Most of the members of the Jewish Student Union have heard the music of Pizmon, the Columbia/JTS Jewish a cappella group, at various Jewish events on campus. We have sung at JSU celebrations, commemorations, and onegs, and we have also sung at other campus events such as fund-raisers and a cappella-fests. At the same time, however, most of the JSU members have not seen what Pizmon really does. Yes, of course we sing, but the greater part of our work does not center around entertainment alone. Eight years ago, a group of students from Columbia and JTS, who loved to sing, started a music group called "Jewish Outreach Through Music". Not such a catchy name, but its idea was a big success.
Today, Pizmon's "Jewish outreach through music" has been focusing primarily on the younger generation and their parents. During most of the school year Pizmon travels to Synagogues and Day Schools mainly in the North-East. We have also gone on a trip during Columbia University's spring break for the past four years. This last spring break, we had the fortune of waking up at 7 am almost every single morning, and in places very foreign to us - cities in the Midwestern United States. We found ourselves in cities such as Ann Arbor, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Skokie, East Lansing, and many of their suburbs. Pizmon traveled to many Jewish Day Schools (thus the 7 am wake-ups), a bunch of nursing homes, some synagogues and USY events, and also a few college campuses.
But we did not sing for 12 days straight. Actually, we did, but we also did many other things. Going to a Solomon Schechter School meant "cool, no classes" for the students, but for Pizmon it meant waking up at 7 am, davening with the kids, doing a morning performance, splitting up with the grades to do music workshops, getting back together for a school zimriah, and then another short performance. Our performances entailed funny music which made the kids laugh, cool rock music that the kids related to, and slower tunes that they could appreciate, because they realized that we weren't just a bunch of stuffy cantors. During our workshops, we would teach the kids songs according to their ability, and make them realize that they can work together to make great music. We would talk to them about what it is like being Jewish in college and the importance of Jewish identity. By the end of the day, the kids, or maybe their parents and teachers, realized that it wasn't just a day with no classes, but rather a day of informal Jewish education.
Pizmon members realized that we as a group and as individuals can make a connection to the younger generation better than our parents can. We dress like the kids, we talk like them, and sometimes, we act just as immaturely as they do. At the same time as we bond, however, we teach them and they let themselves be taught because we are not "teachers". When we left these kids, they were singing Jewish music, and for the first time in their lives, really liking it. Perhaps Pizmon gave them, if nothing else, a stronger tie to their Judaism. We didn't just teach the kids, however. As it is written in the St. Louis Solomon Schechter Parent's Page: "But in a way, they [Pizmon] also were role models for grown-ups - or to put it more precisely, they were hope models".
It continues: "Obviously, there are no guarantees in life (including, of course, any kind of guarantee that your child will grow up to have a superb singing voice). But there are nevertheless things we can do to improve the odds. I think that many of the parents of Schechter students who enjoyed the concert came away feeling that the odds for our kids were a little better than we had ever before dared to hope". That, I believe, is social action.
- Adam Wall, 4/95
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