For a week during the holidays this winter, Michelle Jasny left the Island for a camp in the Catskills. Armed with her accordion, she joined some 300 people at KlezKamp, a weeklong retreat for klezmer musicians. Though she’d been playing for nearly a year, and also has a background in piano and guitar, Ms. Jasny was blown away by the intensity of the repertoire, and the music. “Some of this is very fast,” she said of the traditional Yiddish music. “We were playing like nine, 10 hours a day, so it was very intense.”

Grant money from the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project, which has helped to bring more music into the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center synagogue, also covered the expense of sending Ms. Jasny to camp. As part of that incentive, musicians of all levels are invited to join in on monthly slow jam sessions at the center.

“[KlezKamp] got me really inspired, and I got to play in ensembles and brought back a lot of this music,” said Ms. Jasny at Sunday night’s slow jam, held in conjunction with the center’s monthly community supper.

Center vice president Alan Ganapol opened the event with a traditional blessing in Hebrew, and invited attendees to enjoy a hearty meal of soup, salad and bread while the musical troupe set about providing the entertainment. “We’re going to have some wonderful music,” he said.

The session is designated a slow jam to allow for less experienced musicians to participate, and sheet music is provided. “You play it slowly, and then you sort of speed it up and speed it up and speed it up,” said Ms. Jasny. She led the group on her accordion as the other instrumentalists warmed up. Musicians dropped in and out of the jam, and at various times of the night people played violins, guitars, cello, trumpets and drums.

Between snapping photos of the event, Sally Cohn pulled people from their chairs to lead small groups in an impromptu dance that snaked around the long white tables. Yiddish dance is another element that Ms. Jasny would like to introduce to the events as the musicians gain more experience, but on Sunday, her leadership was needed behind the music stands.

The union of the slow jam and the community supper — a winter tradition at other local churches but new this season to the Hebrew Center — has been a great success, and one they would like to continue in the long term.

“It’s become so popular with all our congregants,” said center president Tami Hersh, who said the events bring everyone together while their rabbi, Caryn Broitman, is on a six-month sabbatical in Israel. “This is a way for us to keep in touch with each other while she’s away, and keep the spirit going,” she said. But the event is open to anyone hungry for food, music or companionship, not just the Jewish community on the Vineyard, which helps to assemble a larger audience for the festive klezmer music.

“We have great people in our community,” said Ms. Hersh. “It’s been working really well.”

The final joint community supper and slow jam session of the season will be held at the Hebrew Center on Sunday, March 21.