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Spoken artists, musicians team up for a night of cabaret on the Lower East Side.
When Shelley Hirsch was asked to participate in an evening of cabaret at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, she was reluctant at first. Although the acclaimed performance artist utilizes her mercurial singing voice as an integral part of her work, she had been told "It's not easy to have women singers here," a reflection of the rabbinic restriction of kol isha [voice of a woman], under which traditionally observant Jewish men are not permitted to hear females sing.
Then she walked into the synagogue's sanctuary.
"I was so moved that I started crying," says Hirsch. "Hanna [Griff, Eldridge Street's program director] told me, 'We're open to dialogue here. It will be interesting to hear other points of view.' And I do plenty of spoken-word pieces. So, why not?"
It probably didn't hurt that Hirsch will be performing with master guitarist Gary Lucas and fellow spoken-word artist Bob Holman, founder and director of the Bowery...