Camp Kesher 2024 Scholar,
Maggid Marques Hollie
Maggid Marques Hollie (they/he) is an operatically-trained vocalist, ritual leader, and theatre-maker, who has been telling (and singing!) stories for as long he can remember. He began singing professionally in the late aughts, and after a particularly meaningful Passover seder, began an artistic and spiritual exploration of their identities as a Queer, Black, and Jewish person. So far, this exploration has revealed original music, niggunim, prose, and an original theatre piece called Go Down, Moshe. It also reinforced Marques’ fundamental belief that Jewish practice and ritual is an expansive container capable of holding all of our parts. Marques has had the distinct honor and privilege of creating and facilitating ritual and educational experiences for Jewish communities in North America and the United Kingdom. He is an alumnus of the Union for Reform Judaism’s JewV’Nation Fellowship, the LABA: ALaboratory for Jewish Culture Fellowship, a 2023 recipient of the Rabbi Moses Eckstein Prize for Jewish Education awarded by the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis, and a past honoree of theNew York Jewish Week’s 36 to Watch list. Following a course of study in homiletics, liturgical interpretation, Torah exegesis, and the canon of Jewish stories, Marques received ordination as a Maggid (sacred storyteller). Currently, he is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and in his spare time takespole and aerial classes, plays dodgeball with Stonewall Sports, serves on the board of SVARA, and dreams about playing the Baker in Sondheim’s Into The Woods.
Marques Hollie- Scholar Session Descriptions- Summer 2024
1. BYOB: Bring Your Own Blessing
Our tradition has so many blessings and they run the gamut from washing our hands and getting dressed to natural wonders and going to the bathroom; it’s no wonder that Jewish tradition suggests we should say at least 100 blessings a day! But what about your personal experience? What if the existing canon of blessings doesn’t resonate for you? Or, what if you need a blessing that hasn’t been written yet? In this session, we’ll look at the traditional structures of blessings, modern/contemporary blessings, and have an opportunity to write our own.
2. Angel, Adversary, Apothecary? An Exploration of Satan in Jewish Sources
When you think about Satan, what comes to mind? The Devil? A red fella, half-human/half-goat with a pitchfork? Much of how Satan is depicted comes from Christian sources, but he (or perhaps, it) is not absent from Jewish sources either. In this session, we’ll take a deep dive into some of those sources.
3. Tending The Torah of Your Voice
From chanting Torah to leading services and celebrations of all kinds, Judaism is full of song and singing. When we sing, our bodies themselves become instruments, and it’s on us to take care of them! Vocal care helps us sustain singing without burning out or hurting ourselves, and it can support us to sing with more of our self and voice. Topics will include: vocal anatomy, warming up, the importance of breath/breathing, and common myths and misconceptions about singing.
4. Let My People Sing, Together!
This session is a community sing in the style of Let My People Sing!; a US-based cultural project expanding the ancient and transformative practice of Jewish communal singing where Marques serves as Program Faculty. Marques will have songs ready to teach and lead, and participants are invited to bring songs they want to share.
Teen Session
Your Torah, Your Story
The stories we carry are some of the most unique and powerful things about us. But how do we tell them? How do we bring our unique stories to the text of Torah? Through creative exercises, this session will explore ways to not only see ourselves in Torah, but to firmly put ourselves in it.
