VIOLINS OF HOPE SHABBAT SERVICE & CONCERT

Join us for a special Friday night worship service, followed by an unforgettable concert.

As we mark the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the haunting strains of the Violins of Hope will echo throughout our Main Sanctuary during a special Shabbat service and concert in conjunction with the Violins of Hope: Every Violin Has A Story exhibition at Temple Emanu-El’s Bernard Museum of Judaica.

These extraordinary instruments that survived the Holocaust – even if their owners did not – are testimony to the harshest moments in Jewish history.

Brought back to life by Tel Aviv violin restorers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, they will be played by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in memory of the women, men and children who clung to them even as they were deported and dehumanized: the violin of a Jewish inmate member of the Auschwitz Orchestra; another that belonged to one of the last Jews to escape Nazi Europe; an instrument that a young Italian Jew clung to in a forced labor camp; and Klezmer violins emblazoned with Stars of David.

Join us as the sounds of defiance, resilience and faith resonate across our historic Sanctuary and through time and space.

Repertoire for the concert:

• Mischa Elman: In a Gondola Impromptu
• Felix Mendelssohn: String Symphony #9 in C Major
• Ludwig Van Beethoven: “Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo” from String Quartet in C# minor, Op. 131
• John Williams: Schindler’s List
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor