Music and texts, song, reaches directly to our minds and hearts. It is a perfect educational tool for everything that human beings do socially, ritually, spiritually, historically, emotionally, and mentally. It teaches us about the past, orients us in the present and helps us to navigate the future.
Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman
We are Sharim v’Sharot (from Ecclesiastes 2:8, Hebrew for People of Song), a four-part a capella choir. We were founded in 2000 with the following mission:
- To promote the performance, preservation, and study of high-quality Jewish music
- To educate the public about Jewish music
We sing Jewish music of all eras, locations, and languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, French, Italian, and English. We perform both Ashkenazic and Sephardic folk music. Our repertoire spans the medieval plainchants of Ovadiah the Proselyte from the twelfth century, Italian Renaissance of Salamone Rossi’s madrigals through nineteenth-century liturgical music of Germany, twenty-first-century Israeli and American classical works, show-tunes from the Yiddish theatre, and modern popular styles. Over the past decade, we’ve become known as the choir that tries the new, the off-beat, the unusual. We’ve even done doo-wop and vocal percussion.
We perform throughout New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania at synagogue celebrations, interfaith services, Jewish community events, Yiddish clubs, retirement homes, and choral festivals.
Sharim v’Sharot is an independent choir. We meet in Mercer County, New Jersey throughout the year. Our members are students and professionals of all ages living throughout Central New Jersey and the Greater Delaware Valley. (You don’t have to be Jewish to sing with us.)
Come join us, learn about the variety of Jewish music throughout the centuries, and spread the word about Jewish music.