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Friday September 26, 2008

Sweet-sounding new year in Cotati — via YouTube

by dan pine
staff writer

To prepare for the High Holy Days, Congregation Ner Shalom members will be pointing and clicking on YouTube.

The Cotati Reconstructionist synagogue has created and uploaded nine clips of High Holy Day liturgy to YouTube. It’s a way of making sure congregants can learn the music ahead of time.

“We’re geographically diffuse,” says Irwin Keller, who will officiate High Holy Day services for the lay-led congregation. “Other synagogues might hold a night to review the High Holy Day music, but we can’t. We’re all over [Sonoma] county, from Petaluma and Sebastapol to Forestville.”

For Keller, the music and songs are an important part of the High Holy Day experience. So he and others gathered around an iMac, recorded “Avinu Malkenu,” “Mi Kamocha,” the “Barchu” and other key melodies, then put them all on the Web.

“We asked ourselves, ‘How can we make it so people can learn?’” notes Keller. “We said ‘Let’s use technology.’ You will see the words in Hebrew, English and transliteration. It’s simple and sweet.”

Keller was the right man for this job. Growing up in Chicago, he remembers how his father, a choir director for the local synagogue, would rehearse the High Holy Days repertoire in the family living room.

“That old Max Janowski repertoire is in my bones,” he says. “I would walk into services at age 5 and know all the music. I always felt at home. As an adult, I understand the awkwardness of going into places where the music might not speak to you. Here in Sonoma County, where so many are unaffiliated, they go somewhere for the holidays and they walk in unprepared.”

Keller is also a professional singer, though not in the most conventional sense. He performs with a drag, a cappella, comedy ensemble known as the Kinsey Sicks.

Keller adds that the 40-family congregation routinely draws several hundred people to the synagogue for High Holy Days. Considering the Cotati facility used to house a cabaret hall, it seems it was built for singing.

So far, response has been positive, with the clips registering hundreds of hits. Keller says he intends to record more for next year.

As for the iMovie technology, Keller says it did the job just fine, though the clips feature only the words of the liturgy and no images of anyone singing.

That was done on purpose, says Keller.

“None of this is studio quality,” he says. “It’s just to help people familiarize themselves with the music. Besides, you wouldn’t want to see us.”

To check out the YouTube recordings of High Holy Day liturgy from Congregation Ner Shalom, visit www.youtube.com/nershalom.

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