Rabbi Steve Blane and Sim Shalom Online Synagogue bring Jazz-inspired High Holiday services to the world

NEW YORK, Sept. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Rosh Hashana is the head of the Jewish calendar and the Jewish New Year. It reminds Jews to ask forgiveness of their fellow man and this year more than ever we need hope that the New Year offers.

Rabbi Steve Blane began broadcasting services in 2009, a decade ahead of the times. He has perfected the model of providing services directly to viewers just in time for the current pandemic with the need to stay home and remain socially distanced.

Special guests joining Rabbi Steve for Rosh Hashana services will be Rabbis Deborah McKenzie (MD) and Miriam Van Raalte (CA), Cantor Nina Fine (FL) and cantorial soloist Evan Kremin.

Rabbi Deborah McKenzie has served as a Jewish spiritual leader and counselor for more than 25 years. She works with all who seek to enhance or add a Jewish spiritual perspective to their understanding and experiences. Ordained through the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute and a member of the Union of Jewish Universalists Communities (UJUC), she is one of four JSLI rabbis who stream weeknight Ma'ariv services for Sim Shalom. Congregants remark on the special kavana (spiritual intention) and soulful flare that she adds to traditional services.

Rabbi Miriam Van Raalte has lived the majority of her life in southern California and has a worked in synagogue life since the age of 16 serving as a teacher, principal, executive director and coordinator of engagement and communications. She is a life coach specializing in health and wellness, and was ordained in June 2020 from the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute. Rabbi Miriam's work deals with integrating body, mind, and spirit, and she seeks ways to engage with those who are at moments of spiritual transition.

We are thrilled to announce that Singer/Songwriter Evan Kremin will be joining us again in 2020 (5781). Kremin has blown shofar at the jazz inspired Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services for the past four (4) years. Evan performs locally, nationally and internationally and since 2014, Evan has had the pleasure of running the weekly open mic at the historic music club, The Bitter End, in NYC's Greenwich Village, which is where he met and fell in love with Rabbi Steven Blane.

Cantor Nina Fine became a JSLI ordained Cantor after almost two decades of working as a professional vocalist. During her career she has graced the stage in some of the nation's most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, The Kennedy Center and The National Cathedral. Cantor Fine has conducted lifecycle events and led services and especially delights in working with young families leading a multitude of specialty family programming as well as run (and taught at) Hebrew schools.

Sim Shalom Online Synagogue will broadcast "live from Riverside Drive" a full slate of services beginning with Selichot - the beginning of the High Holidays. This year will include services for Erev Ros Hashana, and the first and second days. A purchased ticket will allow participants to attend all services. Two services are streamed free to the world. For a full list of services and our special guests please visit our website.

About Sim Shalom

Sim Shalom is an interactive online Jewish Universalist synagogue which is liberal in thought and traditional in liturgy. Created in 2009 by Rabbi Steven Blane on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Sim Shalom offers a means of connecting the unconnected. Rabbi Blane leads accessible and short Shabbat services every Friday night using a virtual interface and additionally Sim Shalom provides online education programs, Jazz concerts, conversion and life-cycle ceremonies along with weeknight services at 7:00PM EST led by Rabbis and students of this online community.

Rabbi Blane is also the founder and director of the Jewish Spiritual Leader's Institute, http://www.jsli.net, the online professional rabbinical program and the Union of Jewish Universalist Communities, http://www.ujuc.org.

Sim Shalom, a non profit 501 © (3) tax-exempt organization, nurtures a Jewish connection through its mission of innovative services, creative education and dynamic outreach to the global community.

SOURCE Sim Shalom Online Synagogue