The Song of the Sea erupts spontaneously from the newly-liberated Israelites as they witness the miraculous splitting of the Sea of Reeds. It's one of the oldest texts included in the Torah, and was probably chanted orally for centuries before it was finally written down around 2500 years ago. In traditional synagogues, the Song of the Sea is chanted every year as part of the regular Torah reading cycle, and in some Jewish practices it's even recited as part of the daily prayers.

Open to Jewish and non-Jewish participants of all levels, the seaverse chanting workshop will take place on three consecutive weekends, culminating on Shabbat Shira––the Sabbath on which Song of the Sea is chanted publicly. Led by foreignfire's David Israel Katz, seaverse participants will combine traditional chanting with contemporary performance practices to build a collective memory ritual for the Jewish here and now.