2019 Beth Sholom Gala

Tzipporei Shalom - A History

It all started 20 years ago when a co-congregant approached Ronit Hanan -- a singer, a cantor’s daughter, and, at the time, a parent of two young children -- and asked if she would consider starting a kids’ choir as a good way to keep the kids busy while their parents were in services, and to provide them with a fun, musical experience to boot.

Ronit thought, “YES!” and immediately recruited her friend, Adina Avery-Grossman (also then a parent of small children, a singer, and a cantor’s daughter) to be the perfect co-pilot for this project. The rest is history.

They started with a name (Tzipporei Shalom, literally Birds of Peace), and they recruited -- ok, maybe “forced” is a better word -- their own four children to join the first small group of about eight singers. Adina, however, insisted that a name alone did not qualify as a brand, so Ronit’s sister created a logo, and t-shirts and trophies soon followed, rounding out the Tzipporei Shalom brand.

Their goal was simple, and remains the same 20 years later: Make this choir so great that kids will beg their parents to get to shul on time. And it worked!

Now upwards of 30-strong every year, our little songbirds -- boys and girls in first through sixth grades -- meet every Saturday morning for a half hour. Adina and Ronit work with them a cappella (without instrumental accompaniment) because it is Shabbat. The kids sing in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Ladino, and even in Zulu and Luganda. They sing old tunes and new ones. They sing in unison, in rounds and in multiple harmonies. They learn about real choral singing (how to stand, how to breathe, how to listen and how to blend with others). They master musical terms like crescendo and diminuendo, staccato and legato, forte and piano. They can define a shadow vowel. They can identify an upbeat and a downbeat. They know to wait for a count and a pitch before starting to sing and to watch their conductors for clean cut-offs. They memorize everything. They grasp the value of teamwork. And through the music, they internalize our Jewish texts, learn about Israel and its musical history, and are exposed to the languages and cultures of Jews around the world.

There have been so many highlights! Tzipporei Shalom singers appeared with Neil Sedaka on the stage of Carnegie Hall and sang with the late, great Debbie Friedman. They have performed at the annual Israel Folk Dance Festival in New York, at the community-wide Bergen County Junior Choir Festival, at Teaneck’s Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) commemoration, and with Zamir Noded. They have performed with the American-Jewish rock band, Safam, and recorded with renowned cantor Netanel Hershtik. They enhance b’nai mitzvah and other special occasions at the synagogue, and they especially enjoy performing with TAVIM, the shul’s adult a cappella group.

We calculate that over the years, there have been nearly 180 members of Tzipporei Shalom, now singing all over the US and Israel.

Ronit and Adina treat the singers like real professionals. And it shows. They are loved by everyone -- not just by their parents -- and the program is rated #1 year in and year out in our shul survey. The real reason? They bring to life the verse emblazoned across the front of our sanctuary: “Ivdu et HaShem b’simcha, bo’u l’fanav birnana” – Serve God with joy, come before God with song.