The Greater Boston Jewish Community is thrilled to be kicking off Chanukkah season with the tremendous musical-spiritual leader, educator, and composer Rabbi Yosef Goldman. Join Kehillath Israel, in partnership with Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Hebrew College, Temple Beth-Zion, and Temple Israel, in a weekend of song, prayer, community building and joy across 5 locations in Newton and Brookline. Click the links below to register for particular events.
THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Dec. 11 @ 7:00PM – Hidden Light: Hannukah Melodies Lost and Found
Join us to play in shadows and seek light hidden within melodies and stories from around the Jewish world. Featuring Yosef Goldman, Jessica Kate Meyer, Abigale Reisman, Nadav Brenner, and Grant Smith. 6:30 PM Latkes and bumuelos (Sephardic donuts) and 7:00 PM concert/song circle.
📍Hebrew College – Sign Up
Friday, Dec. 12 @ 6:00PM: Shabbat Musical Services
Featuring Rabbi Yosef Goldman and Yoni Battat
📍Temple Israel – Info
Friday, Dec. 12 @ 8:00PM: Riverway Shabbat (20s/30s) Experience
Featuring Rabbi Yosef Goldman and Yoni Battat
📍Temple Israel – Info
Saturday, Dec 13 @ 9:00AM: Torah Study and Learning
📍CMT Lounge – Sign up
Saturday, Dec.13 @ 11:00AM: Musical Musaf
Featuring Rabbi Yosef Goldman and Ariel Wyner
📍KI Sanctuary – Sign Up
Saturday, Dec.13 @ 12:30PM: Kiddush Conversation and Learning
📍KI Sanctuary – Sign Up
Saturday, Dec.13 @ 7:30PM: Melave Malka Concert
Featuring Rabbi Yosef Goldman, Yoni Battat, Ariel Wyner, and friends
📍Temple Beth Zion – Sign Up
LISTEN: Ahead of our communal weekend together, listen to this curated playlist to get into the spirit!
ABOUT: Rabbi Yosef Goldman is a musical-spiritual leader, educator, and composer cultivating vibrant, embodied Jewish life through soulful prayer, deep Torah, and compassionate presence. He is known as a leading facilitator and consultant of Jewish communal prayer and song, partnering with clergy and congregations across North America to foster communities that are spiritually alive, musically rich, and rooted in justice, belonging, and joy.
Rooted in the devotional lineages of his Mizrahi and Ashkenazi heritage, Yosef weaves ancient sacred poetry with contemporary Jewish expression to open pathways of connection, healing, and transformation. His work spans spiritual direction, pastoral care, and creative ritual design, supporting individuals and communities in moments of awakening, grief, celebration, and renewal. He draws on his formation in traditional yeshivot, rabbinic and musical study at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and years of experience in congregational leadership and hospital chaplaincy to guide others toward wholeness and sacred presence.
Yosef’s original compositions are sung in synagogues, camps, and schools across the Jewish world. He has released two albums of original music—Open My Heart (2019) and Abitah (2023, Rising Song Records)—and appears on more than a dozen collaborative recordings. In 2018–19 he was selected for the Kimmel Center Jazz Residency with Dan Blacksberg. As co-founder of Kedmah: The Rising Song Piyyut Project, he revives and uplifts the sacred poetry and music of Jews from Arab and Islamic lands; their debut album Simu Lev (2024) illuminates the spiritual and artistic depth of Mizrahi devotional practice. He also serves as founding faculty and Senior Advisor to Hadar’s Rising Song Institute, mentoring the next generation of Jewish musicians and prayer leaders.
Now based in Brooklyn, Yosef continues to compose, teach, and accompany others on the path of healing and integration through music, Torah, and sacred embodiment. Whether leading tefillah, composing new song, or sitting in pastoral conversation, his work is rooted in one purpose: to help people and communities open to the Divine presence that moves through all life.