Join us for our monthly Shabbat morning service led by Rabbi Hannah, followed by a light Kiddush, at 10:00 am in the Shalom Room at Reformation (212 East Capitol St., NE).

This month we will have a special guest speaker in recognition of the 5th Annual Refugee Shabbat (February 3-4 this year), Negin Khpalwak. Ms. Khpalwak, the first female Afghan conductor, conducts Zohra, the first all women orchestra in Afghan history.

If you'd like to join us, please register here in advance.

About Negin Khpalwak

Negin Khpalwak, born in 1996, from Kunar in eastern Afghanistan, is the first Afghan female conductor who conducts Zohra, the first all women orchestra in Afghan history. Zohra won the Freemuse Award in 2017 and the Human Spirit Award in 2016. As a high achiever student of Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), she plays piano and actively participates as a percussionist in Zohra and singer in ANIM’s choir. She had played sarod for three year and then changed to piano.

Ms. Khpalwak has traveled to several countries representing Afghan musical culture and beauty. In 2017 she toured and conducted Zohra in India and Europe and at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Ms. Khpalwak, part of the Nahid Choir Group, traveled to Turkmenistan and Dubai, UAE in 2015. The Afghan Youth Orchestra tour to the United States in 2012, in which Ms. Khpalwak participated as the first Afghan female Sarod player, is one of her best musical experiences ever.

Ms. Khpalwak speaks Pashto, Dari (Persian) and English. She loves to listen to music, read books, and play football in her leisure time.

Please note: If you need to use the outside elevator to get upstairs or downstairs into the building, email Alan at alan.shusterman@hillhavurah.org in advance to arrange for it to be unlocked for you.