LIGHTING A CANDLE TO RELIEVE DARKNESS BENEFIT WILL HELP TERROR VICTIMS.

Byline: Holly Andres Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - If the benefit concert at Temple Ramat Zion were being broadcast on television tonight, a fitting name might be ``Heart Aid.''

Raising money for the Jewish Federation's Victims of Terror Fund is the effort of the ``Light One Candle for Hope and Healing'' musical performance before an audience at the Northridge temple.

``After Sept. 11, I was looking for ways to help. I wanted to give blood, and I did. I even called up the Army to see if they needed a chaplain on reserve, but I found out I was too old by a couple of years,'' said Cantor Jason van Leeuwen of Temple Ramat Zion. ``I wanted to do more than buy a flag and wave it. I wanted to do something tangible to help with the relief effort.''

As van Leeuwen explored ways to get personally involved, he also was beginning to work on the annual year-end Cantor's Concert at the Conservative temple.

Thinking others might have similar feelings, he came up with the idea of asking other cantors and musicians to join together to raise money for the victims' families.

``The Cantor's Concert was always a fund-raiser for the temple. This is the first time we will hold a concert with ticket sales going out of the building,'' said Rabbi Steven Tucker. ``This was an idea that we thought people could get behind. The performers are all donating their time. People get a chance to play some sort of role by contributing money to a good cause. But also, it will be for our own sense of uplift that we all need.''

Those who answered van Leeuwen's calls and letters to perform include nationally known Jewish recording artists RebbeSoul and Cindy Paley, the AJR Cantorial Choir, and The Tish Tones, a 12-piece band from Santa Monica.

In addition to van Leeuwen, performers from the San Fernando Valley include Cantor Ron Li-Paz and the choir from Valley Outreach Synagogue; Cantor Sharone Rosen and the choir from Temple Beth Torah; Cantor Michael Stein from Temple Aliyah; Tova Morcos-Kliger, the musical director at Temple Kol Tikvah; Dahlia Morcos; Shira Fox and the adult and youth choirs from Temple Ramat Zion.

``There is an eclectic mix of performers. RebbeSoul is Jewish World Beat. We have choirs singing. The youth choir will sing Woody Guthrie's classic ``This Land is Your Land,'' van Leeuwen said.

Conductor-accompanist Tova Morcos-Kliger will play piano as her daughter, Dahlia Morcos, an aspiring opera singer, and Shira Fox duet in English and Hebrew the song ``Prayer.''

``It's going to be a fabulous evening of music. It shows that the Jewish community is not putting its head in the sand. I think sometimes that we're seen as being isolated and thinking only of ourselves and of Israel,'' said Morcos-Kliger. ``But we have the obligation known as tikkun olam, repairing the world. Helping all people, this is the true meaning of being a Jew.''

The concert is being held the day before Hanukkah begins - though the only Hanukkah song that van Leeuwen knows for certain will be performed is Peter Yarrow's contemporary Hanukkah classic ``Light One Candle.'' The entire group of performers is expected to sing the song at the end of the evening.

``The No. 1 goal is to raise funds to help out the people affected by this atrocity of Sept. 11. The fund will help all victims, no matter what their religion or background,'' said van Leeuwen.

``The second goal is to raise the morale of the community. There's a lot of anxiety and fears out there right now. Music is the direct link to the soul. It makes you feel that you're not alone in the universe.''

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Rabbi Steven Tucker, left, and Cantor Jason van Leeuwen light one candle to symbolize Saturday's special benefit concert for the Jewish Federation Victims of Terror Fund at Temple Ramat Zion in Northridge.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer