Mama Doni
Our Next Show Is...
08//01/10 - Camp Louemma (Sussex, NJ) 2:00pm
Upcoming Shows...
- 08/05/10 - JCC of Northern Virginia (Fairfax, VA) 6:00pm
- 08/06/10 - Camp JCC at JCC of Greater Washington (Rockville, MD) 1:00pm
- 08/29/10 - Congregation Beth Israel (Houston, Texas) 10:15am
- 09/05/10 - Jewish Federation Sarasota-Manatee (Sarasota, Florida) 4:00pm
- 09/19/10 - Congregation Adath Israel (Middletown, CT) 2:00pm
- 09/26/10 - Congregation Beth Or (Maple Glen, PA) 1:30pm
- 10/03/10 - Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael (Springfield, NJ ) 1:00pm
- 10/24/10 - Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York, NY ) 2:30pm
- 11/21/10 - JCC of Worcester (Worcester, MA) 3:00pm
- 11/28/10 - Bergen Performing Arts Center (Englewood, NJ) 1:00pm and 4:00pm
- 12/02/10 - JCC of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA) 6:30pm
- 12/05/10 - Temple Israel (West Bloomfield, MI) 1:00pm
- 12/12/10 - United Jewish Communities of Metrowest New Jersey SUPER SUNDAY - UJC Metrowest (Whippany, NJ) 3:00pm
- 12/29/10 - Suffolk YJCC (Commack, NY) 11:00am
- 05/22/11 - JCC of Greater New Haven (Woodbridge, CT) 4:00pm
- 12/11/11 - JCC Rockland (West Nyack, NY) 4:00pm
Past Shows...
Jewish Community Centers & Y’s:
- Mid-Island YJCC - Plainview, NY
- Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford - JCC Swim and Tennis Club - West Hartford, CT
- JCC Manhattan - New York, NY
- JCC on The Hudson - Tarrytown, NY
- JCC Commack - Commack, NY
- Stamford JCC - Stamford, CT
- Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County - Newburgh, NY
- YMHA - Wayne, NJ
- JCC Albany - Albany, NY
- JCC Houston - Houston, TX
- JCC of Middlesex County - Edison, NJ
- Bergen County YJCC - Washington Township, NJ
- Katz JCC - Cherry Hill, NJ
- Rosenthal JCC - Camp Discovery - Croton-on-Hudson, NY
- Suffolk Y and JCC - Commack, NY
- Milton & Betty Katz JCC - Margate NJ
- Worcester JCC - Worcester, MA
- JCC of Bensonhurst - Brooklyn, NY
- JCC MetroWest - West Orange, NJ
- JCC of Kansas City - Kansas City, KA
- Mayerson JCC - Shalom Family - Cincinatti, OH
- JCC of Staten Island - Staten Island, NY
- JCC of Allentown - Allentown, PA
- JCC Wyoming Valley - Wilkes-Barre, PA
Museums, Festivals & Fairs
- The International Jewish Music Festival 2008 - Amsterdam, Holland
- REJOICE 2008– The South Brunswick Jewish Music festival - South Brunswick, NJ
- JCC Toledo - Hanukkah Palooza & Latkefest - Toledo, OH
- YM-YWHA of North Jersey’s Children’s Theater Series - Wayne, NJ
- The Jewish Museum of New York - New York, NY
- REJOICE 2009– The South Brunswick Jewish Music Festival, South Brunswick, NJ
- The International Jewish Music Festival 2009 - Amsterdam, Holland
- JCC Houston - Annual Jewish Book & Arts Fair - Houston, TX
- The Museum of Jewish Heritage - New York, NY
- Bucks County Jewish Festival - Yardley, PA
Synagogue Programming – Preschools, Religious Schools (K-5), Youth Groups
- Marlboro Jewish Center - Marlboro, NJ
- Pine Brook Jewish Center Nursery School - Montville, NJ
- Congregation Oheb Shalom - South Orange, NJ
- Adath Shalom - Morris Plains, NJ
- Temple B’nai Abraham - Livingston, NJ
- Shomrei Emunah - Montclair, NJ
- Temple Emanu-El - Closter, NJ
- Maplewood Jewish Center - Maplewood, NJ
- Kol Ami - White Plains, NY
- Temple Sha'arey Shalom - Springfield, NJ
- B’nai Tikvah - North Brunswick, NJ
- Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel - South Orange, NJ
- Westchester Jewish Center - Mamaroneck, NY
- Temple Beth El - Rochester, NY
- Temple B'Nai Or - Morristown, NJ
- Temple Beth Rishon - The Andrew Friedland Preschool, Wyckoff, NJ
- Adat Shalom - Los Angeles, CA
- The Shirley & Paul Pintel Nursery School of Fair Lawn Jewish Center - Fair Lawn, NJ
- Woodlands Community Temple - White Plains, NY
- Congregation Tikvat Israel - Rockville, MD
- Kol Ami - White Plains, NY
- Congregation Agudath Israel - Caldwell, NJ
- Temple Sha’arey Shalom - Springfield, NJ
- B’nai Keshet - Montclair, NJ
- Shir Ami - Newton, PA
- Congregation B ’nai Israel - Millburn, NJ
- Kaplan Preschool – United Synagogue of Hoboken - Hoboken, NJ
Camps & Day Schools
- Friedberg JCC - Summer Camp - Wheatley Heights, NY
- JCC of Staten Island - Lillian Schwartz Day Camp - Staten Island, NY
- Hillcrest Jewish Center - Summer Camp Program - Flushing, NY
- Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford - Camp Shalom - West Hartford, CT
- Central Queens YM-YWHA - Summer Camp Program - Wheatley Heights, NY
- Samuel Field Y - Summer Camp Program - Wheatley Heights, NY
- JCC Princeton Mercer Bucks - Abrams Day Camp - Lawrenceville, NJ
- JCC Bridgewater - Camp Ruach - Bridgewater, NJ
- Gesher Summer Camp - Livingston, NJ
- The Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester
- Camp Discovery - Croton-on-Hudson, NY - Solomon Schechter - Queens, NY
- Henry Kaufman Campgrounds - Wheatley Heights, NY
- Camp Louemma - Sussex, NJ
- Westchester Summer Day - Mamaroneck, NY
- Mid-Island Y-JCC - Oceanside, NY
- Friedberg JCC - Oceanside, NY
- The Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester - Camp Discovery - Croton-on-Hudson, NY
- Solomon Schechter School - West Orange, NJ
- Hebrew Academy of Morris County - Randolph, NJ
Benefits, Country Clubs & Senior Centers
- Benefit Concert for American Cancer Society - Relay For Life - Montville, NJ
- United Jewish Council of Greater Toledo - Sylvania, Ohio
- "Little Kids Rock" Concert - Montclair, NJ
- Parents Who Rock - Montclair, NJ
- Children's Winter Holiday Party - Orange Lawn Tennis Club - South Orange, NJ
- Help Haiti Heal Benefit Concert - NY, NY
- Miriam Apartments - Clifton, NJ
- Miriam Apartments II - Clifton, NJ
- Fox Hills Chaverim - Rockaway, NJ
MAMA DONI IN THE NEWS
Rockin' West Orange for children of kibbutz
by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer
October 9, 2008
...In an effort to connect preschool children in MetroWest synagogue schools with their peers across the ocean, the Mama Doni Band will offer a performance to benefit the children of Erez on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 12.
Child's Way Derech HaYeled: A Jewish Montessori School, located at B'nai Shalom in West Orange, is hosting the concert at the synagogue.
The concert is part of an effort to invigorate the tzedaka curriculum at the school, founded in 2005 by Rabbi Susan Lazev.
The school's 35 children already engage in giving: they celebrate their birthdays by performing a mitzva, collect tzedaka with their families, and contribute to the school's own tzedaka box. Planning for the benefit concert began with a grant provided during the summer by the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life — an agency of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ — which enabled each child to decorate a tzedaka box to take home. The money they collected, together with one third of the proceeds raised through the concert, will be sent to Erez. (The rest of the funds raised will offset expenses.)
"We want kids to know that reaching out and helping others can be a good time, and that small children can make a difference. You don't have to wait until you get older to do a mitzva," said Lazev. "The children learn that the shofar call is a wakeup call. We want them to know that all these holidays are not just apples and honey but that the real meaning behind the ritual is to spur us on to do things."
Doni Zasloff Thomas, in addition to being the lead singer and songwriter of the Mama Doni Band, is also the music teacher at the school, where she has two children enrolled.
When she was asked to perform, she said, "I thought, What a great way to pull all the kids of this MetroWest community together."
Preschools and synagogues across Morris and Essex counties have signed on as cosponsors of the concert, including B'nai Shalom, Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel Nursery School in South Orange, Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael Shalom Yeladim Nursery School, Summit Jewish Community Center Nursery School, Shoresh Preschool at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, White Meadow Temple in Rockaway, Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Montclair, and the JCC MetroWest Early Childhood Centers in West Orange and Whippany.
The children in all the schools that signed on received tzedaka boxes to decorate and a Mama Doni CD. Although few will discuss the details of the terror faced by the children in Erez, Lazev said, the larger lesson for her students is that "we are responsible for each other in the classroom, and we are responsible for children over there, and we are sending them money to help them. We are pulling together as a school and as a community."
Zasloff Thomas said she tries to make her concerts "a total celebration — in a hip way — of being Jewish." As for her own children, she said she hopes they gain an appreciation that "being Jewish is big and exciting and there are Jews all over the world, and we can help each other."
In addition to money, children are sending cards and photographs to youngsters in Erez.
The concert is at B'nai Shalom at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12. Admission is $10 per person.
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