Sephardic Piyyutim
Join Rabbi Tsipi Gabai and percussionist Katja Cooper for a special musical and spiritual journey into the world of Sephardic Piyyutim — sacred Jewish poetry and prayer songs from the communities of Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Through beautiful melodies, stories, and participation, Rabbi Gabai will introduce several beloved Piyyutim traditionally sung during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Participants will have the opportunity not only to hear about these ancient poems, but also to learn and sing some of the melodies together.
Come discover the beauty of Sephardic Piyyutim — learn their stories, sing their melodies, and experience the unique spiritual voice of the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean and Middle East.
Register here!
Thursday, September 17, 2026
6:15 p.m. — light snacks
6:30 p.m. — talk and performance
Rabbi Tsipi Gabai is a spiritual leader, educator, and teacher with a special passion for Sephardic Jewish heritage, sacred music, and Piyyutim. She is the daughter of the former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Northern Israel, whose family was expelled from Morocco and settled in Israel. Rabbi Gabai represents the twenty-first generation of rabbis in her family and, in 2003, became the world’s first female rabbi of Moroccan descent.
For more than 20 years, Rabbi Gabai has led Sephardic High Holiday services, attracting hundreds of participants from both Sephardic and Ashkenazi backgrounds. She has published a Sephardic siddur, recorded Sephardic prayer melodies, and led workshops and educational programs on Jewish Moroccan heritage, Torah, Hebrew, and Sephardic sacred music.
Percussionist Katja Cooper comes from a musical family and is classically trained, shaped by the Bay Area’s musical diversity and the UCB Youth Musician Program. She continued her formal studies in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she studied Afro-Caribbean percussion. She spent 14 years in Israel working with dance companies, leading drum workshops, recording and performing at festivals and stadiums, and appearing on television and radio with musicians from Israel, Brazil, Cuba, Spain, and Africa, as well as with ongoing South African social justice musician Sharon Katz & the Peace Train.
Her study of Flamenco Cajón (box drum) in Seville, Spain, led to international collaborations, including a reunion in Switzerland with the Israeli Jewish/Arab band WhiteFlag Project. Back in the Bay Area, she worked with the San Francisco Symphony’s Educational Program, participated in the Peruvian Creole community, and was a member of bands such as Kat Parra’s Sephardi jazz project. Katja taught music and Jewish liturgy for 12 + years in collaboration with Rabbi Tsipora.