local
was a cantor for 30 years at various
synagogues before joining Darchei
Noam for its 2021 founding.

“The journey has continued from
there, and I cannot emphasize enough
how important it was that I got this start
in children’s choirs,” she said.

The Zimriyah is also a way to build
back the culture of music program-
ming for youth that has diminished
during the pandemic. Darchei Noam’s
children’s choir is in its second
year, and Ohev Shalom restarted its
program after a three-year COVID-
induced hiatus.

At its largest, the Zimriyah hosted
six or seven different choirs, according
to Unger.

In its current iteration, first coordi-
nated by the Cantor’s Assembly,
Delaware Valley Region in 2014, the
event was described as a “vehicle for
our children’s choirs and choruses to
perform for each other in the afternoon
of collegiality,” Unger said.

The Zimriyah youth choral festivals
were funded by the Board of Jewish
Education before 2013. But when the
BJE closed, Unger, then chairperson
of the Cantor’s Assembly, Delaware
Valley Region, a regional chapter of a
national consortium of Conservative
movement cantors, wanted to revive
the event. The assembly did so a
year later and opened the event to
synagogue and day school youth
choirs in non-Conservative denomi-
nations. The last Zimriyah was held
in 2019.

This year’s events will have a modest
showing compared to previous years,
but organizers stuck by the theater
adage that the show must go on.

Unger hopes to build momentum from
a successful event this year.

“Our ultimate goal is to get as many
youth choirs as possible involved,” she
said. ■
Israel is celebrating 75 years.

Magen David Adom has been
there for all of them.

srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Magen David Adom has been saving lives since 1930, some
18 years before Israel became a state. We take immense pride
in being Israel’s national emergency medical service and in
supplying the blood and medical care for the soldiers who have
ensured Israel’s existence. Join us in celebrating Israel’s 75th year
of independence on Yom HaAtzma’ut.

Courtesy of Shirley Cohen
Support Magen David Adom by donating today at
afmda.org/give. Or for further information about giving
opportunities, contact 866.632.2763 or northeast@afmda.org.

afmda.org/give Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El’s youth choir performing with David Broza in 2018
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 9