Shabbat in The Kitchen
We are excited to release our first album, Shabbat in The Kitchen. The music emerges from the prayersong of our home community in San Francisco. It is an offering, a tikkun, a healing, as we all rebuild our sanctuaries around the country after two years of pandemic. The album is the product of a creative collaboration between Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer and Jacob Blumberg, along with The Kitchen’s davening team and many stellar musicians. Stream, download, or purchase the album to support music at The Kitchen.
A conversation & live listening with Shabbat in The Kitchen artists— Musical Director, Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer & Producer, Jacob Blumberg
Preview Track — מוֹדָה/מוֹדֶה אֲנִי Modah/Modeh Ani
Modah Ani (I am grateful) is the first phrase out of our mouths after regaining consciousness in the morning. Truly, our souls travel great distances during the night. It is no small miracle to wake up in the morning, especially when it’s a challenge to get out of bed.
— Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer
About Shabbat in The Kitchen
A note from Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer
It’s 6:10pm on Friday and it’s been a long week.
As you walk up the echoey stairwell of the Friends School, or out to the Etrog grove at JCHS, or into the Firehouse on Frederick, the first sounds of Shabbat unfurl in a nigun. You remember where you are and why you’re here. The nigun and the punims (faces) of dear friends and strangers welcome you, invite you to put down your load and lift your voice.
At The Kitchen, we sit in the round, so we can listen to each other’s voices and to silence, to soften the edges of the week, to make a shape without end. We gather our prayers, linking them together.
The music on this album lives in Shabbat. Like The Kitchen itself, it cannot be contained within a particular building, and its roots run deep.
The melodies emerge from Jewish communities around the world, some written by contemporaries, some quite old; all reflect our oral tradition in which melodies expand and metamorphose along with the communities and generations who sing them.
It’s 6:10pm. A Shabbat nigun begins. You are invited to open your ears, your heart, and to lift your voice.
May the utterances of our mouth
And the meditations of our heart
Be according to Your will
Yah, our rock and our redeemer
Album Credits
Musical Direction by Jessica Kate Meyer
Produced by Jacob Blumberg
Arrangements by Jessica Kate Meyer, Jacob Blumberg & Oren Neiman
Recorded at Tiny Telephone, The Firehouse, Zahavah &Jeff’s and Bunker Studios
Recording Engineer - Danielle Gold
Mixing & Mastering - Jacob Blumberg
Kitchen Davening Team
Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer - lead vocals, violin on track 1, 9
Aaron Danzig - vocals, oud on track 1
Rabbi Noa Kushner - vocals
David Rodwin - vocals
Molly Seltzer - vocals
Jessica Austin - vocals
Jacob Samuels - vocals
Laura Burkhauser - vocals on tracks 8, 10
Ensemble
Oren Neiman - acoustic guitar, mandolin, electric guitar
Sean Tergis - drums and percussion
Jacob Blumberg - vibraphone, electric guitar, mandolin
Stu Brotman - bass
Rachel Valfer Sills - lead vocals on track 6, oud on tracks 2-4, 6
Eliyahu Sills -bansuri on track 2 & ney on tracks 3-4, 6
Michael Winograd - clarinet on tracks 5, 8-9
Pete Rushefsky - tsimbl on 4, 8
Gary Haggerdy - oud on 5, 7-9
Thank you
Thank you to Anne Germanacos for your artistic inspiration, consultation, and the Firehouse, to John Vanderslice and Tiny Telephone, to Zahavah Levine, Jeff Meyer, and Mo Johnson for a guerrilla recording session. Thank you to Sarah Chandler and Shamir Collective for bringing the album out into the world; to Eric Reis for early encouragement. Thank you to the most wonderful davening team for the hours, love and soul. To Sam Reider for support and encouragement and musical wisdom. To Joni Blinderman and Harlene Appleman and The Covenant Foundation for making it possible. Thank you to Rabbi Noa Kushner for faith in this musical vision.
This album is inspired by and dedicated to all of the members of The Kitchen, whose (unmuted) voices over the past 2 year have kept prayer alive.
It was made possible by a generous grant from The Covenant Foundation.
-Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer & Jacob Blumberg