Back in February of 1997 (during my young, innocent froshie days), I was hanging out with two of my sophomore buds, when my friend Dave pops the question: "Hey, do you sing?"
"A little," I said. To which he replied, "Then try out for Koleinu this weekend."
Of course, being the clueless freshman who basically did anything I was told, I said, "Okay." As of that following Sunday, I was a "newbie" in Koleinu, Princeton University's Jewish a cappella group. Four years later, I can honestly say that being in Koleinu, out of all the arts activities I have done here, has been one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.
First off, I'll just give some info on us. We're coed, we meet only once a week for a two-hour rehearsal (with one hour-long sectional midweek) and we are not in the regular arch rotation. Instead, we make our own gigs, advertising on our Center for Jewish Life web page, or we find empty arch times and perform then by ourselves or with some other invited groups. Most recently, we had our Jewish Heritage Arch, with guests such as the Nassoons, Tigerlilies, Roaring 20, Wildcats and Katzenjammers.
When I joined, the members of Koleinu were mostly Orthodox Jews. There were about five or six people who were very observant, and back then, this constituted half the group. Now, we are a group of 21, most of us Reform Jews, and two members are non-Jews who wanted to be in Koleinu because they love singing and hanging out. Which, honestly, is really what Koleinu has become more and more to me — a group of friends who get together, sing for fun and make each other laugh.
In the past two years, Koleinu has frequently eaten dinner together as a group after we sing for the CJL at Shabbat dinners. Our group parties and get togethers have become more frequent. Games like "I Never" have led to some great nicknames for our members. We have definitely become a much more social group than we were when I was a freshman.
In addition, when I joined, most of the people who sang in Koleinu only sang in Koleinu — nothing else. However, as more theater and a cappella people started joining, it became clear that Koleinu was going to have to share its members with all their other outside commitments. Our members manage to juggle countless other activities while still making tremendous efforts to keep our rehearsals productive and well-attended. In addition to Koleinu, we direct shows, sing in other groups, play in band and survive through orgo.
Last spring, we had a gig or two literally every weekend. This year, things have been a lot more mellow, and we've been able to take more rehearsal time to learn new music. One of our highest points ever was when we sang at the birthday party of Dr. Joyce Zissman, a nurse at McCosh, last spring in Prospect House. There must have been about 100 people there, and the greatest thing about them was they listened to us.
We've had gigs filled with chatty coffee drinkers, screaming children and other fun annoyances. But at this party, these people were having a great time just listening — and we had a great time too, especially since the acoustics in Prospect House were excellent for us.
Some of our upcoming gigs include a weekend workshop performance at Rutgers, a performance up in Fair Lawn for a temple and, the one I most look forward to, my little brother's Bar Mitzvah.
I love being in Koleinu mostly because I enjoy singing and because there are some great people in the group who have become wonderful friends. Yet as I sat writing this article, I realized something much more important. As someone who was dragged kicking and screaming to Hebrew School when I was little, I never really thought that I would find any Jewish-oriented activity that I would enjoy without feeling it was being forced on me. Koleinu has clearly taught me otherwise.
Our repertoire manages to combine the oldest prayers like Oseh Shalom with new pop music such as Hineh Bah and Light One Candle. I remember being younger and never knowing what any of these prayers meant when I said them, and now, because of Koleinu, I know and understand exactly what we sing.
I have learned what these songs mean, when we sing them and most importantly, why we sing them. Although I cannot speak for the other members of Koleinu, I personally feel that being in this group has given me a much better idea of my Jewish identity than I had when I first arrived here four years ago.
Lindsay Tasher '00 is an English major from Livingston, N.J. She can be reached att lhtasher@princeton.edu.
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