Album Notes

Running Time: 58:48

A jazz-virtuoso cantor and a kabbalistic psychotherapist bring their respective talents together, to provide new inspiration for the High Holidays. Weaving a tapestry of tales, teachings, and tunes, Richard Kaplan and Estelle Frankel share their love of sacred music, Jewish mysticism, and the transformative power of storytelling. Frankel draws on insights from her acclaimed new book on Kabbalah and psychology, Sacred Therapy, and Kaplan shares liturgical innovations from his stunning second CD, Life of the Worlds, that will send chills down your spine!


REVIEW from 'Public Radio Exchange' by Geo Beach:

"LISTEN, RICHARD KAPLAN IS TRANSCENDENT. His intellect has expanded into spirit, and his spirit takes wing on voice.

In 'The Jewish New Year' Kaplan takes very specific
traditions from Eastern Europe and North Africa and runs with them like streamers across a broad America.

Make no mistake – this programming is more than "a Jewish thing". People everywhere understand.

Because producer Russ Jennings elegantly arranges Kaplan – songwriter, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and teacher – with Estelle Frankel – author, psychotherapist, teacher
of meditation, and student of the Kabbalah – and she is as unique and astonishing with word as he with song.

What you get is chicken soup, stirring, that comes out of the radio soulful and fragrant.

Frankel's storytelling reveals the intricacies of Rosh Hashanah, commencing with the ram's horn, the shofar, whose cry must break hearts open to hear the cry even of our enemy. Only then is there 'wholeness that comes after the brokenness life inevitably brings us – and that is the New Year.'

Kaplan sings from the Song of Songs, 'The voice of my beloved who knocks / Open to me,' and Frankel softly offers the 'spiritual alchemy' that can make mistakes into gifts – renewing time, beginning again.

At Yom Kippur, aloneness transforms to connectedness, and we remember our original face.

'The Jewish New Year' presents a poignant message of hope, ripened in humanity. It's the blessing of a fresh start that there's no need to wait for."

Bios:

Estelle Frankel, MS is a psychotherapist, spiritual advisor, and seasoned teacher of Jewish mysticism who blends depth psychology with the wisdom and healing practices of Kabbalah. Ordained as a Rabbinic Pastor (mashpiah-maggidah) by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalom, Estelle has taught Jewish studies in Israel and throughout the U.S. for over 30 years. She is currently on the teaching faculty of Chochmat Halev Center for Jewish Spirituality in Berkeley, Ca. Estelle is the author of Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness.

Additional biographical info at: www.sacredtherapy.com


Cantor Richard Kaplan MA has been the cantor of Temple Beth Abraham in Oaland, CA for the past ten years and leads the Jewish Renewal Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs) Minyan in Berkeley. He is a pianist, songwriter, ethnomusicologist, choral conductor and teacher who travels nationally and internationally giving concerts and workshops in Jewish World Music.

His website is www.kaplanmusic.com