Lawrence hosts Chaim Dovid and Que Swing Urbano

Small crowd,

big idea

Lawrence hosts Chaim Dovid and Que Swing Urbano

By Michael Orbach

In front of the crowd in Lawrence Public High School, Jewish musician Chaim Dovid spoke about the Messiah.

“All the nations will come worship with the Jewish people at the Third Temple” Dovid explained.

If the Messianic visions bothered the few Hispanic and non-Jewish families that were dispersed through the auditorium, they didn’t let on. A group of Lawrence High School students whispered and texted to one another in the back row, occasionally whooping along with one of Dovid’s songs.

The concert, which featured Dovid and the Latin Meringue band, Que Swing Urbano, was a benefit for the Five Towns One Community Fund, an organization founded by community leaders and board members of the District 15 public school to help poorer members of the Five Towns community and promote a spirit of unity. The sparsely-filled auditorium in the high school seemed to be the greatest endorsement of the organization. Blamed on the blizzard, the timing or bad PR, the event that was meant to showcase the community coming together, instead showed how far apart the community actually is. Downstairs, a large group of Lawrence students watched a wrestling match and mulled around the hallways.

Gary Schall, the deputy superintendent of the Lawrence Public School and the former director of music for the schools was open about the poor turnout but was optimistic about the event’s consequences.

“It’s a small crowd,” he said. However, he added, “there are student leadership here that will deliver the message of unity … This is just the beginning.”

“The possibilities are only limited by imagination,” said Dr. Asher Mansdorf, a former president and current member of the school board.

The concert was a respite from the normally acrimonious politics that surround the District 15 school board. Chaim Dovid performed first for half an hour with one band member of Que Swing Urbano playing the bonga drums. Afterwards Que Swing Urbana performed a Latin set and the two acts joined together briefly for a third performance.

Blair Spieler of North Woodmere said she felt, “something was happening.”