Over the years, Ashira has performed regularly a senior citizens’ facility in Beit Shemesh, and has hosted a number of fund-raising concerts for a variety of local organizations.
By CANDICE DAMELINCLASS IS in session at Shachar, the Rehabilitation Educational Medical Day Care Center at Jerusalem’s ALYN Hospital. (photo credit: NOA ARAD)
“If music be the food of love, play on.”The opening lines of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night resonate with Beit Shemesh resident Sara Gluch and the 15 talented women who meet weekly to create beautiful music through song.Each Ashira Women’s Choir member would agree that singing in a group on a regular basis is a unifying experience. They would also attest to the therapeutic properties of creating harmonies in the company of other women.“The harmonies we create extend beyond the walls of the living room into the greater social harmony that pervades the community,” says Gluch.“We are a group of women from all backgrounds, Anglo and Israeli, reflecting various shades of religious observance. Our singing voices are a creative expression of the harmonious society we are striving to build. We seek not only to express ourselves through music but also to contribute to the greater good of our community through the hessed of sharing our music.”Music can be a power for good. Over the years, Ashira has performed regularly a senior citizens’ facility in Beit Shemesh, and has hosted a number of fund-raising concerts for a variety of local organizations.Gluch is a former member of the Johannesburg-based JNF Women’s Choir. On her arrival in Beit Shemesh in 2002 as a new immigrant, Gluch befriended the late Doris Mainzer, founder of Keren Yosef, a nonprofit volunteer organization that has saved many lives by facilitating the training of emergency services personnel, first responders and members of the public, and providing medical vehicles and life-saving equipment to the Beit Shemesh community in particular. Mainzer encouraged Gluch to establish a women’s choir.“Hessed [lovingkindness] has always been at the very core of our choir,” Gluch stresses.Over the 18 years that the women have been singing and performing together, they have become a source of friendship and support to one another through the joys and challenges of life. Unfortunately, Gluch’s own family faced a harsh trial in January 2017 when her grandson Ro’i was diagnosed with brain cancer. Following surgery to remove the tumor, Ro’i was moved to ALYN Hospital, the renowned pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation facility in Jerusalem.THEREAFTER, RO’I received intensive outpatient therapies for a further 18 months, and ALYN today continues to assist and support him. A world leader in the field of pediatric rehabilitation for children with a range of congenital and acquired conditions, ALYN uses a multidisciplinary approach to assist children and adolescents in their recovery.“We always try to see the world through the eyes of children in order to aid their recovery,” says Chava Brown, assistant to the director of resource development at ALYN.“Engaging the kids in their therapy is essential and so we incorporate all forms of treatment, including animal therapy, art therapy, play therapy, sport therapy and, of course, music therapy. The children at ALYN use music as a means to express their joys, struggles and traumas. It is a powerful form of self-expression for those who need it, as part of their rehabilitation process. In order to give the full benefit of this amazing expressive medium, many instruments are adapted to patients with very limited movement to enable them to use them. We are even harnessing technology to help those who can’t physically play an instrument.”Music therapy was an integral part of Ro’i’s recovery, and drumming especially was a way to express himself. “The first person to get Ro’i to smile and laugh was the music therapist,” Gina says.During the three years since Ro’i fell ill, the Ashira Ladies Choir continued to be great source of strength and support to Gluch through very trying times.“It has been several years since we performed for a large audience and donated the proceeds to a chosen cause,” says Sara, “This year the beneficiary of our concert was an obvious choice and we are very excited to be raising funds for ALYN.”The Ashira Women’s Choir, directed by Sara Gluch, will perform for women with the Sunny Strings Quartet and Sara’s Girls’ Choir, directed by Sara Wolff-Grinham, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 25, at the Pisgot Hasheva Matnas, 18 HaTavor St., Beit Shemesh. Info and tickets (NIS 40 in advance, NIS 50 at the door) are available online.
