MY CULTURAL ROOTS
As a singer, composer, producer, and cultural organizer, I follow in my family lineage. My immigrant grandparents on my mother’s side were cultural workers who kept Yiddishkeit (secular Jewish culture) alive. They created contexts–a summer camp, classes, publications–that taught young people the values of being a mensch: a good human being. They valued and acted on behalf of workers’ rights and human rights in the world. As do I. My father’s family, more religious and less activist, were also musical. His aunt played the Wurlitzer in silent movie theaters during the Depression, and although they were poor and moved often, they managed to always take their piano. My parents instilled their life-long love of the arts to me and my brother. We both became professional musicians.

Yiddish songs were among the first songs I learned, from my mother, the song carrier in the family. The stirring melodies of art songs and messages of labor songs shaped my early aesthetics. While my family was secular, their love of music, nature and justice (what I’d later learn to call tikkun olam, repairing the world), left room open for my own organic discovery. My spirituality has always been intuitive, deeply connected with beauty, and filled with gratitude and amazement to be alive as part of the infinite fabric of Life.

From 1994-2002 I toured and recorded as part of Cantor Linda Hirschorn’s women’s a cappella ensemble Vocolot. Our concerts in Jewish communities and congregations nationwide introduced me to designing Shabbaton programs and working inter-denominationally.

CANTORIAL SOLOIST
My path to cantorial work really started with seeing Neil Diamond in the 70’s remake of “The Jazz Singer.” :-) In my late 20’s, living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I began singing with Jewish elders in care settings and proposed a long-term project at the Jewish Home (now San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living). With support from the Campus board and the California Arts Council, I served as artist-in-residence there for close to 20 years. We co-wrote more than 80 songs with elder residents and their families, recorded an album, and made a documentary film.

PSALMS, SONGS, & STORIES™
In 2003, Campus chaplain Rabbi Sheldon Marder invited me to collaborate with him to bring Jewish spiritual studies and songwriting together. We co-founded the “Psalms, Songs and Stories” Project (described below). This led to my serving the Campus’ congregation L’Dor V’Dor as their cantorial soloist for nearly 18 years, after in-depth study with Chazzan (cantor) Richard Kaplan, Chazzan Hirschhorn and others. What I learned from them still resonates in the ruach (spirit), poignancy, and freylach (joy) that I receive and bring as a cantorial soloist, in reciprocity and connection with each congregant, Nature and the Divine - by all the names this is known and felt.

Serving Jewish and interfaith communities as a cantorial soloist is one of the great honors and joys of my life. In the sacred songs and liturgical settings I compose, I seek a universal approach, aiming to give people of all spiritual identities entryways into greater resonance and meaning.

The Psalms, Songs and Stories™ project combines text study and songwriting in one or more workshops resulting in songs that communities and congregations can sing together as their own. At the SF Campus, Psalms, Songs and Stories elder participants’ average age was 88. They co-composed more than 18 songs based upon Psalms and wisdom poetry by Jewish writers, in diverse translations and interpretations. We also wrote songs on other Jewish and universal topics including holidays, love, family, and, of course, food.

I’ve facilitated Psalms songwriting workshops with congregations and younger groups, including in Atlanta, GA and Greensboro, NC and with students and community elders at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College with Rabbi Dayle Friedman. I’m now available to offer these workshops online and to travel to communities across North America.

Do you have a vision of creating Jewish or inter-faith music you’d like to explore? Sacred or secular, Jewish or general, solo or in community?
If you’re in need of a cantorial soloist, composer, or performer to bring a personal touch and a bissel (a little) Yiddishkeit to your congregation or celebration, be in touch!