Between Two Shabbatot

Who holds a synagogue up? In this episode, Hazzan Noam brings his field recorder to the Men's Club's annual summer barbecue — the one they throw in memory of Jeff Finn — and gets to thinking about all the unpaid, unwatched work a synagogue quietly runs on. Plus a conversation with the two congregants trading the gavel, Felicia Toporoff and Dan Lubetkin, about why the top job at a temple is...

What does it mean to say we all sing the same songs? In this episode, Hazzan Noam chases a momentary stumble from his first week on the job into the idea of musical dialect: why every congregation, and every voice in it, carries an accent we can't hear in ourselves. He follows the thread through the word shibboleth , a melody the congregation now calls "the Rachael one," and a bar mi...

What does it mean to put your name on something? In this episode, Hazzan Noam walks the building with longtime congregant Wendy Margolis, cataloguing every donor plaque, dedicated room, and named mezuzah he can find along the way — and asking what gets remembered when there's no plaque for it. Plus a conversation with Rabbi Emeritus Richard Spiegel about shepherding the congregation through 9/...

What stays when the person who taught you a tradition moves on? In this episode, Hazzan Noam reflects on a small ritual — the three circles preschoolers make before covering their eyes for Shabbat candles — and what it reveals about how tradition travels. He looks into the phrase  ledor vador , and what this week makes it feel newly urgent. Plus a conversation with Debbie Blumenthal — preschool di...

What happens to prayer when it leaves the building? In this episode, Hazzan Noam explores the world of weekday minyan — from Sunday mornings in a congregant's living room to Monday and Wednesday evenings on Zoom — and what it means to show up for practice, not performance. He talks with longtime regulars about why they keep coming back, and reflects on the difference between  hol  and Shabbat:...

What makes Shabbat feel like Shabbat? In the first episode of Between Two Shabbatot , Hazzan Noam reflects on the sounds and spaces that shape how a congregation gathers: the story behind a recent packed Friday night in the chapel, what happens in the week between two Shabbatot, and the quiet work of reading what each gathering needs. Plus a conversation with Rabbi Ari Averbach about how he prepar...