Tikvat Israel’s Eine Kleine Tikva, joined by a couple of guest musicians, performed at the annual Thanksgiving Sing on Nov. 22 at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Shown from left are Ramon Tasat, Joyce Ettinghoff, Elaine Krichevsky and Marcia Bronstein. (Photo by Jonathan Solomon)
The 11th annual Thanksgiving Sing, the joint celebration of gratitude shared by members of Tikvat Israel and the host Silver Spring Presbyterian Church, carried an added yearning this year for social justice.
The 90-minute affair, full of ecumenical songs for the season, poetry, handbells, a dulcimer played by the Rev. Currie Burris and joyous songs performed by West African members, took place in the church’s round, tiered sanctuary on the Sunday preceding Thanksgiving. Rabbi Benjamin Shull, in his first appearance at the event, called it “a feast for the ears and the eyes” in his brief remarks.
Tikvat Israel’s Eine Kline Tikva performed numbers at the outset and the closing, while a combined choir of the two religious houses and the Chai Dynamics group lent their voices to the program, too.
Cantor Rochelle Helzner, the primary organizer from TI, introduced TI’s poet laureate Paul Grayson, whose poem “Hodu,” drawn from Psalm 118, became the basis of a Hebrew song of thanks that’s performed each year at the Thanksgiving Sing. The cantor, with her guitar, led the full house in singing the Lee Hays/Pete Seeger classic “If I Had a Hammer.”
The church introduced a fitting new number to the program, “For Everyone Born,” a recent ecumenical addition to the church’s prayer book about promoting social justice in the world.
A reception, organized in part by TI’s Bonnie Cowan and Susan Meiselman, concluded the evening.
