Song of Songs / שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים

 Uncovering Holiness and Beauty Hidden in Plain Sight

The Kitchen’s 2nd Annual International Shabbat, Concert and Conference — A complete shabbat, concert and conference celebrating the splendor and glory of our Sepharadi and Ashkenazi traditions, cultivating all Jewish community members who joyfully sustain and cherish our tradition.

May 8th – 10th

SCHEDULE
SPONSOR
CONCERT

The Kitchen is gathering artists, rabbis, hazzanim, scholars, and leaders from institutions around the world who are committed to transmitting the beauty of Sepharadi and Sepharadi/Ashkenazi traditions for all who seek to learn and lead it, with a special emphasis on inviting the increased leadership and honored participation of women and LGBTQ Jews.

Our Leaders include:

The Kitchen is gathering artists, rabbis, hazzanim, scholars, and leaders from institutions around the world who are committed to transmitting the beauty of Sepharadi and Sepharadi/Ashkenazi traditions for all who seek to learn and lead it, with a special emphasis on inviting the increased leadership and honored participation of women and LGBTQ Jews.

Our Leaders include:

Liliana Benveniste
Centro Cultural Sefarad – Buenos Aires
Ottoman Ladino Tradition

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor
HUC Jewish Language Project – Los Angeles

Daniel Cayre
Kanisse, Founder; Mahzor Zemirot HaMizrah, Author – NYC
Syrian Tradition

Hila Cohen Cesla
Degel Yehuda, Teacher & Ba’alat Keria'a – Jerusalem
Syrian/Yerushalmi Tradition

Heftsi Cohen-Montagu
Degel Yehuda & Arevot – Jerusalem
Moroccan Tradition

Yair Dalal
Composer, Multi-Instrumentalist – Jaffa
Iraqi Tradition

Dr Galeet Dardashti
Scholar, Musician & Hazzanit – NYC
Persian Tradition

Neta Elkayam
Artist & Musician – New Orleans
Moroccan Tradition

Bettina Fainstein
Indie City, Director – Jerusalem

Rabbi Yosef Goldman
Kedmah, HUC – NYC
Syrian & Yemenite Traditions

Amit Hai Cohen
Artist & Filmmaker – New Orleans
Moroccan Tradition

Shir Ifrah
Paytanit – Jerusalem
Moroccan Tradition

Dr. Mark Kligman
Mickey Katz Chair in Jewish Music, UCLA – Los Angeles

Rabbi Dr. Candice Levy
Professor, AJU – Los Angeles
Moroccan Tradition

Rabbi Roly Matalon
B’nai Jeshurun, Piyut North America – NYC
Syrian Tradition

Tamia Menez B’Chiri
The Hineni Collective – Paris
Tunisian Tradition

Simon Montagu-Cohen

Isaac Montagu

Dr. Devin Naar

Alan Niku

Chloe Pourmorady

Ruben Shimonov

Eliyahu Sills

Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas

Song of Songs Concert — Saturday Evening, May 9th

NETA ELKAYAM

YAIR DALAL

Featuring Amit Hai Cohen, Galeet Dardashti, Shir Ifrah,
Samuel Torjman Thomas, Chloe Poumorady + more

With Hazzan Asher Shasho Levy, Faisal Zedan & Eliyahu Sills

CONCERT TICKETS

Featured Artists

Neta Elkayam

Multidisciplinary artist and musician Neta Elkayam has gained recognition worldwide as a performer of North African music.

Neta creates music and art inspired by Jewish artists of North Africa, linking their spirit and roots to contemporary global arts and music scenes, while integrating Andalusian, Amazigh and Mediterranean influences, rock, pop and jazz.

A Key School of Arts honours graduate, Neta was awarded the 2017 ACUM Music Prize and the Sami Michael Award for Social Equality in 2019, as well as the Moroccan “Salam Contemporary Arts Forum” prize in 2021 and was granted the Moroccan TMM Trophy for spreading the Moroccan Jewish Voice around the world (March 2022) and the Pomegranate award for music from The American Sephardi Federation NY.

She was nominated for Ophir Oscar Award for her leading role in the 2019 musical film Red Fields.

Neta more recently starred, alongside Amit Hai Cohen, her life and artistic partner, in director Kamal Hachakar's new documentary "In Your Eyes I See My Country" (2020).

Learn more about Neta:

Bridging Time, Distance and Distrust, With Music
The New York Times

Neta'a Al-Qayem: An Israeli of Moroccan Origin on a mission to revive Moroccan Jewish heritage
BBC News, Arabic

RÉNAS TRIO - Live
Arénas is Neta Elkayam’s recent project and upcoming EP. Produced by Amit Hai Cohen and in collaboration with Tal Avraham playing the trumpet, they create an intimate and energetic sound, melding electro-tribal beats from the Atlas Mountains with women’s voices from transit camps, infused with melodies of jazz, liturgical poems and hip hop.

Neta Elkayam Artistic director, vocals, percussion
Amit Hai Cohen Musical production, Piano, Keyboard, Computer
Tal Avraham Trumpet
Gabriel MandeI Sound Engineer

Ya Latif يا لطيف – Neta Elkayam
Street Session in New Orleans x Amit Hai Cohen

Performed by Neta Elkayam
Lyrics by Neta Elkayam and Reuven Abergel
Composed, arranged, and filmed by Amit Hai Cohen
Captured & recorded live in the streets of New Orleans, Nov 2025

Musicians
Wes Anderson – Trombone
Chloe White – Soprano Saxophone
Dan Oestreicher – Baritone Saxophone

Yair Dalal

Yair Dalal (Hebrew: יאיר דלאל; born 25 July 1955) is an Israeli musician of Iraqi-Jewish descent, composer, and peace activist of Iraqi-Jewish descent, known for his masterful oud and violin playing and evocative vocal work. Drawing on Arab and Jewish traditions alongside European classical, jazz, blues, and Indian influences, his music weaves cultural lineages into a distinct, boundary-crossing sound.

Raised in Israel and shaped by formative years studying violin and later living among Bedouin musicians in the desert, Dalal creates work that bridges Jewish and Arab identities and fosters dialogue. He has performed internationally, composed “Zaman el Salaam” for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and led cross-cultural collaborations—including projects featuring Palestinian artists and interpretations such as We Can Work It Out—all rooted in his belief in music’s power to connect, heal, and transform.

His main instruments are the oud and the violin, and he also sings as accompaniment. He composes his own music and draws on Arab and Jewish traditions, as well as European classical music and Indian music. He is also a peace activist, and works to enhance understanding and communication between Arabs and Jews.

Schedule

Sepharadi Hazzanut, Tefillot, and its applications in the 21st century

May 8th

Kabbalat Shabbat + Dinner

Time
6:00 PM Kabbalat Shabbat + Ma’ariv
8:00 PM Shabbat Dinner

Location
San Francisco Friends School
250 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA

May 9th

Shabbat Morning

Time
9:30 AM Shabbat Morning + Torah Service
12:30 PM Kiddush Lunch

Location
San Francisco Friends School
250 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA

Concert Saturday Evening

Time
8:30 PM

Location
To be announced

May 10th

Kitchen Conference

May 10th Schedule
Please check back for the complete conference day schedule with workshops & lectures from our guests soon!

Location
To be announce

Registration & Fees

Full Weekend – $360

Includes all fees and access to every event for the weekend, whether or not you attend them all. You will be able to select your preferred events on the registration form. Please note that registration does not cover hotel accommodations, airfare/travel, or any additional meals or activities beyond those listed.

REGISTER

Accommodations

The Kitchen has reserved a limited number of rooms at [TBD location], located within walking distance of the weekend's events. If you’d like to stay there, you must reserve your room by April 16th.

For more details and to book your stay, please email us at hello@thekitchensf.org.

Please note that the registration fee does not cover the cost of hotel accommodations, travel expenses (including airfare), or any additional meals or activities beyond those specified in the event schedule.

Individual Events

Members of the Kitchen community are welcome to join us for the entire weekend or for individual events.

Kabbalat Shabbat & Dinner on May 8th
$75 per person – Register here

Shabbat Morning & Kiddush Lunch on May 9th
No fee – Register here

Concert on May 9th
$18 for members / $36 for non-members
Register here

Conference on May 10th
Register here

The Story

A few years ago, under the leadership of Rabbi Noa Kushner and Hazzan Asher Shasho Levy, the Kitchen started offering a beautiful shabbat with tefillot that not only drew from Ashkenazi and American sources, increasingly, we began to rely on the vast traditions of the Sepharadi world – melodies and liturgy originating from places like Syria, Morocco, Turkey and Uzbekistan. After creating a combined Sepharadi and Ashkenazi nusah, one of the only services in the United States to do so, and seeing how our custom took such a strong hold in our community and beyond, we soon created our own siddur, one recognized in the Israel and the US, so that our many melodies were supported by the lasting words of the tradition.

At the same time, we knew we were not the only ones who wanted Sepharadi traditions to live in the hearts of all who wanted to cherish them. And so, we started actively looking for our peers, the leaders and communities who were doing the same. 

Two years ago, we started building a map of skilled leaders – academics, rabbis, hazzanim, artists and others – anyone anywhere around the world who was teaching Sepharadi tradition, or Sepharadi / Ashkenazi tradition with distinction, and offering it to communities where women Jews and LGBTQ Jews are honored as teachers, leaders and participants. With dedicated research and God’s help, we now hold a list of 150 such leaders from places such as: Buenos Aires, Paris, London, Sydney, Jerusalem, Istanbul, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, among many others. 

Attempting to bring these teachers, leaders and artists together in person was the inevitable next step. In piloting a shabbat and conference for 25 leaders in the spring of 5785 / 2025, we found we were just scratching the surface. The joy, strength and help these few participants were able to receive from their exchanges with one another was palpable. In the months that followed, new collaborations resulted: conversations, visits, scholarly exchanges, as well as the establishment of a fellowship, to name a few early outcomes. 

As soon as our shabbat and conference ended last year, it was clear there needed to be another. To that end, in 5786 we have increased our efforts – seeking out and speaking with all the dedicated leaders that we could find in this newly developing field, one that prizes Sepharadi tradition and approaches alongside our dedication to offering these precious jewels to those Jews who will continue to steward them, helping them to flourish. We have now made friends around the globe, connecting our work here in San Francisco, California with our many colleagues and teachers in Israel, Europe, Australia and South America. While ours is far from the only solution to this Jewish moment, we are clear that the connections that result from a gathering such as this will continue to have a demonstrable impact on our moment and current generations as well as on those generations that follow, connecting and elevating many Jews and many Jewish communities, representing tens of thousands of people around the world. 

“Our tefillot draws from Ashkenazi and American sources, and increasingly from the vast and luminous traditions of the Sepharadi world — melodies and liturgy rooted in places such as Syria, Morocco, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.”
— Rabbi Noa Kushner & Hazzan Asher Shasho Levy

Register for Song of Songs