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A Brooklyn concert will celebrate the forgotten history of women cantors
(New York Jewish Week) — Jeremiah Lockwood, the singer, composer and frontman of The Sway Machinery, is preparing for an upcoming concert by “doing a lot of talking to ghosts.”
These “ghosts” are those of the Jewish women singers and cantors of the past century. As it happens, many women — not just men — have made deep contributions to Jewish spiritual life and music, but their stories were rarely told or preserved.
Lockwood, 31, is hoping to rectify that. On Sunday, at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Lockwood will unveil his newest composition of vocal music: “In di vayber shul” (“In the women’s synagogue”), which is inspired by the legacy of these nearly forgotten Jewish women.
“Chazzanus [cantorial music]is very important to me,” said Lockwood, who is currently a fellow at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. “It’s the music that inspires my creative work and it’s part of my family heritage. It’s just the essential musical organizing point for my life.”
Lockwood’s father, Larry Lockwood, was a composer and his grandfather, Jacob Konigsberg, was a renowned cantor. “Growing up in a cantorial family, we were given the ideology that it was a male art form — that was a viewpoint that was held by both the male and female members of the family. But that’s not true,” he said.
A lifelong New Yorker, Lockwood has been leading efforts to recognize and revive “the golden age of cantorial music,” sacred singing by Eastern European cantors on records and in live performances that became widely popular on record and live performances among Jewish audiences in the 1920s. Last year, he produced “Golden Ages: Brooklyn Chassidic Cantorial Revival Today,” a 10-track album featuring six Brooklyn cantors singing in the style of this music, which is operatic with lots of technical flourish and improvisation.
Lockwood describes the past year studying women’s voices — voices both cantorial and in a broader sense — as a “shock of recognition.” “There were women who were prayer leaders in small towns in Europe,” he said. “There were women who were priests, professional healers and exorcists, parallel to the Baal Shem Tov [the 18th-century founder of Hasidic Judaism]. There were women who were doing healing work.”
Since beginning his study, Lockwood said he’s come to understand the historic power of women’s voices: in synagogues and spiritual spaces, on the Yiddish stage and radio, in community initiatives and in family life. They include women like Goldie Malavsky, who along with her father and six siblings formed the Malavsky Family Choir, which performed in concert halls and hotels. Malavsky went on to become an independent soloist who toured around the world in the second half of the 20th century. Another cantorial star was “Khazante” (female cantor) Perele Feig, who in the 1950s had a weekly radio program on WEVD, the Yiddish language radio station in New York, and toured the Eastern Seaboard.
“It’s not shocking, it makes total sense. It fits well with what I understand about Jewish life,” he said of these women’s success. “The thing that’s surprising is just how thoroughly it’s been erased from contemporary Jewish life. I feel that is a problem.” Lockwood has mainly been using Jewish press archives to conduct his research and uncover these stories.
Lockwood’s piece, a tribute to these women’s voices and stories, is the culmination of his studies. The lyrics draw upon American and Yiddish language ethnographies — descriptions of Jewish society both in Europe and the immigrant communities of New York— as well as Eastern European folklore, Yiddish vaudeville and even contemporary music, like that of the late Jewish music composer Jewlia Eisenberg, a friend of Lockwood’s who died in March 2021.
On Sunday, the one-hour concert will be performed by singers Judith Berkson, Yula Be’eri and Rachel Weston. (The program premieres the previous day in New Haven.)
“It’s important to me to get deeper into why their [women cantors’] story disappeared,”Lockwood said. “There’s a throughline of stories that have been eroded from public Jewish consciousness that has to do with the roles that women play in sustaining the spirit life of the community.”
“In di Vayber Shul” will be performed at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (58 Seventh Ave.) on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, from $11.44, are available here.
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Seeking funding for a Yiddish project for kids or young people?
די פֿישמאַן-פֿונדאַציע פֿאַר ייִדישער קולטור האָט געמאָלדן אַז זי נעמט שוין אָן סובווענץ-אַפּליקאַציעס אויף נײַע פּראָיעקטן פֿאַרן יאָר 2027. די פּראָיעקטן דאַרפֿן האָבן פֿאַר אַ ציל דאָס שטאַרקן ייִדיש ווי אַ לעבעדיקע שפּראַך, באַזונדערס בײַ קינדער און דער יוגנט.
דער טערמין פֿאַר אַפּליקאַציעס פֿאַרן יאָר 2027 איז דער 7טער נאָוועמבער 2026. די אויסגעטיילטע סובווענצן וועט מען מעלדן אין דעצעמבער.
אַלע אַפּליקאַציעס מוזן זײַן אָנגעשריבן אויף ייִדיש און דאַרפֿן נאָכפֿאָלגן די אַפּליקיר-אָנווײַזונגען וואָס איר קענט געפֿינען דאָ.
אַפּליקאַציעס וועלן ווערן באַטראַכט אויף קאָנקורס-יסודות. מען בעט מען זאָל אַרײַנשיקן אַן אַפּליקאַציע (מיט אַלע נייטיקע בײַלייגונגען) דורך בליצפּאָסט צו:
applications@fishmanfoundation.org
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Democrats leader Golan approached by man with knife on Israeli election day
(JTA) — JERUSALEM — Israel Police arrested a man carrying a large knife after he approached Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party, as Golan was campaigning in Tel Aviv on Election Day.
“Contrary to reports, no stabbing attempt occurred,” the police spokesman said in a statement.
The police said officers at the scene noticed a “suspicious object” protruding from beneath the coat of a man standing nearby. When they stopped him for inspection, they found a knife in his possession.
In a statement, Golan’s party said the man approached Golan “in a threatening manner” and that “when Golan’s security guards blocked him, a large knife slipped from beneath his clothing and fell to the ground.”
Police described the suspect as a Jerusalem resident in his 20s. He was arrested and taken to a local police station for questioning. They said the investigation “is ongoing.”
Following the incident, Golan said “incitement and violence will not deter us.” In a statement to the press he blamed the attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negative campaigning and highlighted the ties between one of his spokespeople and Qatar.
“This is the direct result of the poison machine operated by Netanyahu and his Qatari agents. I call on everyone who cares about security and democracy to go out and vote now, so that we can ensure the country we love so dearly becomes a free and safe place once again,” Golan said.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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Rebellion PAC’s antisemitic political ad could incite violence against Jews
Israel did not cause high grocery prices in America.
Israel is not the reason you don’t have free universal healthcare.
But a new political ad from Rebellion PAC depicts struggling young parents grocery shopping in Michigan and putting back a dozen eggs because of U.S. military aid to Israel, saying they can no longer afford basics like bananas because they are funding healthcare in Israel. The ad ends by saying Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is for “them” — Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is for you.
Rebellion PAC, an independent entity that legally cannot coordinate with campaigns or parties, is proudly promoting a political ad that is deeply misleading, inflammatory and dangerous for American Jews. The ad uses classic tropes blaming Jews for economic and social woes, the same propaganda used historically by antisemitic regimes in Nazi Germany and the USSR. The target in this ad is the Jewish state, but the familiar subtext remains: your family is suffering because Jews are taking your money.
This would be antisemitic in any context, but in the current climate it is wildly irresponsible. American Jewish communities are facing unprecedented domestic terror threats and a historic crisis in antisemitism.
In Michigan, where this ad is aimed at voters who may decide control of the U.S. Senate, an armed domestic terrorist drove a car packed with improvised explosives into Temple Israel. The intent was a mass casualty event aimed at killing as many Jews as possible, including the children in the preschool. Brave security team members stopped the attack, but the attacker was only a few feet from perpetrating what could have been the deadliest terror attack on U.S. children since Oklahoma City.
American Jews make up only 2% of the population, but according to the FBI, Jews made up 63% of religion-based U.S. hate crimes in 2025 — and roughly 14% of all reported hate crimes.
Every candidate across the spectrum, including El-Sayed and Rogers, should disavow and condemn the dangerous rhetoric in this ad. This ad takes real problems — the exploding cost of groceries and healthcare — and blames them on Israel. This is classic antisemitic propaganda.
El-Sayed’s campaign distanced itself from the ad without condemning its content.
“This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign,” El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner said in an emailed statement. “Abdul is focused on pushing back against Trump’s agenda that is raising prices for Michiganders. No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign.”
It’s worth noting that the El-Sayed campaign did not disavow the content of the ad and only issued a statement via email. El-Sayed himself did not issue a public stance on social media or criticize the inflammatory and dangerous content of the ad. His response is wholly inadequate—it does nothing to confront the antisemitism in the ad, it simply points out his campaign did not make it.
Contrast this with his former opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, who lambasted the ad on X, stating, “This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong.” she went on to say, “Do we need to lower costs by building more homes, securing people’s health care, and creating a fairer federal tax code? Yes, we do!! How we do so is not by blaming the high costs of our goods on the only Jewish homeland in the world.”
El-Sayed should unequivocally condemn this ad and its content, not just distance himself from it. Every candidate should stand firmly against antisemitic rhetoric in electoral politics.
When bad actors tell people their economic problems are caused by Israel, it inevitably creates a dangerous situation for Jewish Americans. Though public opinion polls show falling support for the Jewish state, it’s difficult for Americans to take those frustrations out on Israel directly, so local American Jews become a convenient target for their misplaced anger. This is exactly what happened in Michigan at Temple Israel. A Hezbollah sympathizer took his anger on Israel out on the local Jewish population.
Americans are facing real issues. But Israel is not the cause. Our grocery bills are higher for a variety of complex reasons. Grocery inflation started during the pandemic with disrupted supply chains. Production costs have risen. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised global grain prices. Bird flu drove up the price of eggs. Tariffs have also impacted food prices.
In terms of healthcare, a Nov. 2025 Gallup poll found that 46% of Americans preferred a government-run healthcare system, while 48% preferred a system based mostly on private health insurance. Cutting or ending U.S. military aid to Israel would not change the fact that Americans are deeply divided on how we should address our healthcare systems’ deep-seated problems. That would require American lawmakers to agree on and enact changes to how our own system is financed and organized. This is an issue of political philosophy — not lack of funds. Israel is not preventing the U.S. from organizing or financing our own healthcare system. Ending military aid to Israel would neither reverse those food-price pressures nor establish universal healthcare. The ad offers struggling Americans a scapegoat for their hardships—and American Jews face the danger of being treated as that scapegoat’s local representatives.
Rebellion PAC’s co-founder and former Executive Director Brianna Wu decried the ad, stating, “I would have quit as executive director rather than produce this,” calling the ad “awful.” We should all follow her example.
Candidates, thought leaders and elected officials must all come together and condemn this dangerous and antisemitic ad. American Jews are already being discriminated against, attacked, and in severe cases, murdered by people who hold them responsible for Israel. Political leaders must reject rhetoric that puts an even larger target on our backs by turning us into scapegoats for America’s economic struggles and healthcare failures.
The post Rebellion PAC’s antisemitic political ad could incite violence against Jews appeared first on The Forward.
