We are delighted to celebrate Israel's birthday by honoring our own Rav-Hazzan Scott M. Sokol. Scott wears several professional hats: Professor of Psychology, Jewish Education and Jewish Music and Associate Dean for Academic Support at Hebrew College. In addition, Scott has two part-time pulpits: cantor at Temple Beth Sholom in Framingham, and rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Marlborough. 

He also maintains a private practice as a pediatric neuropsychologist. Scott received his BA from Brandeis University, MA and PhD degree from Johns Hopkins University, MSM and Cantorial Investiture from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and rabbinical ordination from the Rabbinical Seminary International. 

Scott is an accomplished violist and singer. He is a featured soloist on several recordings with the Zamir Chorale of Boston, for whom he served as assistant conductor and vocal coach for several years. He is also the co-founder of Koleinu: The Jewish Community Chorus of Boston; Sheminiyah, an octet of cantors; and Jazz 'n' Jewz, a professional jazz ensemble. 

Scott met his wife, former Zamir president Francene Reichel, at his first Zamir rehearsal. They live in Framingham with their two sons, Benjamin and Samuel. 

While Scott's resume is extraordinary, it doesn't do justice to the beauty of his voice, the warmth of his heart, and the spiritual grace he embodies. If you haven't heard Scott perform, you will not want to miss this concert. And if you have, well, you know you're in for a treat! For ticket details, visit www.zamir.org.

"When the Lord returned the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers." Those words from Psalm 126 described the first reestablishment of the Jewish state some 2,600 years ago. Subsequently,
Diaspora Jews kept that dream alive: the dream of returning to the ancient homeland. Many centuries later, in 1902, the Zionist visionary Theodore Herzl said, "If you will it, it is not just a dream." He convinced his followers that it was in their power to make the dream come true. And Herzl's dream was of a utopian state in which Jew and Arab lived in harmony, harnessing technology to rebuild the land and create a utopian society.

We will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel with a musical program that recaptures that dream. We'll invoke biblical prophecy, pay tribute to courageous pioneers, tour the land, sing of war and of peace, and perform visions of "another way."

The concert's title comes from Shalom Chanoch's beautiful song "Touch the Dream":

You and I will reconnect:

A loving heart can't go wrong.

Like rivers flowing to the sea

our lives stream forward.

You and I will keep seeking 

until we arrive,

until we touch the dream.

One of the highlights will be Sol Zim's moving setting of the T'fillah LiShlom Medinat Yisrael, the prayer for the welfare of Israel. Cantor Zim composed this piece 25 years ago, on Israel's 40th anniversary, and it has become a favorite in synagogues around the world. This year, for Israel's 65th, I have created a new arrangement of the T'fillah for Zamir and Rav-Hazzan Scott Sokol.

Zim's is not the first musical setting of this prayer; for many years, we have performed David Burger's inspired composition. Let's take a closer look at the history of its lyrics. Immediately after the United Nations vote on November 29, 1947, to establish an independent Jewish state in the land of Israel, the chief rabbi of Petach Tikvah, Reuben Katz, composed a prayer for the nation-to-be. In the months that followed, the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Judah Unterman and Professor Dov Sadan both tried their hands at creating a new liturgy, but none of these were accepted by the general public.

On September 21, 1948, four moths after the establishment of the State, a new prayer for its welfare was published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and this version was eventually embraced by Israelis and Jews around the world. It was composed by the two chief rabbis of Israel, Yitzhak Herzog and Benzion Uziel, with the assistance of the great Israeli writer, S. Y. Agnon.

But, as with anything political, there was bound to be controversy and disagreement. According to Prof. Yoel Rafel, many ultra-Orthodox Jews, including Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadya Yosef, rejected the prayer because "this was not the nation for which we had prayed for so many years." In some synagogues, the text was emended. The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Imanuel Jacobowitz, opined that the new nation was not yet "the first flowering of our redemption." In his version, the reader prayed, "may this state become the first flowering of our redemption."

After the Oslo negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, some Israelis were outraged at the thought that an accord could be reached and that land would be ceded. Rabbi Moshe-Tzvi Nerya, among others, proposed to change the original plea that God "protect [Israel] with Your merciful wings, and send Your light and truth to [Israel's] leaders, ministers and advisors" to "protect [Israel] from [Israel's] leaders, ministers and advisors."

After the tragic assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, Prof. Shimon Sheetreet proposed to add to our prayer the following words: "Instill love, friendship and fellowship in our hearts, and keep far away hatred, malice and zealotry."

After the war of June 1967, the prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel became more widely accepted. Before the war, it was recited only as part of the celebrations of Israel's Independence Day. Now, in many synagogues, it is recited every Sabbath after the completion of the Torah reading. And thus our prayer made its way from the back of the siddur to its central core. (The column is based on an article that appeared in Haaretz, May 1, 2008.)