Welcome to Chanting & Chocolate
About us
We are the Chanting & Chocolate Band in Vancouver. In the photo, from left, are Charles Cohen, Lorne Mallin, Rabbi Hannah Dresner, Charles Kaplan, Wendy Rubin, Martin Gotfrit and Eric Brown (missing: Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan). On the last Sunday of the month we present sacred Hebrew chanting at Or Shalom synagogue, followed by tea and triple-chocolate brownies. (Dave Kaufmann photo)
Nov. 24 anniversary
On November 24, Chanting & Chocolate is marking 20 years since monthly evenings of sacred Hebrew chant began in Vancouver. You are invited to a special anniversary chant followed by tea and triple-chocolate brownies.
We gather on the last Sunday of the month at 7:30 pm at Or Shalom, 710 East 10th Ave. in Vancouver.
Your suggested $10 donation supports Jewish children in Uganda.
Sacred Hebrew chanting
Join us for uplifting, sacred chanting that helps clear your mind and open your heart. No prior knowledge of singing, chanting or Hebrew language is required.
We are dedicated to offering sacred Hebrew chanting as a form of meditation and ecstatic prayer on the path of the heart. We share our music in the service of inspiration, devotion and community building. Drawing on the power of repeating ancient sacred phrases with beautiful melodies and deep intention, we create an experiential connection to the One.
Chant in Ottawa Oct. 29
The Chanting & Chocolate Band – Corinne Baumgarten, Howard Kaplan and founder Lorne Mallin visiting from Vancouver – invites you to an evening of sacred chanting that helps clear your mind and open your heart. We’re in Room 5, Unitarian Congregation, 30 Cleary Ave., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 7:30-9 pm. Let’s raise our voices in community for peace.
Tea and triple-chocolate brownies are served after the chant. Suggested $10 donation helps support the education of Jewish children in Uganda.
Help us support Jewish children in Uganda
Esther, Peretz, Sarah and Hillah are children of the Abayudaya, the Jewish community in eastern Uganda. If you can help them go to school in their village, Magada, please give through Lorne Mallin’s PayPal donation link. No amount is too small. Thank you! We regret that tax receipts won’t be available. Your donations are sent to a US non-profit called Global Village Connect which closely supervises funding for scholarships for our four students and other children to Tikkun Olam Primary School in the village.
Our music
Ki L’Olam Chasdo is mixed from a live recording at Chanting & Chocolate on Feb. 23, 2014, at Or Shalom led by Charles Kaplan. The chant’s title means “For God’s Loving Kindness is Infinite” and the melody is from the Egyptian folk song “A Ya Zain”.
Beginnings
Lorne Mallin began leading monthly chant evenings in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, in 2004. He first encountered the joy and power of chant in 1973 in a mystical school called the Arica Institute. After experiencing a chant called “Ram in the Three Centres,” he discovered the exquisite stillness that follows chanting. It has been his doorway to inner quiet and connection ever since.
In 2004, Lorne entered a two-year training in chant leadership with Jewish chant master Rabbi Shefa Gold. He has led chanting in Uganda, Japan, Ukraine, the U.S. and Canada. In Vancouver, that has included Give Peace a Chant, Meditative Shabbats at Ahavat Olam Synagogue, “Chanting at the Gates” at Or Shalom Synagogue, his annual Chanting Seders, the Songs for the Soul concert at St. Andrews-Wesley and the Six-Day Peace Chant – both during the World Peace Forum.
Helpful links
• Our latest video from the 18th Anniversary on Nov. 27, 2022, is on YouTube
• Many of the chants we use are online at the website of Rabbi Shefa Gold
• Mark Fenster heals through music at Autumn Studios
• drummingandhealth.com for the work of Lyle Povah
• Excellent drum teacher and player Russell Shumsky
• Sacred Hebrew Chant with Jeanette Gross
