Socalled - You Are Never Alone

sunday night at the jewish film festival in nyc i saw a documentary the socalled movie about josh dolgin who calls himself socalled. he is a jewish musician in canada who mixes klezmer, jazz and hip hop music together to get a most amazing sound.
josh dolgin is as secular as they come but he is very drawn to klezmer music and jewish culture. though he hates religion he has to admit that klezmer music is part of jewish culture and that jewish culture is only jewish culture because it comes from  judaism, so in a round about way he admits that he has to appreciate judaism. he actually states this in the film. to me this statement is so profound. and so honest. on the other hand it really shows the power of music.to someone who might not otherwise connect to judaism  music has the power of forging a spiritual connection  that on a logical level he might not explore.

the power of music

the eldridge street synagogue on the lower east side has been fully renovated. it took 20 yrs for them to do this. its quite incredible. you can feel the presence of those who were there years ago when you are there. last night there was a free eli beer concert there. it was very enjoyable . the music was so empowering. since i bought my new mp3 player a few months ago i have really been getting back into listening to music, b"h. music is so essential to the soul. it has the power to totally transform ones mood.

hannukah fever

im really looking forward to hannukah. i love the latkes and lighting the menorah. i love the parties. i love receiving a little hannukah gelt. im not keen on the Israeli jelly donut.

as a kid i loved attending community hannukah parties , where they would give cute gift bags to all the kids. my favorite toy was those little dolls that would be in a bottle shaped like perfume and they would have the scent of tea rose.

my mom would save all of the prizes found in cereal boxes and make a grab bag during hannukah. this would cut down on fighting over who got the prize from the cereal box during the year. before my mom did this we would take turns getting the prize from the cereal box, but i think we would still bicker, so she decided to do the grab bag thing.

one hannukah i was at union square and the lubavitchers were playing music. an obviously non-jewish woman was prodding her non-jewish child to listen to the music. she said to him "its music, appreciate it" it was really cute. it was like being in an alternate world where hannukah is the holiday of the majority and x-mas is the holiday of the minority.

i like the fact that there are so many major department stores in ny that include hannukah in their holiday windows. im including a photo of a menorah that was in Bloomingdale's' holiday window december 2006.

simply tsfat

this past thursday i heard the israeli breslover group simply tsfat perform. their music is truly uplifting. the first time i ever heard them was at the jcc in manhattan. they had the whole audience dancing . this past thursday was no exception.

simply tsfat should be performing in brooklyn tomorrow night at the jewish music cafe in park slope at 7 pm. i think that they are in baltimore this evening .

for those of you who wont be able to see them live,they do have some of their songs on itunes and they have some great cds. i have the cds new beginnings and never give up.

the world has been so topsy turvy lately. music is so uplifting.

cool jews

there's a new book out called cool jew by lisa klug. i find the title kind of funny because though i love being jewish , i dont think being jewish equals cool. i guess that was the idea of the book. to make jewish people feel they too are cool.

though i have only flipped through the book, i dont find the book to be all that original. there are several kitschy jewish books around like judaikitsch by jennifer and victoria traig and jewish holiday fun by barbara rushkoff. lisa klug is the only orthodox jew who has written this type of book.

thursday there was a book reading of cool jew at the jcc, which included several performance artists lisa klug knew. though the author read excerpts from the book, i think that these kitschy concepts are more fun to read on paper, than heard .

the musical performances and comedy acts were quite special. the book reading / artist showcase lasted about 2hrs. and it was FREE. very cool.

the most standout singers at the event were michelle citrin and chana rothman. both are dynamic and have excellent voices. yisroel campbell , comedian and convert to judaism was hysterically funny.

its always fun to check out who attends a jewish event. there was a mix of religious and non-religous jews as well as a mix of ages. i suspect many of the performers friends populated the audience.