally. Our family trips to Israel included visits with rebbes and
secular kibbutzniks. I see my own
passage into observance as an enhancement of my background rather than an
abandonment. When the Israeli
Jewish unity organization Common Denominator was seeking to create a theme
album, I got the commission and produced one of my best-selling CDs, The Bridge.
I
was recently nominated as a Jewish Community Hero in the national Jewish
Federation-sponsored online campaign.
I didn't know this until friends who had read the announcement wished me
a "mazeltov" as I walked the streets of my neighborhood one Shabbat. When I checked the website to see who
else was nominated I was surprised to find that the majority chosen were
Chabadniks. When a rabbi friend
called to encourage me to get out the vote (a $25,000 prize was in the offing,)
I mentioned the skewed presence of Lubavitchers in the running. He responded, "well, that's because
they have the time to be out in the streets with the people: they run to visit
the sick, they counsel addicts, they kasher kitchens, while I'm stuck behind a
desk with budgets, board meetings and membership drives."
How
many times has Chabad come to my rescue?
With a kosher meal, a place to stay for Shabbat, a minyan. Thanks to
Chabad I have otherwise secular friends who can quote chassidut. Just after my
parents started to keep kosher, a miracle I thought might never transpire, they
moved to Pacific Palisades, a decidedly kosher-free zone. I feared they'd never make it without a
community to support their new lifestyle.
Lo and behold, that very year a new Chabad rabbi set up shop in their
neighborhood. They were welcomed
as founding members of the fledgling chapter that is now a full-blown shul
filled with Jewish life.
My
positive experiences are too numerous to mention but I'll offer one
anecdote. Every year I ski, sing
and study at a rabbinic convention, which is cleverly scheduled each January
rotating between world-class ski resorts.
I have grown to love this bunch of learned ski addicts. We study Torah for an hour in the
morning, ski all day and then meet for mincha and more learning when the lifts
close. What better way to
celebrate my  love of Judaism with my favorite sport! During a recent conference I was lucky enough to stay at a
relative's beautiful condominium (equipped with a piano!) I figured I'd share the good fortune
with some of my rabbi friends so I invited a group to gather for songs and
snacks one of the nights. I
scrambled back to the condo after a very intense day of shredding the back
bowls (see it here) to find that the local market had just closed. Now I had a serious problem. I had no car, no knowledge of another
market in the area to buy munchies and libations and my friends were on their
way within the hour.
I
suddenly remembered where to go for help: a concert in Aspen that I had
performed the previous year was sponsored by the local Reform community in
conjunction with Chabad. And that
Chabad rabbi had a brother who had just set up shop in the town where I was. I
looked up this rabbi whom I had never met in my life. When I called to beg for the immediate delivery of wine,
sodas and snacks his response was simple: "I'll be right over!" A smorgasbord of munchies appeared
within twenty minutes just before the group of rabbis arrived. This well-meaning Chabadnik wouldn't
accept any money from me - he didn't want to diminish his mitzvah of kindness
to strangers.
When
my guests arrived we sang and made toasts and I could tell that my new rabbi
friend wasn't quite ready to leave.
He felt compelled to give offer a word of Torah. I realized it might be a bit awkward
but I figured "what could be the harm?"
He spoke about the portion of the week for about ten minutes and then
said goodbye. A furious convention
leader then escorted me into a bedroom.
"How dare you invite a Chabad rabbi to speak to us! This whole kumzitz was a setup so that
you could get that man here!" I tried to explain myself but I'm not sure if she
believes me to this day.
Dearest
fellow Jews, we're all in this together.
When we stand united, our collective light shines and the glory of G-d
is apparent to all. "How lovely
are your tents, Jacob!" All of our
denominations make crucial contributions to the whole. We are all on the same team, fighting
ignorance, assimilation and intermarriage. There is far more that we have in common than that which
divides us. I beg my readers to
please think twice before offhandedly disparaging anyone or any other movement.
The
world judges G-d by watching the Jews.
"Jews are news." We are held
to a higher standard, whether we like it or not. Even if the term makes us uneasy, we are widely regarded as G-d's
Chosen People. Chosen to take a
stand, to act as G-d's witnesses throughout human history. Tevya would argue "once in a while, can't You choose someone else?" I'd like to
believe we are chosen for greatness.
That we have the power to bless each other and all of humanity. We can glorify G-d's name by loving
each other and judging "to the side of merit." Let us focus on each other's attributes and not the faults.
G-d knows we have plenty of faults.
While
I was davening the day before my son Jesse's bar mitzvah in November, I was hit
by a revelation that I'd like to share: At the end of the Aleynu prayer that
conclud es every service we mention our desire that G-d's name become one. In other words, at this point in
history, G-d's name or reputation isn't
one. Our world is filled atheists
and agnostics, pantheism and paganism, even violence and terror in G-d's name.
In contrast, during the Sh'ma prayer in the morning and evening we cover our
eyes and state aloud that G-d is one.
Isn't this a contradiction? Of course G-d is one! Only His Name isn't.
My
epiphany that morning was that when we say the Sh'ma we can take a moment to
live in a perfected world where tikkun olam (healing the world) has been
realized. Not just to picture this
reality but to actually live in the
reality. To enter a G-dly
space beyond time and taste true unity.
Don't rush into the "V'ahavta" paragraph! Nurture the Sh'ma.
Relish the moment and make it real. Isn't it interesting that the Sh'ma and Aleynu are prayers
that are essentially intact in the prayer books of all denominations of
Judaism? Let us make this the
generation where the unity of the Jewish people creates a world where G-d's
name is one.
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Passover in
Palm Springs!
You deserve a break today! Just think: no cooking, no cleaning, with great study sessions, food and entertainment in a 5 Diamond hotel! Yes, you can have your matzah-meal cake and eat it too! I'll be at the Riviera Hotel with World Wide Kosher all week, leading seders, services and giving a concert. It's the best priced Passover program out there and worth every penny.
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More New Videos!
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SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN:
Sam Does Simchas!
You want your wedding or Bar/Bat Mitzvah to ROCK! Sam specializes in customizing music for your event to ensure that it will be unforgettable! With top musicians, great vocals, pro sound and lights...there are few bands that can deliver the same impact nationwide. The band draws upon the deepest repertoire in the Jewish world combined with  authentic rock, jazz, motown, disco and standards. Many clients opt to supplement their private event with a Sam Glaser concert or Shabbaton for the whole community. Whatever your needs, visit the Sam Glaser Orchestra site to learn more.
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The Latest From CAJE!
The Coaliton for Advancement in Jewish Education is an international group of educators, rabbis, cantors musicians and artists that gather together over 1200 strong each summer. They have invited me to perform annually for the past sixteen years and those concerts and workshops are some of the most fulfilling of my tour. Just to give you an idea of the serious fun and true unity, here are highlights from my 2006 show at Duke University. Sadly, the organization declared bankruptcy last year but there is now a grassroots newCAJE that is picking up where CAJE left off. Please support this great organization and get involved. |
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Thank you!
Thank you for reading, for listening, for your support and friendship.
Glaser MusicWorks
800-972-6694
Outside of the US 310-204-6111
sam@samglaser.com
1941 Livonia Av.
Los Angeles, California 90034
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