Just as Superman is making a comeback, Shooby Doob Shloimy is returning to the U.S., much to the excitement of Jewish children across the country. There is a buzz of anticipation as he travels from city to city — as a community guest and artist-in-residence — bringing unique entertainment wherever he goes. Best known for his popular Jewish children's music records and for creating quality education workshops modeled on the best practices in Jewish informal education, Shooby Doob Shloimy ends each visit with an animated performance in which the local children are active participants and perform on stage with him.
Shooby Doob Shloimy grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa as Mark Samowitz, a gifted child singer who began taking voice lessons at the early age of four. When Mark turned six, he joined the shut choir and was the choir's child soloist. At the young age of 19, Mark was appointed the full-time chazzan of Victory Park Shul, following in the footsteps of his predecessor and personal mentor, the famous chazzan Ari Klein (who left South Africa to become the chazzan of the Park East Synagogue in New York City.)
Although Mark served as the Shabbat chazzan, he also worked as a full-time accountant at a prominent international firm over the next several years. However, he says, "I was frustrated at not being able to express my talent and artistic side and felt unfulfilled in a very uninspiring environment,” Mark felt a higher calling. He said, There would be moments when I felt compelled to just move on and do what I was put here to do, to teach and inspire others.”
That opportunity finally presented itself when Mark met the well-known South African educator and television producer, Helen Heldenmuth, at an Aish Hatorah dinner. Helen asked Mark to collaborate with her and create a Jewish children's character to help children get excited about their yiddishkeit. They created three albums around the themes of derech eretz, Shabbos and Pesach, with original music and lyrics that are modern and catchy that children can connect with. Their goal is to expose every Jewish child, regardless of their Judaic background, in a fun and unthreatening way through the Jewish superhero, Shooby Doob Shloimy.
Shooby Doob Shloimy travels around the world, usually invited by children's Jewish day schools, Jewish community centers or synagogues. Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, the Jewish education director of the Springfield Jewish Community Center in Massachusetts, describes the Shooby Doob Shloimy program as "a celebrity Jewish drama camp on the model of NBA basketball clinics.” Together with the help of the talented Talya Smilowitz, a distinguished Juiliard School graduate who trains local children in acting and singing while serving as the parent liaison, Shooby Doob Shloimy invites a number of the local children to perform in the show.
By culling on his own experience in giving bar mitzvah lessons to children, Mark says, “We want to bring Torah down to the kids, to make the lofty Torah concepts in Judaism real for the children.” Therefore, there are no prepared scripts in Shooby Doob Shloimy shows and the only things that remain the same in each city are the lyrics and choreography, “The scripts are unique to each city and to each group of kids, where the kids act as themselves. Our goal is to get each child involved in a personal way, to draw from their personal selves so that it will become meaningful to them.”
After performing in the U.S., Mark is looking forward to bringing Shooby Doob Shloimy to Australia, where he serves as the chazzan far the Yomim Noraim at the Perth Hebrew Congregation.