For 20 years, Touro Synagogue has been celebrating that uniquely New Orleans institution, Jazz Fest, in its own special way – with a worship service that combines Judaism with America’s only indigenous art form, jazz.

The Friday evening Sabbath service is free and open to the public, and the synagogue also holds a dinner before the event for patrons who want to support this wonderful New Orleans tradition.

The service has become such an integral part of the two-week Jazz Fest scene that some of the most popular musicians, from New Orleans and beyond, have played in Touro’s historic sanctuary.

Jeremy Davenport, Kermit Ruffins, Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas are just a few to grace the pulpit and join the cantor and synagogue choir for an enchanting mix of the temporal and spiritual.