Singing with the founder of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus

Good morning, DMV! It’s Tuesday, June 30.

Several weeks ago while clicking around online for things to do, I stumbled upon a community sing event hosted by a guy who started a chorus for Palestinian and Israeli youth in Jerusalem.

I did recall having read years ago about the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, which focuses on providing a space for these young people to “grow together in song and dialogue.”

Its 36-year-old founder, Micah Hendler, hosts the “Community Sings” at Levine Music school in Silver Spring, Maryland. “No experience is necessary,” the event page says. It all piqued my curiosity, and I love singing in groups, so my family and I joined last month for their last sing of the season.

A few dozen people came. Micah had people seat themselves in groups by pitch — soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. During each song, people who felt more comfortable at a higher or lower pitch simply got up and moved to sit with another group.

Micah taught each group the lyrics and various harmonies, then brought us all together as one.

We started with a song by Melanie DeMore: “We gotta put one foot in front of the other and lead with love.”

We sang the civil rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round,” with the singers shouting out words to replace “nobody.” This being a D.C. crowd, the shoutouts included “no king” and “no ballroom.”

I later emailed Micah — who lives in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of D.C. but travels frequently to continue his work with the Jerusalem Youth Chorus — to learn more about his projects here. I’ve lightly edited his responses below for clarity and length.

Me: Tell me about your Community Sings.

Micah: I lead Community Sings at Levine Music here in D.C., carrying forward a tradition that Dr. Ysaÿe Barnwell — of the legendary group Sweet Honey in the Rock — lit and tended in this city for many years. I had the honor of apprenticing to her many years ago and maintaining a close relationship ever since. When she retired during the pandemic, she handed me the torch.

The premise is simple: anyone can walk in, no experience or sheet music required, and within a couple of hours we're singing together in harmony as if we've known each other for years. I teach everything by ear in the room. It's free, it's joyful, and it's open to all. We've also grown it into different formats over the past couple of years — from intimate sings to a “Big Sing” of more than a thousand voices at the Washington National Cathedral.

Me: Tell me about your journey from Jerusalem Youth Chorus to the DMV.

Micah: I actually grew up here — I took lessons at Levine Music as a kid, so leading Community Sings there now is a real homecoming. After [graduating from] Yale I moved to Jerusalem and founded the Jerusalem Youth Chorus in 2012, bringing Palestinian and Israeli teenagers together to sing and to do the harder work of facing each other in dialogue. I led it on the ground for years, and these days I run its U.S. side from D.C. while our team in Jerusalem carries the work day to day.

Coming back to the States, I couldn't unsee the parallels. The same dynamics I'd spent a decade working on in Jerusalem — people siloed from “the other side,” talking about each other instead of with each other — were tearing at the fabric of my own country. So I started looking for ways to do that bridge-building work here too: I co-led the music team at Braver Angels (the national red/blue depolarization organization) for four years, and I've been engaged in musical interfaith work as musician-in-residence at Adas Israel. Community Sings is part of that same throughline. It's a local, human-scale version of the thing I've always believed: that singing together can do what arguing never will.

Me: You say in your TED talk that humans are “hard wired to trust one another more when we sing together.” How does this figure into your decision to work in the U.S. and/or the DMV?

Micah: When we sing together, our bodies sync up — breath, heartbeat, the whole nervous system — and we literally become more inclined to trust the people around us. It's not a metaphor; it's how we're built. That insight is the engine behind everything I do, whether the room is full of Palestinian and Israeli teenagers in Jerusalem or strangers from across D.C.

We're living through a moment of profound division in this country, where people increasingly can't be in the same room. Community Sings is a small, stubborn act of the opposite: you walk in not knowing anyone, you open your mouth alongside people you might disagree with about everything, and you leave having experienced — in your body, not just your head — that connection across difference is still possible. If that can work in Jerusalem, it can work here.

Me: Is there anything you want to add that I'm not asking?

Micah: This is bigger than D.C. for me right now. I was recently selected as a Sounds of US fellow, which is letting me take this approach — music as a tool for bridging America's divides — to a national level. And I'm writing a book, Impossible Harmony (HarperOne, 2027), about what a decade in Jerusalem taught me that might help us here at home. Community Sings is where all of that lives and breathes in real time, with real people, every season. Anyone in the DMV is welcome to come find out for themselves in the fall.

Community Sings start again in September, gathering twice a month — once for a standard community sing and then again for a “wildcard” format like a campfire singalong or live band karaoke. Anyone interested can sign up and stay current through the Community Sings WhatsApp group.

To all the readers who have written to me: I’ve got a big backlog of emails, and it grows daily. I am reading you … and trying my best to respond!

Please consider supporting my work with a one-time, monthly or yearly donation to help keep me going. Do you know anyone who would enjoy reading me? Forward this to them to help me grow. For newcomers: To subscribe, click here.

Joel Guzmán, 40, of Silver Spring, Maryland, captured this sunset from the Strathmore on June 11.

It’s gonna be a scorcher this week. My family and I are gaming out plans for the public pool and maybe a float trip. How are you, your pets and loved ones beating the heat? Kiddie pool in the back yard or your favorite swimming hole? Ice cream and icy drinks? Share your photos and show me how you’re staying cool in the DMV heat wave.

Drink lots of water.

🔥