NEWSLETTER
New York, N.Y. (July 30, 2026) – Today, Brooklyn Bowl announces the return of its beloved annual musical Rosh Hashanah services, celebrating its 15th year of blending Jewish tradition with the spirit of New York's live music community.
Taking place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, the service transforms the iconic music venue into a space for reflection, celebration, and song. Led by Rabbi Daniel Brenner and musical director Jeremiah Lockwood, this year's ensemble features percussionist Isaac Gardner, drummer John Bollinger, Antibalas trumpeter Jordan McLean, Antibalas guitarist Timothy J Allen, acclaimed saxophonist Stuart Bogie (Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio), Yula Be'eri on vocals and bass, and keyboardist Yusuke Yamamoto.
The service weaves together live music with the traditions of the High Holidays, including Torah reading and procession led by Rabbi Brenner, communal prayer, shofar blowing, and moments of meditation. Jane Tiv, founder of Good Seams, will lead a guided meditation during the service while Sarah Chandler will lead a teaching.
Following the service, guests are invited to continue the celebration with a festive Blue Ribbon lunch beginning at 12:30 p.m. The lunch will include both a variety of traditional holiday items, from challah to hummus and apples, as well as a full buffet-style meal.
All proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Shalom Y'all Jams, whose mission is to make Jewish holiday services more accessible by bringing them into welcoming, unconventional spaces where communities can gather, celebrate, and connect. Information about Erev Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, and Yom Kippur services is available at http://www.facebook.com/becausejewish/ .
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"For many live-music fans, Brooklyn Bowl has become a sanctuary, a clubhouse, a church and a synagogue," says Relix Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Mike Greenhaus. "So it only makes sense that it has grown into the spiritual home for our musically inclined Rosh Hashanah services over the years. We hope that our suite of traditional-but-open-minded-and-inclusive services will allow us to connect with each other as we 'begin again' at the start of this new year.”
“The more we turn to the artificial and algorithmic the more our souls need the detoxing combo of ancient harmonies and introspection to stay in balance," says Rabbi Brenner. "We move into 5787 with both fear and optimism, hoping for a year of renewal and healing.”
Music director and performer, Jeremiah Lockwood says, “Music is an aspect of Jewish communal and intellectual life where ideas are put into practice in a way that many people are open to, even folks who are otherwise ambivalent about their connection to the life of the spirit (generally) and Jewish religion/culture (more specifically).
Additionally, a spiritually and musically inclined First Night Rosh Hashanah service will take place at New York’s Nublu Classic on Friday, September 11th at 7:30 P.M. The Erev Rosh Hashanah gathering will include a full, traditional service, music, meditation, shofar blowing and more. Rabbi Brenner, Lockwood and the same band will participate with additional musical guests to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
In past years, Brooklyn Bowl’s Rosh Hashanah services have featured members of Darkside, Dr. Dog, Real Estate, Soulive, Vampire Weekend, and Taper’s Choice. This year’s festivities will feature appearances by Goose cofounder Ben Atkind, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band fiddler Kenny Kosek, Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye, Jackson Browne collaborator Leslie Mendelson, and the Afrobeat collective Armo, which features revolving members of the Daptone Records family. This year’s special guests will be confirmed in the coming weeks. All four High Holiday services will be livestreamed on Relix’s YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk8sa4D-Wnymz-w7uVbjfzA) for those unable to attend.
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ABOUT BROOKLYN BOWL
Brooklyn Bowl, ranked the #1 busiest club in NYC and #7 busiest club in the world in 2017 (Pollstar), is the ultimate night out, with its groundbreaking integration of premiere music, 16 lanes of bowling, a bar featuring locally crafted beers, and food by the acclaimed Blue Ribbon restaurant group. Located in the beautiful, 19th-century Hecla Iron Works building, the venue -- aka "rock and roll heaven" (Village Voice) -- boasts a sound system and amenities that "no other local rock club can offer" (The New York Times). Wearing its homegrown values on its sleeve, Brooklyn Bowl is as committed to locally made products -- serving award-winning beer from the adjacent Brooklyn Brewery -- as it is to environmental sustainability -- it's the first L.E.E.D.-certified bowling alley in the world and serves paper straws. And the food? "Epic," says Eater. In other words, Brooklyn Bowl's unprecedented combination of top-flight music, bowling, beer and food is "like nailing a spare on a four-ten split" (The New Yorker).
ABOUT RABBI DANIEL BRENNER
Rabbi Daniel Brenner, named by Newsweek Magazine as one of America's most influential rabbis, has played key roles in some of the most creative organizations in the religious world, including CLAL-the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Auburn Seminary, Birthright Israel, and Moving Traditions, where he currently serves as the chief of education. Brenner's latest Jewish cultural arts project, Klezmer Aerobics, was featured as a select pick in the Weekend Arts section of The New York Times.
ABOUT JEREMIAH LOCKWOOD
Jeremiah Lockwood--music director, composer, singer, guitarist--is a scholar and musician. His work engages with issues arising from peering into the archive and imagining the power of “lost” forms of expression to articulate keenly felt needs in the present. Jeremiah is currently a Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. His first book, Golden Ages: Hasidic Singers and Cantorial Revival in the Digital Era, will be published by University of California Press in February of 2024. 2024 will also see the release of a suite of albums of new cantorial revivalist music produced by Jeremiah, including a new album from The Sway Machinery! Jeremiah has played around the world as leader of The Sway Machinery and is currently developing a new blues duo, Gordon Lockwood, with drummer Ricky Gordon.
ABOUT JORDAN MCLEAN
Jordan McLean is a New York City-based composer, arranger, bandleader, trumpeter, producer and educator. McLean has been active in the professional music world since 1992, having performed, recorded and collaborated with a multitude of musicians, ensembles, and performance organizations in the leading studios, festivals, and concert halls around the world.
ABOUT YULA BEERI
An Israeli musician, and performer. She has been performing music in New York City for the past fifteen years. Yula is the founder of the music and arts collective Yula & The Extended Family and The HIVE NYC. Her projects include punk-rock outfit “Nanuchka”, electronic trio "Kiss Slash Crooked Smile”, “Hydra" vocal trio and “Indiga” vocal trio.
ABOUT JOHN BOLLINGER
John Bollinger is known in the New York scene as an explosive force, his fearsome groove and bone shattering bursts of energy adding an incredible excitement to his wonderful feel for a multiplicity of genres. He has worked with, among others, Barbez, Nanuchka and Guignol.
BROOKLYN BOWL ON THE WEB
www.instagram.com/brooklynbowl
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