Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam at Touro Synagogue Jazz Fest in New Orleans

From its beginning in 1828, New Orleans' Touro Synagogue has evolved through changes in location, liturgy, clergy leadership, and the way New Orleans Jews view their religion.

 The synagogue bears the name of Judah Touro, son of Isaac Touro, the cantor who founded the oldest synagogue in the United States in Newport, Rhode Island in 1763.

With historic roots and a progressive heart, Touro Synagogue is a community that is filled with beautiful contradictions – a grand, historic sanctuary and an intimate, embracing chapel; an active group of knowledgeable sages and a vibrant young adult community; a love of enduring Jewish traditions and a drive for spiritual innovation and forward motion; a commitment to the inner life of the congregational family and a constant energetic force that engages with the renewal of greater New Orleans.

In 1991, Touro decided to invite guest musicians and a Jazz band to create the first Jazz Fest Shabbat, a special tribute to one of New Orleans’ greatest traditions, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Since then, this unique and nationally recognized worship fills the historic main sanctuary each year. Special guests have included Ellis Marsalis, Jeremy Davenport, Henry Butler, Theresa Andersson, Kermit Ruffins and his Barbecue Swingers, Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, John Boutté, Dr. Michael White, the Joe Krown Trio with Walter Wolfman Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr., and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Each of them has added their own unique talents, making Jazz Fest Shabbat special every year.

Here's the congregation singing Adon Olam to When the Saints Go Marchin' In at the 2018 Jazz Fest Shabbat in May 2018.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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