As snow blanketed New York on Wednesday morning, two deeply moving performances warmed our halls at UJA. Although quite different, each gave voice to people and issues too often forgotten.

To be sure, those in attendance that morning will not soon forget those magnificent voices or their message.

First, the Shalva Band from Israel. Comprised of young adults with disabilities, including visual impairments and Down syndrome, the band raised the roof, performing classics like “Here Comes the Sun” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” with extraordinary energy and talent.

Reading off her notes in Braille, Anael Khalifa, an amazing vocalist, shared her powerful story. She was born blind, and her family made aliyah from France when she was eight years old. Now she’s completing her national service by teaching music to kids with Down syndrome. Speaking for her bandmates, she said, “Despite our challenges, music gives us the ability to see the light in everything. And gives us the strength to continue and connect between worlds. Nothing will stop us from coming and making people happy.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

The band members are from Shalva, a grantee of UJA dedicated to providing care for individuals with disabilities, empowering families, and promoting inclusion. Programs — including music therapy, which helped develop the talents of many band members — are non-denominational and free of charge.

You can watch a brief clip of the Shalva Band’s wonderful performance here.

After the Shalva Band, we had the privilege of experiencing TRYmester: Jewish Fertility Journeys Out Loud. This performance art piece — a combination of song, dance, and spoken word — sheds light on fertility struggles that affect one in eight individuals or couples. And the numbers are even higher in the Jewish community.

UJA has been working with Uprooted in partnership with the In[heir]itance Project to present TRYmester at three UJA-supported Jewish community centers. We’ve also funded support groups, all part of our work to lift the stigma and loneliness surrounding fertility challenges — an issue particularly relevant to the Jewish community, with its strong focus on family.

Explaining the impetus for the project, Naomi Less, a co-creator and performer, talked about how the Jewish community invests in incredibly important and meaningful work — engaging young adults and young families, supporting pre-schools and day schools — but the many who have found themselves on a difficult fertility journey have traveled it alone. With our help, that’s now changing. You can read more about our ongoing efforts here.

TRYmester’s stories are completely relatable to anyone who has juggled hope and loss, or any struggle that carries the extra burden of being “something people don’t talk about.” Now they aren’t just talking about it, but singing, too — and we’re all listening.

Music has that power. To quote the great Leonard Cohen, as sung by the Shalva Band: “There’s a blaze of light in every word/It doesn’t matter which you heard/The holy or the broken Hallelujah.”

And so we’re grateful to be bringing these performances — and more importantly, what they represent — into our community.

Shabbat shalom