The "Hear! O Israel" Oratorio tells the story of the historical exile and return of the Jews to Israel in the modern era. It had its World Premiere in London at the Westminster Central Hall. It was first performed in Jerusalem 1988 with a Massed Choir and soloists with an Israeli Orchestra at the glorious Mount Scopus Amphitheater of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem overlooking the Judean Desert. It has been performed in venues across the UK and in New Zealand as well as in Israel. For the 75th anniversary of the State of Israel in 2023 we are seeking venues across the world to celebrate this work which celebrates the miraculous return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel in our time.
HEAR O ISRAEL synopsis
Hear O Israel is an oratorio in traditional form with Choruses, Recitative and Arias which tells the Bible and historical story of the exile and return of the Jews to the land of Israel in 1948, together with the Biblical hope for redemption with the advent of Messiah at the end of time who will ‘settle the disputes among great nations’. The oratorio switches its orchestration from Classical ‘Handel’ style music to more contemporary music and jazz as the story of the Diaspora unfurls. Its main musical and theological theme is that, though the Lord will scatter Israel (Deuteronomy 28:64) He will have Mercy, and will bring them back from the corners of the earth to their own land, (Isaiah 11:12) and finally establish them in peace (Isaiah 2:4).
Supporters of Hear! O Israel
DR. EUGENE J. FISHER,
Dr Eugene J. Fisher is Distinguished Professor of Theology at St Leo University. He has worked tirelessly for the reconciliation between Catholics and Jews. Ahead of his time, he affected change, directing Catholic-Jewish relations for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops beginning in 1977 and was twice nominated for a Nobel Prize by Israeli scholar. He is the author of numerous books, his latest is a memoir, titled " A life in Dialogue - Building Bridges Between Catholics and Jews." He has been a Consultor to the Holy See and a member of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee.
Dr Eugene J. Fisher is Distinguished Professor of Theology at St Leo University. He has worked tirelessly for the reconciliation between Catholics and Jews. Ahead of his time, he affected change, directing Catholic-Jewish relations for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops beginning in 1977 and was twice nominated for a Nobel Prize by Israeli scholar. He is the author of numerous books, his latest is a memoir, titled " A life in Dialogue - Building Bridges Between Catholics and Jews." He has been a Consultor to the Holy See and a member of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee.
RABBI DAVID ROSEN,
Rabbi David Rosen first met with Cormac O'Duffy while he was the Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Cormac was researching Hear o Israel. He is AJC's International Director of Interreligious Affairs and director of AJC’s Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding. Rabbi Rosen is a member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Committee for Interreligious Dialogue. In 2005, Rabbi Rosen received a knighthood from the Pope in recognition of his contribution to promoting Catholic-Jewish reconciliation.
Rabbi David Rosen first met with Cormac O'Duffy while he was the Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Cormac was researching Hear o Israel. He is AJC's International Director of Interreligious Affairs and director of AJC’s Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding. Rabbi Rosen is a member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Committee for Interreligious Dialogue. In 2005, Rabbi Rosen received a knighthood from the Pope in recognition of his contribution to promoting Catholic-Jewish reconciliation.
YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI.
Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is co-director of the Institute's Muslim Leadership Initiative, which teaches about Judaism, Israel and Zionism to emerging Muslim American leaders. He is author of "Like Dreamers," which won the Jewish Book Council's Everett Book of the Year Award in 2013. His forthcoming book. 'Letters to my Palestinian Neighbor' is an attempt by Yossi to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians. He is a contributor to the op-ed pages of major American newspapers. He moved to Israel in 1982 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Sarah, a landscape designer. They have three children.
Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is co-director of the Institute's Muslim Leadership Initiative, which teaches about Judaism, Israel and Zionism to emerging Muslim American leaders. He is author of "Like Dreamers," which won the Jewish Book Council's Everett Book of the Year Award in 2013. His forthcoming book. 'Letters to my Palestinian Neighbor' is an attempt by Yossi to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians. He is a contributor to the op-ed pages of major American newspapers. He moved to Israel in 1982 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Sarah, a landscape designer. They have three children.
Mount Scopus Amphitheater - location of the first Jerusalem "Hear! O Israel" Concert.
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Do you want to organize a "Hear! O Israel" concert in your country during 2023? Contact us for details.
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Listen to excerpts of the music of "Hear! O Israel":
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Standing at the Gates of Jerusalem
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The Song of Theodore Herzl - "In 50 years it will be done!"
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Song of Messiah
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praise for Hear! O Israel oratorio
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"It is my deep hope that Cormac O'Duffy's magnificent work in praise of Israel and the God of Israel enjoys the widest possible audience. The state of Israel and the Jewish people have no greater friend than Cormac O'Duffy, no more passionate psalmist." -Yossi Klein Halevi, author, thinker and commentator on Jewish and Israeli affairs. His most recent book, Like Dreamers, took the top prize in the 2013 National Jewish Book Awards. 2014 "I am pleased and honored to add my voice in praise of Dr. O'Duffy's wonderful Oratorio, Hear O Israel, aptly entitled after a central Jewish prayer. I have been professionally and deeply personally involved in Catholic-Jewish relations since the early 1970's, with the U.S. Catholic Bishops and as Consulter to the Holy See. Angelo Roncalli aided numerous Jews to escape Co new lives during the Shoah and was the driving force behind the Second Vatican Council's groundbreaking statement, Nostra Aetate, which changed fundamentally and for the better the relations not only between Catholics and Jews but between all Christians and the people of Jesus, the Jews. In this he served Jesus and humanity in a profound way, a way matched by few others over the course of history."
-Dr Eugene J Fisher, Distinguished Professor of Theology St Leo University |
"Cormac O'Duffy's oratorio is itself a reflection of the remarkable transformation in Catholic-
Jewish relations that was ushered in by Pope John XXIII who convened the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council that promulgated the seminal document NostraAetate exactly fifty years ago, leading to a stunning new attitude and teaching of the Church towards the Jewish People and Judaism. A people that was for most of two thousand years presented as cursed by God and condemned to wander until the end of times; is now portrayed (in keeping with the language of Pope John Paul II ) as the Church's " dearly beloved elder brother, of the original Covenant never broken and never to be broken". "Hear O Israel" is an eloquent musical testimony of this affirmation seen today in the reestablishment of Jewish national life in the People's ancestral homeland in keeping with Divine fidelity to that Covenant; and it also heralds the beginning of the new blessed era in Christian-Jewish relations. -Rabbi David Rosen, KSG CBE International Director of Inter-religious Affairs, AJC. |
Joseph and his brothers, by Willem de Poort (18th century).