{"id":57179,"date":"2020-09-29T22:02:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T04:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=57179"},"modified":"2020-09-29T22:02:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T04:02:11","slug":"bibi-shapiro-the-6-year-old-whose-avinu-malkeinu-went-viral-sang-at-central-synagogues-yom-kippur-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/bibi-shapiro-the-6-year-old-whose-avinu-malkeinu-went-viral-sang-at-central-synagogues-yom-kippur-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Bibi Shapiro, the 6-year-old whose \u2018Avinu Malkeinu\u2019 went viral, sang at Central Synagogue\u2019s Yom Kippur services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014&nbsp;The first time 6-year-old Bibi Shapiro found out just how widely viewed the video of him singing \u201cAvinu Malkeinu\u201d had been, he was sitting on his mother\u2019s lap in Australia being beamed into Yom Kippur services at one of the largest synagogues in the United States.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_57182\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-57182\" class=\"wp-image-57182 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-300x161.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"161\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-1024x551.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-1536x827.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-2048x1102.png 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/161;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-57182\" class=\"wp-image-57182 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-300x161.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-1024x551.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-1536x827.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/9-29-20-bibishapiro-2048x1102.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-57182\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The video of Bibi Shapiro singing &#8220;Avinu Malkeinu&#8221; was played during online Yom Kippur services through New York&#8217;s Central Synagogue. (Screenshot from YouTube)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Like so many others who saw the video over the past several weeks, Angela Buchdahl, the senior rabbi of New York City\u2019s Central Synagogue, was touched by the passion Shapiro brought to his performance. She also noted that Bibi, who is Black, did not conform to stereotypes about what Jews look like, the topic of her Kol Nidre sermon.<\/p>\n<p>So Buchdahl reached out \u2014 and began a conversation that ended with Bibi leading her congregation in the iconic High Holiday song.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur community just got to hear you sing and I think our hearts are all just opened up,\u201d the rabbi told the Perth boy before his performance. Afterwards, she said, \u201cConnecting with both of you today \u2014 it feels like that\u2019s what reminds us that we are a huge Jewish family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was the theme of Buchdahl\u2019s Kol Nidre sermon, in which she argued that Jews should stop thinking of themselves as a race \u2014&nbsp;a historically dangerous, exclusionary concept \u2014&nbsp;and instead as a family.<\/p>\n<p>Buchdahl told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she had reached out to Bibi and his mother, Nina Shapiro, after reflecting on her own experiences as a Korean-American woman who, despite holding one of the most influential pulpits in American Judaism, still elicits confusion when people learn she is Jewish.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was taken with how clearly Bibi\u2019s Jewish neshama [soul] comes through, and how much is at stake for us to make sure he never feels as marginalized and othered as so many Jews of color feel in our community,\u201d Buchdahl told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about her outreach.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlus,\u201d she added, \u201cI just wanted to meet the mom who raised such a joyful Jewish child who sings with every fiber of his being!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bibi Shapiro-Aveinu Malkeinu | Central Synagogue | Yom Kippur 5781\/2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1T8otsYIutY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The video circulated widely last month after Nina Shapiro taped her son singing a children\u2019s version of the song that is an emotional high point of High Holiday liturgy. Clad in a red zebra-print sweatshirt, Bibi is seen belting the English words \u201cI\u2019m sorry for all I did wrong\u201d before transitioning to the traditional Hebrew, at one point being gently corrected by his mother offscreen.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish viewers around the world, including some prominent rabbis, praised Bibi\u2019s performance for channeling the kind of spirit they only aspire to feel or elicit in their synagogues.<\/p>\n<p>Buchdahl was not the only admirer to reach out to Bibi and his mother after seeing the video. At least one other Jewish family with nonwhite children expressed interest in being connected, saying they had few models of their own.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Shapiro family\u2019s former rabbi from South Africa also spoke about Bibi\u2019s video during Yom Kippur services in England, where he now works, saying that Bibi\u2019s singing epitomized the \u201cabsolute conviction, absolute recognition, absolute acceptance\u201d in God\u2019s judgment that Jews should feel as the holiday neared a close.<\/p>\n<p>And Bibi got to Zoom with one of his idols, Choni Goldman, a popular South African Jewish singer, who created an a cappella backing to Bibi\u2019s video. (The pair were connected by Goldman\u2019s sister, who runs Bibi\u2019s old school in Cape Town.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The &#039;Avinu Malkeinu&#039; king \ud83d\udc51 - Collab\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oj9uXkMli5k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll definitely do more collabing together,\u201d Goldman, whose stage name is Choni G, told JTA. \u201cHappy to grow or nurture his talent \u2014&nbsp;although I\u2019m not sure he needs my help!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, while Buchdahl told her congregation that the English words set to the classic tune were new to her, a community of Jewish song leaders recognized the lyrics from countless children\u2019s services \u2014 and set out to determine their origins. The answer, according to Lisa Baydush, a singer-songwriter in the Washington, D.C., area who is an unofficial historian of Jewish children\u2019s music, reflects the folk process by which Jewish music often evolves.<\/p>\n<p>Sherrie Stohl, a musician who lives in Texas, wrote very similar words in the late 1980s, and they were first recorded by Paul Zim in 1998. (Bibi\u2019s teacher in Perth told his mother that she is certain she learned the song from a recording but couldn\u2019t recall which one.)<\/p>\n<p>Another musician, Sarah Dekelbaum, penned a similar version in 1997 that swapped in \u201cI\u2019ll try to be caring, more loving and sharing\u201d for \u201cI\u2019ll try to be better forever and ever.\u201d (Early childhood educators have argued that children should be encouraged to discuss specific ways they can improve their behavior rather than just apologize for past errors.)<\/p>\n<p>Then, in around 2005, a musician living in Minneapolis wrote a version that again tweaked a few words \u2014&nbsp;resulting in the exact version that Bibi sang. That musician, Laurie Herstig, told JTA that she had immediately recognized her lyrics when she saw Bibi\u2019s video.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt blew my mind,\u201d she said. \u201cThis just shows the magic of the Jewish community \u2014 we share beautiful things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nina Shapiro told JTA that she had never meant for the original video to break free from her family-and-friends messaging groups. But while the onslaught of attention may have been unintended, Bibi\u2019s mom said it was heartwarming for her family, which moved to Australia from South Africa two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe as a family and as a community have been so uplifted by these connections, new and old, that have emerged from Bibi\u2019s video,\u201d she told JTA last week. \u201cThe Jewish nation, so diverse in some ways, remains so inextricably connected by a common thread.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Bibi%20Shapiro%2C%20the%206-year-old%20whose%20%E2%80%98Avinu%20Malkeinu%E2%80%99%20went%20viral%2C%20sang%20at%20Central%20Synagogue%E2%80%99s%20Yom%20Kippur%20services\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[10903,255,10902,4523,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57183,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57179\/revisions\/57183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}