OCTOBER 21 • 2021 | 9

mourner’s prayer (kaddish), 
women can lead certain 
parts of the Friday night and 
Saturday services. 
Portions of a service that 
under Jewish law require a 
minyan, a quorum of 10 adult 
men, are still only performed 
by men at Shira Chadasha. 
Men and women are sep-
arated using a mechitzah, or 
divider, down the middle of 
the room. There’s no separa-
tion of the sexes during social 
gatherings outside services. 
There are also Shira 
Chadasha-sponsored social 
gatherings and educational 
events. 
Last year, due to COVID-
19 restrictions, the group 
hosted a Zoom ice-breaker for 
students of all Jewish denom-
inations to meet and a virtual 
Chanukah party featuring an 
online game of dreidel that 
raised money for charity.
Zuckerman, who serves on 
the board of Shira Chadasha 
as its vice president, is par-
ticularly moved by the com-
munity’s Kabbalat Shabbat, a 
service on Friday night that 
joyfully welcomes in the start 
of the Sabbath with the sing-
ing of psalms. 
Among the psalms is Lechah 
Dodi, a hymn that greets the 
Sabbath queen, a Kabbalistic 
tradition that dates back to a 
16th-century poet. 
In fact, the Kabbalat 
Shabbats are so spirited, they 
attract non-Orthodox stu-
dents. 
Edward Friedman ’22 

was raised Conservative but 
joined Shira Chadasha, he 
said, because of the “openness 
and passion that came from 
the members. You could tell 
people really cared.”
Friedman said that at 
first, he was taken aback by 
the division of sexes during 
services. But in time, he said 
he came to appreciate the 
mechitzah, a multicolor cloth 
of purple, blue and white, as 
enhancing the spirituality of 
the service.
“The mechitzah is really 
pretty,” he said. “It does not 
feel like it’s meant to isolate.”
As a sophomore, Friedman 
volunteered for the board 
and helped with marketing to 
attract more students. 
Some students, like Matt 
Shapiro ’24, move back and 
forth between standard 
Orthodox services at Hillel 
and Shira Chadasha’s. 
“I agree with a lot of Shira 
Chadasha’s beliefs about hav-
ing more participation for 
women,” Shapiro said. 
But he also grew up prac-
ticing standard Orthodox 
Judaism and likes that style of 
service as well. 
“The abundance of options 
at Hillel lets people find the 
right fit,” Shapiro said. But in 
the end, he added, “we are 
part of the same community.” 

Penny Schwartz is a journalist writing 

on Jewish subjects and the arts. First 

published by Brandeis University

Correction 
In the article about Rabbi Aaron Bergman being presented 
with an honorary doctorate from JTS (Sept. 30, page 21) it 
should have said that Rabbi Bergman is the past president of 
the Michigan Board of Rabbis. As of spring 2021, Rabbi Daniel 
Schwartz of Temple Shir Shalom is the president.

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