Rachel Gomberg began singing before she uttered her first word, and now she’s passing on that same love for music to the next Jewish generation.

The Annandale resident is a music teacher at B’nai Israel Congregation and a cantorial soloist at Beth Chaverim Reform Congregation.

“I was always singing from infancy, I guess you could say,” Gomberg said. “I would sing songs, but they wouldn’t have words to them.”

A northern Virginia native, Gomberg grew up attending Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church.

When she reached third grade, the Reform shul launched a kids’ choir. Gomberg was initially nervous to try something new, but recalled, “As soon as I joined, I loved it.”

She later joined the teen choir, to which she credits for her love of Jewish music. Gomberg sang in school choirs and took up guitar and voice lessons.

“I’ve always been doing music out of the Jewish world and in the Jewish world at the same time,” she said.

Gomberg ventured into songleading through the local youth group. Her first NFTY event was at Temple Rodef Shalom, where she was asked to help songlead with the songleaders.

“My very first endeavor into youth group was songleading in front of hundreds of kids I had never met and didn’t know, … but it kind of skyrocketed from there,” she said. “[I] realized the love of NFTY opened my love of Jewish music even more because of the camp spin.”

She attended the now-defunct Union for Reform Judaism Kutz Camp for its songleading track.

Gomberg became an official NFTY songleader during her senior year of high school after a year of songleading. She then led Reform services “every week without fail” at Muhlenberg College Hillel as a student there, weaving Disney songs into the mix.
“We wanted to have a lot of fun with it, and it was actually really successful,” she said.

“Very few” students attended Muhlenberg Hillel’s Reform services before Gomberg arrived, and within a year, about 40 to 60 attendees regularly showed up.

Gomberg graduated with a degree in vocal performance and music history. She wanted to continue songleading, drawing upon her experience assisting her Sunday school teacher and helping the music specialists at Temple Rodef Shalom’s day camp.

But the temple didn’t have any openings for a music teacher. The summer after graduating from college, in 2015, Gomberg substituted for one of Beth Chaverim’s cantorial soloists before becoming part of BCRC’s rotation.

A friend encouraged her to apply for the role of music teacher at B’nai Israel. Gomberg met with the Rockville shul’s head of education, who invited her in for a day of the weekend.

“He was like, ‘Did you bring any music?’ and I had this page-long double column list of songs in my back pocket,” she said. “And he sent me into the kindergarten class.”

Gomberg played songs for the 5- and 6-year-olds, then did the same with the first grade, second grade and third grade classes.

“Afterwards, [the head of education] was like, ‘So can you come next week and the week after and the week after that, and also all of these other weeks?’” Gomberg said.

The B’nai Israel staff appreciated that Gomberg brought Reform Jewish music into their Conservative shul. “Reform music is where most of the music is being written in the Jewish movement, so we would love to have more of that vibe,” they told her. “We love the camp vibe that Reform music creates.”

The job was also a lot of trial and error. Gomberg helped lead a synagogue choir, which didn’t last longer than one year. She also led the kindergarten through sixth grade services with the cantor before B’nai Israel decided a more musical experience was best for the younger grades.

“Now I teach them prayers during Music, as well as other Jewish songs about history and ethics and Jewish knowledge,” Gomberg said.

She works with the congregation’s teens too.

“One of the things I love most about songleading is because I have such a deep love of Jewish music, [I’m] able to see others share in that love of a song I love so much,” Gomberg reflected. “Whenever I introduce something that I absolutely adore, and to see other people really love it and latch onto it as well, [it] gives me a lot of joy and fulfillment.”

Sometimes, a favorite song will make its way from the strings of Gomberg’s guitar to the kids’ voices to synagogue services.

“That’s what’s crazy for me, to see how something I decided to do on a whim has blown up into the full congregation,” she said. “That’s such a cool thing to see.”

Gomberg has long attended the Hava Nashira Jewish Songleader Conference, where she’s convened with big names in the Jewish music world and fellow musicians.

“There’s a lot of really good music out there,” she said. “It’s a matter of knowing the songs and knowing the people who wrote them.”

Gomberg carefully considers the songs she teaches her students, taking into account each song’s message and melody as well as the age group she’s working with.

“I’m actually really content right now with what I’m doing,” Gomberg said, adding that she looks forward to learning new music. “I want more things to try and engage the kids in a different way from their classrooms. … I want to be able to have more songs to really help them connect to their faith in a different way, to make them excited.”

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com