Mama Doni

Untitled document

Our Next Show Is...

03/14/10 - JCC of Allentown (Allentown, PA) 3:00pm

Upcoming Shows...

03/21/10 - JCC Wyoming Valley (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 4:00pm
04/01/10 - Westchester Jewish Center (Mamaroneck, NY) 10:00am
04/25/10 - Benefit Concert for American Cancer Society - Relay For Life (Montville, NJ)
05/02/10 - Temple Emanu-El of Closter (Closter, NJ) 9:30am
05/02/10 - Temple Sha'arey Shalom (Springfield, NJ) 1:00pm
06/13/10 - Joan and Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center (Staten Island, NY)
06/30/10 - The Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester - Camp Discovery (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) 1:15pm
07/02/10 - Gesher Summer Camp (Livingston, NJ) 2:30pm
07/23/10 - Friedberg JCC - Summer Camp - (Wheatley Heights, NY) 2:00pm
09/26/10 - Congregation Beth Or - (Maple Glen, PA) 1:30pm
10/03/10 - Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael - (Springfield, NJ ) 1:00pm

Past Shows...

JCC Manhattan - New York, NY
United Jewish Council of Greater Toledo - Sylvania, Ohio
Marlboro Jewish Center - Marlboro, NJ
YMHA - Wayne NJ
Pine Brook Jewish Center Nursery School - Montville, NJ
Family Day at The Jewish Museum of New York - New York, NY
Oheb Shalom - South Orange, NJ
Adath Shalom - Morris Plains, NJ
JCC Commack - Commack, NY
Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County - Newburgh, NY
"Little Kids Rock" Concert - Montclair, NJ
Miriam Apartments - Clifton, NJ
Stamford JCC - Stamford, CT
Purim show - JCC MetroWest - West Orange, NJ
Temple Bnai Abraham - Livingston, NJ
Purim Show - Morris Academy - Randolph, 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
JCC on The Hudson - Tarrytown, NY
BNAI Tikvah - North Brunswick, NJ
TEMPLE SHAREY TEFILO-ISRAEL - South Orange, NJ
WESTCHESTER JEWISH CENTER - MAMARONECK, NY
Temple Beth El - Rochester, NY
Miriam Apartments II - Clifton, NJ
Solomon Schechter - West Orange, NJ
Rosenthal JCC - Camp Discovery - Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Suffolk Y and JCC - Commack, NY
Henry Kaufman Campgrounds - Wheatley Heights, NY
JCC of Bensonhurst - Brooklyn, NY
Milton & Betty Katz - Margate, NJ
Westchester Summer Day - Mamaroneck, NY
Mid Island Y-JCC - Oceanside, NY
Friedberg JCC - Oceanside, NY
Parents Who Rock - Montclair, NJ
South Brunswick Music Festival - South Brunswick, NJ
Temple B'Nai Or - Morristown, NJ
Milton & Betty Katz JCC - Margate NJ
Daughters of Miriam - Clifton NJ
The Andrew Friedland Preschool - Temple Beth Rishon , Wyckoff NJ
The International Jewish Music Festival - Amsterdam, Holland
JCC Albany - Albany NY
JCC Houston - Houston TX
Katz JCC - Cherry Hill, NJ
The Museum of Jewish Heritage - New York, NY
Worcester JCC - Worcester, MA
Adat Shalom - Los Angeles, CA
Fox Hills Chaverim - Rockaway, NJ
The Shirley & Paul Pintel Nursery School of Fair Lawn Jewish Center - Fair Lawn, NJ
Woodlands Community Temple - Westchester, NY
Tikvat Israel - Rockville, MD
JCC of Middlesex County - Edison, NJ
Kol Ami - White Plains, NY
Congregation Agudath Israel - Caldwell, NJ
Bergen County YJCC - Washington Township, NJ
Temple Shaarey Shalom - Springfield, NJ
Children's Winter Holiday Party - Orange Lawn Tennis Club - South Orange, NJ
JCC MetroWest - West Orange, NJ
Bnai Keshet - Montclair, NJ
Jewish Community Campus of Kansas City - Kansas City, KS
Help Haiti Heal Benefit Concert - Rodeo Bar & Grill - New York, NY
The Frances & Herbert Brody Preschool of Temple B'Nai Or - Morristown, NJ
Shalom Family - Cincinnati, Ohio
Tempe Emanu-El - Closter, NJ
Bergen County YJCC - Washington Township, NJ
Congregation B'Nai Israel - Millburn, NJ
Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Ed. - Melrose Park, PA
Temple ShareyTefilo Israel - South Orange, NJ
Kaplan Preschool at United Synagogue of Hoboken - Hoboken, 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.