Performer sees herself as an ambassador for Jewish culture

By JESSICA FREIMAN
CJN Intern

TORONTO - Performer, vocal soloist, dancer, lyricist, composer, cantorial singer – Aviva Chernick does it all, and often with a Jewish twist.
Chernick, 35, thinks the most important aspect of her work is the responsibility that comes along with being an artist.
“As artist, we have a great responsibility to speak our own truths so others can see themselves expressed in our art,” she said.
She grapples with the question of “what’s my responsibility” even today. “There’s a dichotomy: I’m an artist, a Jewish woman. How do I balance Jewish life and my desire to remain active and accessible to mainstream culture?
“We all are ambassadors for our own culture,” she continued. “I want to show others what’s so beautiful about what we do [as Jews].”
Born in London, Ont., Chernick, who is now based in Toronto, grew up in a traditional Conservative Jewish home, participated in USY and attended Camp Ramah. At 18, she decided she wanted to study theatre and went to York University, which was the only place offering an undergraduate program in directing at the time.
“I studied playwriting and design, and I did a lot of acting,” said Chernick, 35, describing her four years at York as “good, great, crazy.”
As an undergraduate, Chernick also participated in Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation project, interviewing Canadian Holocaust survivors about their lives, something she describes as a “massive experience.”
The Holocaust quickly became the focus of Chernick’s theatre projects at university, and she staged an adaptation of Euripides’ The Trojan Women that was set in the Warsaw ghetto.
Chernick said that as a Jew growing up in a traditional, warm Jewish home that was very pro-Israel and placed an emphasis on Jewish scholarship, she always felt a tension with the outside world.
“I have to be very truthful with my relationship to Judaism. Real Jewish practice is about grappling,” she said.
“What Judaism needs from me is the willingness to engage in a process which is not black and white, to work with tradition and halachah and my own desires and dreams.”
Incorporating those desires with tradition has resulted in many fruitful creative endeavours for Chernick, one of them being Shabbat Fusion, a service held at Holy Blossom Temple on the last Friday of every month. Shabbat Fusion, which starts up again in October, combines dance and music from around the Jewish world with a traditional Kabbalat Shabbat service.
Chernick is currently training as a cantorial soloist with Cantor Benjamin Maissner at Holy Blossom, where she will be leading auxiliary services on Yom Kippur, but she also makes time for solo gigs and to perform as part of a larger band.
Audiences will be able to check out that band, Shakshuka, for free at Ashkenaz 2006: A Festival of New Jewish Culture on Sunday, Sept. 3. The group plays traditional Jewish tunes taken from eclectic sources and gives them a contemporary sound. Chernick sings in Hebrew and Ladino while the band plays arrangements that incorporate jazz, rock and Latin influences, yet are respectful of the original traditions. For instance, one song has a Latin groove, but its lyrics contain the first line of the Song of Songs.
Another new project that allows Chernick to integrate performance and service is the Huppah Project, in which she sings the traditional wedding repertoire set to original, contemporary musical arrangements after the bedecken. Then, she and her bandmates perform a wedding ceremony under a chupah to their own acoustic world music arrangements.
“We want a textured, rich atmosphere woven together by the music that is not invasive,” Chernick said.
Chernick, who took part in her first wedding ceremony last week, is always searching for something that allows her to serve the Jewish community.
“I want to be of service and be satisfied and be giving,” she said.
Chernick will be performing with Shakshuka Sept. 3 at 4:30 p.m. on the Toronto Star Stage at Harbourfront Centre, and with the Huppah Project later the same day at 8:30 p.m. at Harbourfront Centre’s Marilyn Brewer Community Space. Both performances are free. For more information about Chernick, Shakshuka or the Huppah Project, www.avivachernick.com.