AJA students locking arms and swaying to Shalom Aleichem in the Worub Rock Garden. Courtesy: Austin Jewish Academy

By: Melissa Rabeaux-Rosen 

Every Friday at 8:00 a.m., Austin Jewish Academy (AJA) starts its day with Kabbalat Shabbat, complete with singing and Shabbat blessings at the Worob Garden or the Congregation Agudas Achim Social Hall, depending on the weather. Leading the ceremony each week is Dave Kaplan, father of two AJA students, graduate Ellie and current student Maya. He is the husband of Hillery, AJA Board Member, engineer and manager at Cirrus Logic. 

Dave learned how to play the guitar at his job at Cirrus Logic seven years ago in a class provided by the company. In addition to the guitar, he sings and plays the ukulele and harmonica. Dave has a passion for service in the Jewish community, serving in leadership positions at religious services since the age of twelve. He started leading the morning Kabbalat Shabbat five years ago as a substitute for Rabbi Rebecca Epstein, who Dave credits as a mentor. 

When asked about his goals for Kabbalat Shabbat, or “Kab-Shab” as it’s affectionately called, Dave explained, “After COVID, I really wanted to push toward the traditional liturgy instead of the shorter songs. My first goal is to introduce more Hebrew songs to really challenge the students a bit, and my second goal is to build a sense of community in the program that includes parents, teachers, and staff. As an example,” he continued, “Shalom Aleichem is a slower song and is the best moment in the program, where students, staff, parents and guests hold each other and sway as one big community.” He added that he is tempted to slow it down even more to savor the beautiful expression of community and each other. One of the up-tempo songs and a crowd favorite is the Tzedakah Song, which was rewritten by Dave. “Tzedakah is an important mitzvah and the song we had was meh,” said Dave. “I re-wrote the lyrics using the music from On the Amazon by Don McLean, which is bluesy and catchy.” Heather Kantrowitz, AJA Head of School expressed, “I am so grateful for Dave, who stepped up in a big way to bring ruach (energy, spirit) to our community on Friday mornings. I love that I get to sit with students and interact with families each week. Welcoming Shabbat together as a community is one of my favorite AJA traditions.” 

AJA’s Kab-Shab welcomes all to attend the morning celebration. “It’s an outstanding opportunity for people to visit the school and find out that AJA is much more than a school, it’s the community and togetherness that makes it special,” noted Dave. He concludes, “I’ve been on AJA’s Board of Trustees for five years which requires the nitty gritty of running an organization, and sometimes you can lose the forest for the trees. The one-on-one connection that I experience through leading Kab-Shab every week is grounding, and it brings it all back to why we are here. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.