The interactive project Kehilot Sharot by Paideia alumnus Ephraim Kahn and co-founder Ariel Danan gathers people to sing nigunim and piyyutim in onsite and online sessions, led by local tradition-bearers. Launched in France in 2024, Kehilot Sharot has held over 25 sessions so far, reaching more than 600 participants in Paris, Strasbourg and online.
With a mission of bringing people together through Jewish tradition, the programs are open to all and require no prior knowledge. They include both participatory jam sessions and more theoretical workshops with researchers, while fostering cultural transmission, shared experience, and deeper engagement with texts, melodies, and their meanings. The sessions themselves consist of an introduction about the song’s history, time for learning to sing it and closing with singing it together. They are very adaptable for their audiences and also exist as a youth program as well as a version for a wider European network. The interest for Kehilot Sharot is growing steadily – the project is planning a publication and is branching out to Spain.