Zoe Bell and Braden Hamelin | Staff Writers
The eight singers from the Washington, D.C., chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir will join nearly 400 of their peers from across the United States and Israel this March. The three-day musical experience ends with a gala performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 23.
The annual HaZamir International Festival is held with the goal of bringing Jewish teens together to share culture, music and values and create international friendships by introducing teens with a shared interest.
The experience also aims to help students explore their Jewish identities through music during the rehearsal period when many chapters of HaZamir gather to practice a mix of popular music, classic Israeli and Jewish American pieces in English and Hebrew and original pieces composed for the group.
“I think it means a lot to [the teens] in several different ways,” Madeline Tokman, the conductor of HaZamir D.C., said. “Musically, it’s a chance for them to meet really high musical expectations and put on a concert where, generally, the audience is sold out or close to that.”
The HaZamir D.C. chapter rehearses weekly on Sundays at the Bender Jewish Community Center in Rockville. Members of the 36 HaZamir chapters learned a shared musical repertoire from September to March, so they know the songs they’ll work on together during the festival, when everything gets polished for Carnegie Hall, Erika Schon, the conductor of HaZamir Baltimore, told the Baltimore Jewish Times.
The songs connect to Judaism and Oct. 7, 2023, focusing on repairing the Jewish community in light of the Israel-Hamas war.
Tokman, who is in her first year as a conductor of HaZamir D.C., said the international festival is the culminating event of the year.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the same teens I’ve been working with all year create beautiful music with their friends and step up and put on a professional-level performance,” Tokman said.
Amy Hollander, HaZamir D.C.’s teen leader, performed at Carnegie Hall last year with the group.
“Last year was my first year performing at Carnegie Hall, and it was a feeling that I’ve never had before, being in a room with so many seats and watching it fill up while we were standing on the stage,” Hollander said. “The year before that, I sang at Lincoln Center, which is also amazing, but nowhere near the size of Carnegie Hall.”
A junior at Berman Hebrew Academy, Hollander recalled learning about the prestigious performance venue in her history classes: “The whole proverb about Carnegie Hall is ‘Practice, practice, practice,’ and that’s how you get to Carnegie Hall.”
Hollander noted that while American students may regard the venue as a household name, her Israeli peers may not be as familiar.
“Being able to see the Israelis show that same attitude, then go back to Israel and tell their friends about what Carnegie Hall is, I think it’s really amazing,” she said.
That camaraderie is part of this international festival’s appeal.
“Socially, it’s a chance for them to get to know peers from all over the U.S. and Israel and maintain those connections,” Tokman said, adding that she is still friends with people she met when she was a singer in HaZamir 10 years ago.
“It’s also a chance to pluralistically understand more about Judaism from talking with their peers because there are Jews from all walks of life. It’s a meaningful experience.”
Now in her third year of HaZamir D.C., Hollander said she enjoys getting to know her Jewish peers through the festival, especially as someone who lives in what she calls a “Jewish bubble.”
“I really find comfort and motivation in those moments where I’m conversing with Jewish singers who come from a range of backgrounds,” Hollander said.
The groups will arrive in New York on the Thursday before the March 23 performance, meaning they’ll observe Shabbat together that weekend. HaZamir offers services for the various denominations, including providing a space for those who aren’t participating in a formal prayer service.
“Being able to see Shabbat as a community with like-minded Jewish teenagers is something unparalleled, and I am so grateful for that opportunity,” Hollander said, adding that for some of the singers, this festival is the only time of the year they keep Shabbat.
She feels that the opportunity to meet Jewish teens from all walks of life sets her apart from her classmates at Berman, some of whom don’t have friends outside of the Modern Orthodox Jewish custom: “I feel like I have an experience that is unmatched, being able to interact with so many kids who have different experiences from me.”
“We have so many singers, and we’re really able to come together … and fill that stage with such a Jewish presence,” Hollander said. “It’s amazing.”
HaZamir will take the stage at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on March 23 at 2:30 p.m.
