Weekend to be filled with joy, solemnity

The Jewish community is preparing for a full weekend of activities, occupying both sides of the spectrum of emotions from joy and festivity to sorrow and solemnity.

Jon Cleary (second from right) and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen will perform at Jazz Fest Shabbat tomorrow night. (Photo courtesy of Jon Cleary)

Kicking off a week later than normal due to the onset of the Passover holiday will be the 25th annual Jazz Fest Shabbat featuring Grammy Award winner Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (see earlier CCJN story here). Cleary, who is just off an extended tour of Asia, was also the recent recipient of the 2016 Entertainer of the Year Award from the Big Easy Music Awards on April 19.

The Jazz Fest Shabbat, the brainchild of Cantor Stephen Dubov of blessed memory, has increased in popularity from its more humble beginnings and in recent years has featured stars such as Irma Thomas, the late Allen Toussaint, Kermit Ruffins, Michael White, John Boutté, the Preservation Hall Brass Band and Marcia Ball.

Cantor David Mintz and his committee of staffers will be offering an evening of prayer and song honoring the rich tradition of jazz music exemplified by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which concludes this weekend. Panorama Jazz Band, music director Terry Maddox and the Touro Synagogue Choir will also be on hand to support Cleary and his band, Mintz and Rabbis Alexis Berk and Todd Silverman as they conduct special Friday night worship services with musical accompaniment.
The event is free and open to the public, but patron reserved seating will force regular attendees to take whatever seats they can find. Patrons will be treated to a full meal and a private concert by Cleary prior to the start of the service.

Six-tiered Holocaust menorah constructed by Holocaust survivor Isak Borenstein in memory of the six million souls lost. (Photo by Alan Smason)

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the 11th annual Community-Wide Yom Ha’Shoah Community-Wide Holocaust Memorial Program will get underway at 6:30 p.m. at the Uptown New Orleans Jewish Community Center, 5342 St. Charles Avenue.
This year’s featured speaker will be Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger, the son of a decorated Nazi officer, who converted to Judaism and is now a practicing family physician living in Israel. The memorial program serves to honor and recall local survivors, who became part of the New Orleans Jewish community, as well as to inform about the horror of the Holocaust and the lessons of tolerance and acceptance that came from out of World War II.

Wollschlaeger is expected to discuss his troubled childhood and the journey he took in becoming a Jew by choice before making aliyah and serving as a medical officer in the Israel Defense Forces. His father was a highly-decorated tank command for the Nazis during the war.

Two musical selections will highlight the evening. Daniel Lelchuk, assistant principal cellist for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra will perform “Kaddish” by Maurice Ravel. Also, a selection from Brundibár, a two-act children’s opera being produced by the New Orleans Opera Association, will be presented by members of the cast composed entirely of children. Written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása, the opera was performed 55 times during World War II at the Czech concentration camp in Theresienstadt and is noted for its subtle symbolic depiction of Hitler as the organ grinder, which escaped Nazi censors.

Cindy Wooldridge, a seventh grade English/Language Arts teacher at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies in Metairie, will receive the 11th annual Holocaust Educator of the Year Award. The award serves to recognize educators who incorporate Holocaust education into their curriculum.

The Anti-Defamation League will be on hand to present the high school delegates selected for their  Donald R. Mintz Youth Leadership Mission to Washington D.C.

A dessert reception and book signing will follow the program. Commemorative photographs and memorabilia from the war and John Menszer’s Holocaust Survivors website will be on display in the lobby.

For more information, call 504-897-0143.

Financial assistance for the program has been provided by the Jewish Endowment Foundation Holocaust Project, the New Americans Social Club and the Feil Family Foundation/Lakeside Shopping Center.