My name is
Zenia Sacks DaSilva, and this is the offering of my heart. Let me tell you how it came
about. First, you should know that I am not a professional musician, although
I have played piano all my life. In fact, I am a professor of Spanish at
Hofstra University, the author of many textbooks, a mother, a grandmother,
and a wife of theatrical attorney Al DaSilva. So when Rabbi Robert Widom
of Great Neck's Temple Emanuel asked me to compose a new musical service,
my response was, "I don't know how." Since he wouldn't take that for an
answer, I decided to give it a try. I had always been able to improvise
at the piano, but choral music was something new. How could I do it? The
answer is that I still don't know how. But every note you hear is my own,
every chord, every arrangement, and I am convinced that they came from
a power beyond my own. If the songs are melodic, it is because that is
my feeling about God, a feeling of joy and warmth and of harmony; if they
are diverse, it is because I believe that diversity is His hallmark. They
came into my mind quickly and whole, and I linked them with my own words
and with the words of old to create a new yet traditional Sabbath service.
It is yours now, hopefully to share and enjoy.
Rabbi Henry D. Michelman,
Chairman of the American Society for Jewish Music and primary narrator
of the spoken portions, is a composer and a distinguished member of the
Conservative clergy.
Mary Feinsinger,
conductor,
is an eminent singer, pianist, teacher, arranger and composer. She serves
on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music and as editor of Transcontinental
Music. Her own works include Songs from a Passover Haggadah and Music
for a Jewish Wedding.
Cantor Elliot
Z. Levine
of Temple Emanuel of Great Neck has been the Baritone of the Western Wind
Ensemble since its inception in 1969 and has composed many pieces for their
Jewish holiday recordings.
Ena Freeman, soprano,
made her debut as a first prize winner of the Artists International Competition.
Herbert
Bradensten,
organist, is musical director of several synagogues and churches, an founder
and conductor of the Millennium Phoenix Choral Ensemble.
Choir: Meg Bragle,
Elizabeth Farnum, Ena Freeman, Fay Kittleson, David Ronis, John Szabo,
Curtis Streetman, and Michael Steinberger.