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Orchard Street Shul’s Gala Reception and Concert will take place on Sunday, June 11, 2017, at 2:30 PM and will feature a concert by the critically acclaimed Andy Statman Trio. Statman performs his distinctive, unconstrained meditations on jazz, klezmer, bluegrass and the human soul with bassist Jim Whitney and percussionist Larry Eagle. The Jerusalem Post has called him “one of the most important Jewish creative artists of the postwar era.”

Judge Guido Calabresi, Senior Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale, will be honored with an Orchard Street Shul Heritage Award, as will with Roya Hakakian, Persian-American immigrant poet, author and scholar. Cynthia Beth Rubin, the internationally-known visual artist whose acclaimed Jewish-themed work has documented remnants of Jewish life over the ages, will receive Orchard Street Shul’s Woman of Valor Award.

The gala celebration will also include a delicious hors d’oeuvre buffet and a “Chinese” and silent auction prior to the concert and awards ceremony. This is the major fundraising event in support of the renewed life of Orchard Street Shul. We hope you can join us at this very special event with your tzedaka (charity) and your simcha (joy).

Congregation Beth Israel, also known as the Orchard Street Shul, is New Haven’s last remaining historic synagogue. Founded in 1913 to serve New Haven’s Ashkenazi immigrant community, the circa 1924 synagogue building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The traditional Orthodox Union shul was beautifully restored in 2012 and has come back to life with a major effort involving Jews of all generations and different styles of observance, as well as our non-Jewish friends.

Proceeds from this event will support the synagogue’s active religious and cultural life, helping preserve, maintain, and improve our historic building, including ongoing efforts to improve accessibility.