Selected Topics from the Rich History of Jewish Music

Temple member Sandy Bornstein will share with us three topics in the rich history of Jewish music:

Why Does the Torah Sound the Way it Does?

Most Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids simply memorize their Torah portion, but few people know why Torah chant sounds as it does. The little melodic fragments we call TROPE serve as grammar, so that we can figure out how the sentences go, even though there are no vowels, no capitalization and no punctuation. The mystery will be explained!

Mi Chamocha Through the Year

In traditional Ashkenazic congregations the cantor sings the same prayer to different melodies for different holidays. This practice is called NUSACH. We will look at Mi Chamocha and hear how the tune of this central prayer changes during the year.

Ladino Love Songs

For several hundred years, the ladies of Spain's thriving Sephardic community made up gorgeous love songs called ROMANCEROS. Then came the Inquisition in 1492. We will listen to a few Romanceros and discover clues as to what happened to these women and their songs after the Edict of Expulsion.

Sandy Bornstein was Cantorial Soloist and Choral Director at Temple Isaiah for 25 years. During that time, she also appeared as soprano soloist throughout New England in works such as the Poulenc Gloria and Bach’s St. John Passion, both at Harvard University, Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Master Singers, the Mozart Requiem with the Masterworks Chorale, and the Bach Magnificat at Old South Church. She has presented recitals at Brandeis University, Harvard University, Old South Church, and at Temple Isaiah. Sandy taught voice at Harvard University and at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and now teaches in her home studio in Lexington.

Sandy holds a degree from Brandeis University and did graduate work at Boston University. She taught music at Sharon Middle School and then decided to devote her full energies to her cantorial and performing work. When she is not singing or teaching other people to sing, she is a guide on Lexington’s Liberty Ride, a narrated tour of the first day of the American Revolution.

These days Sandy teaches at BOLLI, the Brandeis Osher Lifelong Learning Center. She has taught “Beyond Hava Nagila…the History of Jewish Music,” “The British Are Coming…Not!!!” about the beginning of the American Revolution and is currently offering “The Shirt Off Your Back…the History and Cultural Meaning of Textiles.” Sandy also volunteers for the Domestic Violence Services Network, offering support and counseling to those dealing with domestic abuse.

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