House concert raises more than $38,700 for Beth Israel piano fund

A house concert in Ridgeland raised more than $38,700 for Beth Israel Congregation’s Piano Fund, organizers said, part of an outpouring of support after an arson fire at the synagogue on Jan. 10.

The benefit, sponsored by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, featured Israeli-born pianist Alon Goldstein and was limited to 65 guests by the size of the private Bridgewater home, event coordinator and host Martha Ross Thomas said. A silent auction of the painting “We Rise,” by artist and temple trustee Marla Harbor, helped boost the total, Thomas said.

“In our congregation, music plays a huge part in our services. Our piano obviously was very damaged. This specific fundraiser will help with funds to get a new piano,” Beth Israel Congregation President Zach Shemper said. “Once we get back in our synagogue, it will liven our spirits, knowing the community not only accepts us as we are, but wants us here.”

Goldstein, who has performed in Jackson with the MSO and called the city “a home,” said the concert was important because it brought people together. He performed works that explored the relationships among Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms and is scheduled to headline the MSO’s season-capping Bravo Series concert Saturday at Thalia Mara Hall, where he will perform Brahms’ “Piano Concerto No. 1,” the MSO said.

Supporters credited the event with reinforcing solidarity after the attack. “When the symphony made the decision, and Martha said it was a unanimous vote, I just thought, that was a real tzedakah … the highest form of charity in the Jewish faith,” Macy Hart, founder and president emeritus of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, said. “The best all of us can do is come together,” MSO Maestro Crafton Beck said. “The common theme of this whole thing is unity. That’s the resonance. And, what is the centerpiece that brings us together? It’s music, because that bridges everything.”

Source: Original Article