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Jason Caplan Quartet's musical expertise and improvisational fire has graced NYC for over a year now. The band has played everywhere from Yeshiva University's campus and Washington Height's courtyards to well-known live music hang-outs in Greenwich Village, such as Kenny's Castaway and the Elbow Room. The JCQ is not an ordinary Jazz and Blues band - they infuse their emotional improvisations with a spiritual basis. Their front man, Jason Caplan is currently a Rabbinical student at RIETS. Tonight I brave the crisp winter air to go out to the town house in the Heights where Jason Caplan lives.
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How would you describe the JCQ's sound?
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I try to really visualize the space, like literally outer-space, and try to think of it as expansive as possible, the way I think about the music. I loved Star Wars growing up so I think about space ships and stuff like that. The sound is more futuristic, yet grounded in traditional folk music. A lot of my expression is blues-based, so it has that element, but it has elements of the different styles that we combine, so I would say it's futuristic, with a blend of world music. And essentially meditative.
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You love to improvise, and you're one of the best at improvising that I've gotten to know. Would you say that your musical improvisation is religious or spiritual?
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Our intentions are for it to be spiritual. We want to reach a level of "prayer", and that word has different meanings, but I think it's the best word for the situation. I basically try to receive music, and try to hear music as it comes to me as an expression of my own events or struggles or feelings. Just hearing the music and playing it, and on some level I feel that the deeper I get into that musical atmosphere, that musical situation of hearing the music, I feel as if I'm just a vessel to play music through, and I think that brings me to a relationship with G-d. To be in the moment of G-d. Sort of transcribing His music or our music. It's hard to put into words, but I think it's essentially spiritual because it's the outpouring of the soul with music, and the person as the vehicle.
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You make such energetic and exciting music live - how would you describe the interaction of the band members when you play music?
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We have Jessie Asher on bass, who to me has a real Jaco Pastorius sound, but it's not so fair to make that comparison, I think it's a very unique Jesse sound. Jesse has a very very rhythmic sense, along with that melodic sense of music. Kevin Frey (drums)- the man is an animal! He lays down the beat- it's so tight, and he gives it that nice push, and when there's a build-up, he just flies over his set. He's such a force of energy, that it really pushes me to start moving and expressing. The thing I really like about a power trio, is that you always have to be on you toes. When you play with a larger group, you can sit out some of the music and no one's going to notice, but a power trio, you're going to notice when one of the three guys sits out or loses his place in the music. So it's very "in the moment" There's always that train wreck about to happen, and you surf between train wreck and great music, and it's such a great feeling. When I play with two guys I really love and know well, we really click with each other as a group, yet each of our own personalities comes through in the music. It's very exciting and very fun. That's why I consider those guys the two main guys. To me they're the foundation. I've played with many excellent musicians, but I do come back to these two good friends of mine in the core rhythm section. But we do train-wreck sometimes, and we have fun doing that too (laughs). It's about having fun even when you make the mistakes.
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I attended the lecture you gave on Meditation, music and Judaism. What was the official title of it?
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It was "The dynamic soul in meditation". Or something like that. (Laughs).
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How would you sum up what you said in that lecture?
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The basic idea of the class was to allow oneself to be a vessel for the music, and to experience the presence of G-d. And of course that's different for every person, but I found music to really be aware of my relationship with G-d. To be human is to be a vessel- to receive G-d's bounty, His mercy or His will. So essentially I feel that you first take music and get that experience of feeling the music come through you and hearing the music of the inner soul, or hearing G-d's music come through you. But then taking that over and crossing that over into Judaism- Seeing the Mitzvot not as "yes and no's", prohibitions and leniencies, but rather as different ways to receive G-d's will, to be a vessel for Him through these different actions. The Torah sanctifies almost every aspect of life. So we try to take that vessel consciousness and apply it to all of life. I feel it makes Torah very experiential and less leaning towards what people consider dogmatic or strict.
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I want to ask you what your influences are and I want to ask you that in two parts. What are your musical influences and what are your spiritual influences?
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Albert King is the man. There's nothing else to say. Albert King. You hear his sound all the time in my playing. He's mastered the art of simplicity with three notes. I've read that other musicians have said that Albert King is the man. I really really admire Jimi Hendrix's work. And then there's the jazz people- Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and anybody who is doing work now such as Cyrus Chestnut and Victor Wooten. So it's really a blues- jazz basis that I have. But I grew up listening to folk music that my father had. He used to play Irish fiddle when I was growing up. There are a lot of different styles of influence but the main individuals I'm attracted to, are in the Jazz tradition.
Spiritual influences- I would have to say that the in terms of thinking and views, I'm most attracted to Rav Kook. I think Rav Kook gives that modern spiritual perspective that is so crucial. But in terms of a person's passion for life- it's Rebbe Nachman. Rebbe Nachman to me represents a fire for life. Just read his text, his words, and his stories- the man had a special fire for life. I wonder what he would say if he was here today. You could just feel the man's spirituality in the works. And I try to read a lot of people outside of the Jewish world too- Ralph Waldo Emerson I read before I got involved with Judaism, and Henry David Thoreau. And I like the Eastern traditions- I still look at some of their writings. But in terms of Judaism, it would have to be Rav Kook, Reb Nachman, and Abraham Abulafia- I love reading his stories. These are people who inspire me with their passion for life. The ideas that they had, they had some nice ones, some of which I disagree with, and that's natural, but I'm really inspired by their passion for life and the adventures that they took.
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Have you taken any adventures that you want to share?
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(Laughs). Yeah I love telling stories, and I've taken some pretty wild adventures in the search. One in particular- a friend and I went camping- my friend had a house out in the woods in Virginia. One of the locals came by and was hanging out with us- Tom. He was from the "dibichreries" of Maryland. We said- it was the "Tributaries" is where you're from, and he said, "yeah right, the dibichreries". He'd been drinking, one of his past-times. So he asked us one time if we could go pick up his cousin, who wanted to come hang out. So we said sure, but only if we could drive your truck, which was a huge truck, with a huge steering wheel. We just wanted to drive the biggest truck in Virginia, so we went out, he gave us the keys, and he started to say, "he doesn't answer by his name Tom, call him by his other name- killer". We froze in our tracks, "The names what"? "The name's Killer. Don't worry, they never caught him!" So we went to pick him up. The guy got in the car, and he had a Hitler mustache and beady eyes- this guy, he was Killer. So I'm in the middle seat, my friend is driving. To make a long story short, I started laughing while he was in the car. Here I was, a Jewish kid in the middle of Virginia Nowhere, sitting next to a guy named Killer in a pickup truck. What am I doing here?! I started laughing and thinking that I was like Woody Allen. You know, asking him stuff like- (in Woody Allen NYC accent) "Is Killer short for anything? Like Killerberansky? How did your mother name you that?" And my friend kept elbowing me in the ribs to make me shut up cause he was scared of Killer! So we hung out with Killer that night, and he was a pretty scary character. It was a funny night. We woke up laughing.
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I would call you a true artist. I think you have a lot of guts that you don't see out there. But I want to get your opinion on artistic expression in the orthodox world.
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Good question. Here's my thing- I grew up in a totally blues and classical Jazz setting. I really grew up without any Jewish music whatsoever. When I hear Jewish music, I do think it's very beautiful, but I don't think it has the nuances of the music I grew up listening to. I feel that's lacking for my own ear. But I don't think it takes away from the fact that it carries with it a very spiritual message. Again there's nothing lost by simplicity. Simplicity can carry the strongest message. In terms of the broader picture of Orthodoxy and creativity, I feel there is a need for people to feel freedom that Judaism includes creativity. I think too many times Judaism is seen as a refuge from the chaos of the world, and really Judaism takes on the reality. In a lot of the shows I play, I do a lot of screaming, cause I really feel that there's so many problems out there, and I want to express that. Even if there are problems with the way I feel about Judaism, things that bring me a lot of tension with the Jewish texts, and the way the Torah looks at things. And it challenges me. Questions of Jewish history in general, like "where was G-d", types of questions. I'm not really looking for the answer but I'm looking for a way to express that feeling. In a lot of the violin and Klezmer music, you hear some very soulful and sorrowful music. So I would say is there is creativity being done in the Jewish world, in my limited experience in NYC and a little bit in Israel, but on a whole I think that Orthodox Judaism needs that component of expression to be more emphasized. I think you do need to balance much of the rational and analytical thought with creative expression.
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Who did the painting of the JCQ hanging on your wall?
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JJ Lewis, he does amazing work. He made Aliyah to Israel, and is continuing his work there. He made this for a poster that we put up for our Kenny's Castaway show, and I think the Elbow Room show, which were both last November. It's just very nice to collaborate with talented people.
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What are your goals as a band? Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?
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I'm trying to achieve goals based on two different levels. Teaching guitar- I would really like to teach people how to use this expression of improvisation that I feel is so essential to my life. Giving lectures on how to make music for people who do not consider themselves musicians. I think anyone can make music. I want to present music to everybody as a way to enhance our relationship with G-d. In terms of the future of the band- I want to start singing in the group and presenting the songs that I've written with the lyrics that I've written. And I would like to reach the pinnacle of expression, of musical success. I'd like to play at very large venues for as many people as possible, and really share this music that I think is so beautiful. I've seen people enjoy it, and I want to see as many people as possible enjoy it. So I'm looking at limitless possibilities. In terms of the band itself, I'd like to have a keyboard player, right now, and I'd like to sing, having some structure to the songs, and that loose arena for all the improvisation that we do.
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In addition to vocals, I know that you're also learning to play piano. Are you going to play piano in the band?
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It's definitely a possibility. I'm really in love with the piano.
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Any last things you'd like to say to our audience?
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Just that I'm looking forward to playing more, and I think the group, which has been together about a year, we've been getting a lot tighter, the songwriting is better, we have a nice repertoire of songs that we do, with a nice variety. And I'm really looking to move past, or break through the performance idea of music. A tremendous amount of people have done this. It's nothing new. For my own group and for our audience, we've been feeling this happen a lot, and we really enjoy it. That's why we enjoy playing at Kenny's Castaway- it's a very intimate setting. So we're really looking to move past the performance base of it and interact with the audience, and a lot of what I do is first to try to hear the music in me, the music in pure form, but I also try to reach out to the audience, and try to get the feeling in the crowd, and try to receive that and play that through the instrument. I'd like to blur the lines between performer and audience and really make people feel interactive in this whole experience. And then I'm getting more used to the idea of being a screamer- I've been exploring that a lot more. To me, Jimi Hendrix and John Coletrane are the quintessential screamers- the way they would scream through the instrument so beautifully, and make a beautiful sound out of screaming. That's something I'm exploring right now, and to me it's like a cleansing event. Like a lot of built up psychic tension letting loose. When you look around especially in NYC, at a lot of the bad things of human existence right in front of you, you don't know where to put that. So a lot of that screaming I feel is cleansing and healing. I want to do this in a way that attracts an audience and doesn't repel them.
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Streaming Audio: |
| Cry of Redemption |
| Nachshon's Leap |
JCQ Website: |
http://www.jcqonline.com
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How did a girl from Boro Park learn to write songs with 10 beat Arabic rhythms and Ladino lyrics?
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Like many girls of my background, after high school I went to Israel for year - to Sharfman's yeshiva. I had conflicts there, end up getting kicked out and left for Egypt. I loved Egypt, and I loved the Middle Eastern music. I wasn't a musician at the time, to me it was just interesting to "see and feel". But when I went to college I picked up the guitar. For my junior year I went to South Africa and played with the musicians in Johannesburg and Cape Town. I hitchhiked all the way to Tanzania. Stopped off at Harari in Zimbabwe and studied at the local musicality center. After graduation, I was traveling a lot - went to Turkey, Morocco, Greece - getting used to their sounds and rhythms. Playing the guitar and trying to connect. Wherever I went, I played with the street musicians. So, first it was a general experience, and then studying - lots of studying - North Indian vocals, South Indian drums, dumbek, Balkan singing… I was traveling and studying all of the time until 4 years ago, when I started putting all those experiences and all of my attention into Pharaoh's Daughter.
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What was the conflict in the yeshiva - religious disagreements, or just not enough room for the artistic self-expression?
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As I said, I wasn't a musician then, though I was interested in dance and reading. I just didn't agree with many aspects of their style of teaching. One little conflict I had was that they put me in the highest class, and all of my friends were in the lower class. I didn't like it, they wouldn't switch me out - you know, the stupid 17-year-old stuff. And they had spies - every Orthodox yeshiva has spies - undercover people that check out what you're doing. Two of my friends and I hung out every night - dancing, clubbing. Once, we got invited to dance at a big musical performance, and we choreographed an act to a Phil Collins tune. One of the bands there was called Treif. We were out till late and so, I came to school sleeping on my desk every day. Those two friends and I did a lot of traveling - every Friday, we'd get the whole afternoon off so we would hitchhike and wherever we end by shabbes - that's where we'd stay. Just travelling and exploring! I had a plan to go to Greece, the school got information on it, told my father - and had a whole big thing how they intercepted my plan and wouldn't let me go. So, in the end, the principal said, "I think it's time. It's not working out." And sure enough! That's when I went to Egypt, and after I came back, I joined a kibbutz. I was still religious there - just kind of wild.
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As a reflection of your travels, you have written a number of songs in "obscure" tongues - Morrocan, Arabic, Ladino. A regular Knitting Factory goer doesn't even speak Yiddish and Hebrew. Are you concerned that the listeners won't get your verbal message?
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Actually Knitting Factory has a whole label of Jewish Music. So a lot of this stuff is in Jewish languages. And besides, for me music is a language in itself. It's very much related to melody, sentimentality, texture. Words are important, too - but for some people music is a vehicle for words, and for others words are a vehicle for music. I'm definitely more melodically driven. A lot of my words come from the Texts - Torah, Neviim. As much as I've left the community I come from such a strong tradition of creating the Jewish music through writing new melodies to ancient text. I over 15 years of Jewish education and I have strong relationships with some of the stories ! I do also compose secular music - my first album was all in English. Next one will be all English, too - and the one after will be all Jewish again. I haven't really liked to mix the two.
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Is there an extra layer here - perhaps, you don't want to mix the two cultures within yourself, as well?
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Good question - that could be part of it, but it's also that a CD creates a certain mood and I want to be consistent with the mood. See, first we had English songs only - we started doing Jewish music almost by an accident. I was working at Bnei Jeshurun playing percussion and when they were recording an album, they asked me to play on it. And I loved that music! One of the songs we played was Hamavdil, which I arranged with my band. When they were playing Lecha Dodi, and couldn't figure out what version to use I wrote my own new Lecha Dodi melody/ One time someone at the Calrelbach Shul saw me, and invited me to two of their events. To publicize it they arranged an interview in the Jewish Week - and so, suddenly I was considered a " Jewish musician ". And I found it very natural in a lot of ways, because that's where I come from.
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I've heard Pharaoh's Daughter being called the Middle Eastern Doors -
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Oh yeh? Who said that? I love the Doors, it's a huge compliment. I don't think of them as a particular influence. In my late teens and early twenties I discovered the whole classic rock era - I loved the Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie. But I'm a real sieve - I gather all of the things I'm exposed to, and then they all come out, filtered, mixed, re-expressed. A lot of it happens on the subconscious level. People could project things onto me as well.
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Do you have a "legend" about a certain song that you have written?
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One of my songs is called a West African Niggun. I was traveling in Morocco and end up in this place called Merzouga - a real end of the road desert town. I was staying with a Berber man named Assou, and we had a ritual that every morning he brought me coffee with condensed milk, and as I sat on the porch, he played a new tape of music that he wanted me to listen to. Scratchy, horrible-sounding recordings. One morning, he was playing this tape and I just started to cry because it was the most beautiful music I've ever heard. And he didn't really know the name of it - he thought it was called Tuareg. When I returned to the U.S. , I called the record stores - and they said it was out of print. I knew it was impossible because it was the most beautiful record - how could it not sell? Then, I kind of remembered one of the melodies on my guitar. One melody, at least I had that. I played it for myself all of the time. Once when I was doing a project with a cello player. I was playing around on my guitar, and I played that tune. He said he loved it and it reminded him of something. He put on a CD for me - and that was it - that was the album I was looking for! I discovered two amazing things then: that I found the music, and the musician is indeed very well known, her name was Omou Sangare from Mali, and also - it was not the same song at all, it was a similar feeling but a very different song which is on my second album.
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At one of the recent concerts, when you were playing Haggar, one could see how the audience delved into a trance - went on journey along with your music. It's not such a commonly discussed episode - is there a special relationship between you and the story?
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The music came first. I started singing syllables to fit the music something like "Ma-aya-an" [Hebrew: "well"]. I called my friend Amichai a modern storahteller, and asked him to give me a story from Tanach, that had to do with the "maayan". And turned out - in that week's parsha, there's a posuk describing Haggar, going to the well. I started singing the words, and they fit perfectly! The story itself had been interesting because I for some reason don't remember learning that Hagaar left voluntarily.
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Sounds like you're getting some kind of Divine Intervention helping you out!
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I'd like to believe that, but plenty of times, no - I'm screaming, "please help me out here, I'm stuck"
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Do your parents like your music?
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My father and my stepmother don't have a CD player. They live in Monsey, I think they find it interesting and are proud that I'm a musician, but I can't really tell you if they like my music. My mother is not religious any more, so she comes to concerts sometimes and takes a million pictures. She's very supportive and proud...
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Streaming Audio: |
| West African Niggun |
| Haggar |
JCQ Website: |
Pharaoh's Daughter Webpage
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Amichai Lau-Lavie |
| Creator of the Storahtelling Project |
| By Leah Fortgang |
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Born and raised in Israel and the United States, Amichai Lau-Lavie had his share of understanding both countries and their traditional ways of teaching Torah. However, various angles from which he approached learning did not fully satisfy his intellectual thirst. In 1997 Amichai Lau-Lavie left Israel to begin his journey as a scholar and a teacher in Congregation Bnai Jeshrun in NYC. He didn't feel content with education focused on Halacha (Jewish laws) alone - and that's how the Storahtelling project came about. Amichai enlisted Jewish actors, musicians, and educators who chose to dedicate themselves to the revival of the Jewish ritual storytelling. |
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How did the idea of Storytelling Theater come to you and what are its ancient origins? |
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When I first came to Bnai Jeshrun and I saw about a thousand people gathered in one room, sitting there bored out of their minds but interested enough to stay and listen to Torah reading, I suddenly had an idea; what do these people want? They want to be able to have a chance to learn the Torah the right way, which I know to be the old traditional way, the way they used to read the Torah when the first text from the Torah was read, which in the book of Nehemiah, chapter nine they describe to be on Rosh Hashanah. Ezra and Nehemiah stood by the bimah reciting the Torah while people stood in the rain for hours and listened to the words of the text and cried because this text was never presented to them before. After some time every synagogue began to have a gabai, which we still have in every synagogue, and their own translator of the text. Each translator had his own style and their own language. At that time no one knew the Hebrew language, and that is where we got so many different interpretations of the Torah. However, soon enough about a thousand years ago, this became very controversial due to many different ways the Torah was read, and because the rabbis wanted to solidify the interpretations of the text, they decided to make the translator into another gabai, to avoid differentiation in communities and cities all over the world. That is why we now have two gabai's in most synagogues. Some synagogues would read the Torah for two, three years and not find themselves to be on the same pace with the synagogue in the next town. Now all synagogues read the same text every week, yearly, however, then it was quite different.
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What is Storahtelling?
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I believe storahtelling is the original way Jews used to learn the Torah and it is the original Jewish theater. People can argue what theater means, actually people now question, what is the theater, what is performance, what is ritual, they are all categories. Torah reading is the oldest institute of sacred form of storytelling. It is usually told in the choreographed way, musical way. When you are sitting in your synagogue it is usually told by a teller and heard by the reader or listener in order for them to take it all in and delve into the deep core of Torah reading. I think it's genius. It is broken into acts, it is told with an intro and an overture, just like in the theater.
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Is Storahtelling something you feel emotionally attached to Torah-wise, and does it help you in your Emunah? |
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When I prepare my lesson for a class, I make sure that I know what I am going to teach very well. The Torah for me is a spiritual journey, it's an individual's journey from their birth to their death. You start reading the Torah from the birth of the world and you end with the last thread, Moshe's death, who wrote the Torah dying. Everything that goes on from Abraham, to Jacob, to Isaac, to Rachel, to Miriam, to Moshe, to all the people in our history, it's all an individual's journey through life. When we read through the circle of events that occurred in the history of the Jews, you really feel you are going through these people's life journey. When I prepare myself for the weekend's parsha (weekly reading) and I study the teachings well, I feel my inner self strengthened. This is the closest we can talk about faith because it is very intimate. The reading and the repeating of the story of the Torah gives me a better and clearer picture of whom we are and who am I.
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Do you think this kind of teaching has a future and the potential of being recognized by major rabbinical authorities?
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(Comically said) Well, I spoke to G-d a few times and He is very happy about it. I definitely see it transforming the present Jewish way of seeing the Torah and the way the Torah is read in synagogues today. In another ten or fifteen years this will be a regular way to teach the Torah and recite it, through entertaining the audience without it being cheap. When you go to the movies, you wear this invisible hat; you know you will soon be entertained. You come out of the movies you take off the hat and you go about your business, you go to a diner and you talk about the movie, because you were under the hat, you concentrated only on the movie. Now when you go to a shiur (lesson) usually many people don't wear the same hat, it is mostly, "I am forced", "Why do I have to", "it's only for education purposes". You don't wear the same hat because this hat is a myth and we live in today's society, which covers us with its many myths. I want my students to come to class wearing that movie hat, because they know they want to be there, they want to be entertained they want to be taught, they want to be personal with the Torah, they simply want to be wowed.
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You generally situate yourself and Storahtelling around Conservative and Reform synagogues. Have you ever tried to introduce Storahtelling to Orthodox communities?
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It is quite difficult to do that because of the traditional ways the Orthodox communities have been doing things, for several generations. I simply wanted my freedom. I mostly hear answers from the Orthodox communities like: "This is the way we have been doing it, our people will read from the Chumash, you go read in more liberal shuls." The arrogance, that they know the right way, they have been doing it the right way… "We have been doing it like this for centuries, don't rock the boat." I decided for my own sanity, for my own sake not to fight, and just go somewhere else, where it will be greeted with open doors and where I can have my freedom to express the relevance of Judaism in my eyes.
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To what extent do you yourself accept Halacha (Jewish laws), and how do you feel about that - in the light of the fact that you were once Orthodox?
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The Shulchan Oruch Halachah I don't accept, I accept the Halachah of the Torah that can be used right now. It is like the constitution of the United States, which is not to be changed, but a book of laws by which this nation lives. The amendments that are in the constitution are constantly amended to fit the society. In the old traditional style they tried to formulate the choreography of how to maintain the sacred ritual of storytelling without tarnishing the sanctity of the Torah.
In this generation young Americans with a background or not, will not be able to tolerate this, it's just too long. "Less is more". I don't read the entire parsha, I read the triennial or less. I have spoken to a lot of people and some don't want to change the old ways because that is how it should be done, and I understand and respect that. However, more modern communities accept my way of storahtelling.
People are bipolar when it comes to change. They want to change, they love change, they crave change, but are very reluctant to give up the things they are used to. Orthodox Judaism that I know intimately is as bipolar as the rest of us concerning the aspect of change. My particular personal choice was not to feel guilty about leaving orthodoxy and not to present myself as an opponent to Orthodoxy. I truly believe in the words of G-d, which are equally valid today. It's pluralism. I believe there are more than one ways of worshipping G-d and being a Jew. This is my way. I am not saying it's the way, I am simply saying it's my way. My mother, my father, my siblings, my numerous cousins, aunts and uncles, they have a different version of orthodoxy than mine, and that's fine. I just happen to find a similar problem in orthodoxy as well as other cultures, the resistance to change, changing without fear. "Charadim" the word, comes from the root terror, and that is exactly what it means. I know. There is a lot of fear of what are the people, the neighbors going to say. Am I doing the right thing in front of Hashem, my father? It's always guilt, guilt, guilt. I respect the desire and the wanting to be guided by sanctity and by having a system to make your life better and the life of the rest of the world. However, I also think other ways that people want and choose to live their life and serve G-d should be respected as well.
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You, C and Mark have developed a real amazing harmony between you three. How did you get to that point?
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C I know from way back from the Moshav. He moved there when I was a teenager - Shlomo Carlebach convinced him to go to Israel, bought him ticket, basically brought him there. C was a guitar hero, appeared on TV and all. I actually wanted to hit 'em up for some lessons. Well, he heard me sing one night said I had a great voice, offered to record some songs. We started a band there called "The Club House Band", I think - something lame like that - poppy, jazzy sound. Then, I had to leave Israel, and in a couple of months he followed. We started playing again, with a drum machine, and his doorman played bass for us. We then played at "Blondies" on the UWS, stretching out four songs with extended solos and jams, switching musicians and trying to get the right sound. Five years ago, when we got signed to a label, called "Ripe & Ready" our bass player at the time recommended Mark. We went into a studio and Mark was amazing right off the bat. We asked him to join the band. He was a bit hesitant for a while - he's a known live and session drummer and played with Whitney Houston, James Brown, Aretha Franklin (and he still does, the other week he played with Tom Petty). But he never started his own project - and this was a perfect opportunity, so he agreed and we started touring together.
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On the stage, you and C seem to be very different people. He's reserved and serious, while you're more of a lay back hippie character. How do you guys get along?
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We get along great, but there's definitely friction. We listen to different music, hear things differently so yeah, there's friction when we come up with a song - which direction to take. Me, I listen to a lot of world music: reggae, Middle Eastern, Irish, Sufi chanting. C comes from the world of southern rock. And Mark's mostly influenced by R&B school, even though he happened to be a great rock drummer, he still hears everything as R&B. But I always believed that this is how music is created - by oppositions. When you take two people who play the same thing, you come out with something a lot more predictable.
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What's your favorite song writing story? Like a Soulfarm legend?
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Well, C and I first met at this Purim party in Israel - he said he heard me sing, I don't remember, I was so wasted then. So we got together, and the first song we wrote was "Listen to You". In the next few month we recorded ten songs, all garbage. We were very naïve musicians, and the lyrics weren't really happening, either. But "Listen to You" somehow stuck out, and became our anthem, in a way. And it's still the most requested song.
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Do you think of Soulfarm as a band with Middle Eastern influences and a big Jewish following - or, actually, a Jewish band?
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The Jewish thing was very strange. When we first started playing in New York, hardly any Jews came to our shows. Then it became 50/50, and then more, when Shlomo Carlebach passed on. That, I think, had a lot to do with it. There's been a very big thirst for his music. See, I don't necessarily write songs appeal to the Jewish market - it's more about spirituality, connecting with intangible. I'm not part of the Jewish music scene, I don't even know what it is. People come ask me to hook them up with Mordechai Ben David - but we just are not in that swing. Yeah, honestly, all this was a source of concern for us, but in the end, I really think that it's great. All of these kids who are coming to see us - they hate going to see the Jewish music, they're like embarrassed by it. This is their chance to feel like they are still in their environment, they get to be with their friends from school, and yet it's rock'n-roll. We're still striving to appeal to the larger audience, it's been done by Latin music, in reggae, African - they've come to mainstream, but for some reason, maybe because there weren't any good Jewish artists, Jewish music hasn't come to the mainstream. We have played some of our Jewish stuff in West Virginia and Dallas, and people loved it. If you're not doing it as a shtick, but sincerely, they think of it as exotic, trying to belly dance to it and stuff.
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Why has there been so little talent in the Jewish musical scene?
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It really annoys me that what we think of as standard Jewish albums got stock in 70's-80's. Cheesy metal guitar over a string background, and it never progressed - it's the same engineers working on them. Unfortunately, music is not taught in the yeshivas. They learn how to play a keyword, get automatic sounds and that becomes their thing. Then it becomes a standard for your kids, and this is how it all goes on. But there have been some good musicians - my Dad had a great band, called Diaspora Yeshiva band. They were rockin, I mean they sounded like the Beatles! They did five part harmonies, they mixed bluegrass and rock, and reggae and everything, they've created a really unique sound.
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You know, the Ramaz and Frisch high school kids that come to your concerts - do you ever get concerned that they will scare off more mature audience?
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It already happened - they've already scared off everybody. Some of my friends just told me "Dude I can't hang any more. I like your music but I can't deal with the crowd." We've just come to realization - that's what it is in New York right now. Out of the city it's not like that. But they're really keeping us going, these kids, coming to concerts, supporting us, buying CDs and all. And they will grow up and, soon enough we'll have a sophisticated audience that have been with us for quite a few years.
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On the stage, you have a really distinct trip going on - eyes half closed, no shoes, slowly swinging from side to side. Is that your shtick or something that came naturally?
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Is that what I do? [Laughs]. Gotto watch a video of myself. See, it depends. Sometimes I'm in the mood to play, and sometimes - let's say we had a sound check at 3 pm and not play till playing till 8, playing pool all day, and the mood's not right. Then, I need to do these rituals. Taking off my shoes makes me feel more comfortable. I also light incense. It's not just for the show, it's to change my surroundings, to get into the show.
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I loved how in the past few concerts, when playing the "Ride", towards the end the band takes a pause, a few seconds of silence, when the audience doesn't know whether to clap, or what, and then you guys just explode with this wall of sound. What goes through your mind during that pause?
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It really happened by an accident a few month ago. Towards the end, C likes to go into his solo and he really gets out there. And I think one night, he took it so far, that we couldn't find the rhythm, we kinda lost him. So we just stopped and let him do his thing for a while, and then we brought it back, like an explosion, pow, and we loved it, now it became our thing. For me, it's a break, I just like to think what we're going to do next, and sometimes something totally random, like "wonder if that was cranberries in that cake." And I love to watch the audience, different reactions.
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A few times I had an impression, that in the middle of the song, you just wanted to go off dancing on the stage. But the cable, connecting the guitar to the amp is just too short. Ever considered getting a longer one?
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If you get it too long, can get tangled up, you know. Should really get a wireless. Guitar's restricting in general, but I really love playing it and so it's always a battle. I've done well though - I've been maneuvering around with the cable. I know if I turn one way, it's going to wrap around my leg, so I'm automatically thinking - gotto turn the other way. That's how I get around.
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What are Soulfarm's short and long term dreams at the moment?
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Short-term is to get a nice record deal, and not always have to worry about the cash flow coming in, continue doing what we're doing. And long term - we really want to leave a mark. To create an album, or write a song that people are going to look back on. Usually you don't even know when you're making something like that, just gotto dig deep in your soul. Nobody can give that to us, it's has nothing to do with musicianship, it's about something else. What? Don't know. It's the secret - I guess G-d put it out there so we could find it.
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Warren Adler |
| Author of War of the Roses and Random Hearts |
| By Leah Fortgang |
Born in Brooklyn in 1933, Warren Adler became a distinguished writer of modern America. At the same time he has secured a prominent place in Hollywood, with two movie blockbusters being based on his novels (War of the Roses and Random Hearts). Throughout his life he has been combining his passion for writing about relationships with his responsibilities as a family man. He has been married for fifty years and has enjoyed both a solid marriage and a successful career. Meeting him was a pleasurable and intellectually enriching experience. The one and a half hour interview that I had with him, gave me a chance to explore his formidable stature in the literary arena as well to understand the life of a person who's been straddling two frequently conflicted worlds.
Having gone through a crucible of various experiences in his life, Warren Adler has retained his inner core of personal values as well as an imaginative mind and an aspiring spirit. Early on in his life he unsuccessfully tried getting published but was only recognized at the age of 41. Aside from writing, he has established himself as a talented entrepreneur and had at one point owned radio stations and ran an advertising agency. With his imaginative flair and captivating personality he has engaged the hearts and minds of readers and viewers all over the world.
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What's been propelling you to write throughout your career?
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Self-confidence, if you don't have that, get out of this business. Just because people reject you, it doesn't mean you are not good, it means they are not good.
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Who inspired you the most in your life and why?
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It would have to be my professor in freshman year college, he made us write compositions, he was the first person that really recognized that I was a good writer.
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What do you like to do outside of writing?
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. . . Reading! I didn't have much time for other hobbies, I don't think you can be a creative writer unless your life is sucked up by your writing. You don't think about writing only when you sit down at your computer or type writer, it's in your head all the time, the characters always move you in different direction so you must follow at all times.
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You have been married for 50 years, what is your advice for long-lasting marriage?
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You want advice on how to stay married for 50 years? Well, it's all about respect. If you respect the other person and compromise. I think you have to compromise what's inside you and what's inside your spouse. You have to be 100% supportive of one another.
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Do you ever doubt yourself?
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Never!
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What gives you the strength?
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Oh how do I answer this question . . . You have to believe in yourself, you have to know that what you are doing is important to you and valuable, that you are doing it for yourself and no one else. When you are young, you need other people's validation to feel secure, but when you learn that other people's opinions are indefinite, you can only trust your own. If you pay attention to the rejections, you won't survive this industry. The ecstacy of your writing must be the writing. One thing you have to know is that creative writing courses will teach you the craft not the talent. If you don't put your soul into it, then get out now, or it will kill you. I have twenty-five novels that have been translated into 30 different languages and I still have 15 that haven't yet been published. If you don't try, you will always be frustrated.
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Who are your favorite writers?
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I am a traditional reader. I like Ernest Hemingway, and a French writer, Simenon. I believe in not overwriting. Reading should be accessible to the reader.
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When you give a book to a publisher what do they look at the most? What do they judge it by?
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They look at the creativity, the passion in your writing, who cares about the grammar, I mean James Joyce didn't even put commas in his writing and we know him to be one of the best writers of our time. If you write a book, and it's a page turner, that is all you need, to have one on one relationship with the reader.
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Would you read your books for pleasure?
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I don't know how to answer that, I mean I guess I would read them for insight, understanding and pleasure. It's an interesting question, I don't usually want to read my books after I have finished, I move right to the next one.
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Do you use actual people and events in your life as prototypes for your characters?
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It's a sky of amalgamation of the things I have seen and experienced.
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Do you believe in G-d?
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No. I don't believe in the god that is watching over everything. There is order in the universe and I don't know how it got created, but to believe in a god and exclude all kind of rational thinking is wrong. People that knocked down the World Trade Center believed in their god, Allah, and this is what they believed. What kind of god is that?
In terms of the Jewish G-d, it may be a personality, but if you are constantly worshiping something and giving constant insight toward it, I don't believe that there is a one figure that looks in everybody's heart and has a place for you after you die. My rational mind cannot grasp this concept that I will be punished in some way for doing things that are not allowed by his law.
My parents and actually 10 generations of my family tree have been rabbis. I am simply very pro-Israel. Look what the nations throughout history did to us. We were always a small nation, and we created monotheism and the moral code. We have always been strong enough to fight and win and we will!
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Rebbi Laibl Wolf |
| Chassidic Rebbi, lawyer, psychologist, lecturer |
| By Jake Marmer |
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On all of the publicity photos, instead of the traditional black hat, you appear wearing a beret, which gives you an artistic, Bohemian look - what made you decide to project such an image?
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I used to wear a hat when I began touring in USA. But early on I found myself on a very small airplane which required me to go down the stairs to disembark. It was wet and windy and my hat found itself halfway up the tarmac. Visualize a Hassid running down the tarmac chased by two flight attendants yelling that it was prohibited to enter there, and you will understand why I wear more secure head gear ever since when travelling through the wilds of USA! |
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Nowadays, many artists are attracted to Jewish mysticism - even Madonna studied Kabbalah - what do you think about that?
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Artists are generally sensitive souls whose spirituality is more evident. Therefore in a world where quest for greater personal meaning and depth is accelerating, I would expect such people to be at the forefront of spiritual search. Personally I would have hoped that Madonna might have been assisted by those closer to her spiritual nature, the church from whose history her name springs from, rather than being drawn into a uniquely Jewish teaching. But then, I guess to some, business is business!
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What do you consider to be the contemporary Jewish Art?
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I have rather definitive views as to what constitutes Jewish art and literature. And it's not a 'dragnet' approach viz. whatever a Jew sees and interprets. Jewish art is the vision of the world that is imbedded in the sacred writings and holy literature, and through which the artist perceives reality. I would have thought that a challenging definition of contemporary Jewish art is a reflection of this world, its cosmology and cosmogony, its inhabitants, its landscape, its people, its forms, - through the lens of a mind and heart that is 3500 years old and steeped in its perspective and weltenschuung. I am well aware that this may not draw a chorus of approving voices. But you addressed the question to me, not to the chorus.
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Then, what kind of restrictions are imposed on an artist, who wants to remain true to creation of the Jewish Art?
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The same restrictions as are on any devoted and believing Jew: the guidelines of within our 'manual' - the Torah. An artist has no special dispensation to take liberties. Is the soul of a great artist any closer to the Divine source than that of a 'simple artisan'? Of course not. The limits of modesty of mind and heart, the kavvannah of sharing and empathy, the balance in the artist's life of devotion to family and friends as well as dedication to one's gifts - all these are restrictions/opportunities that the Jewish artist expresses through.
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What is inspiration? Where does it come from? Does Kabbalah talk about things of this nature?
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Kabbala and Hassidut most definitely speak about explain, and seek to inspire, inspiration. In my book, Practical Kabbalah (Random House-Three Rivers), I define inspiration as the way we go fishing in the pond of our subconsciousness. But rather than use that tired and boring fishing style, and always playing safe by fishing in the same area of our pond, inspiration can be trained to flow by learning how to change the fishing style and area of that pond. The technical name in Kabbalah is 'Chochma' - the primary of the energy flows known as Sefirot, and which launches the consciousness of thought through the interface of subconsciousness. It comes from the soul, where else? Certainly not the brain which is merely a piece of biological machinery that transforms the flow of soul into mind. Other transformations include emotion, and even more subtle expressions.
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But doesn't every thought come to us through Chochma? Does it mean that the kind of inspiration a poet experiences, is the same as the inspiration that a chef feels, when he/she invents a new dish?
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We are different souls operating through different bodies - no two the same. So there are two variables: soul and body. One artistic gifts from Above are to create a symphony of culinary tastes that excite the taste buds. Another artist creates a symphony of sounds that rivet the listener to the seat oblivious of any external stimuli. Yet another creates the symphony of gentleness and compassion each time composing another symphony of empathy and love. We all have our soul essence and the way we express it each time flows through our Chochma mechanism. And each artist can vary and improve the way he/she inspires and creates though his or her Chochma.
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During you lectures, you often stress the difference between "heart" and "mind". Which of these channels is used for creation of art - be it writing poetry, prose or painting?
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Both are involved. The artist disciplines him/herself so that the flow of Neshama (soul) becomes actualised through the interpretation and skills of the artist. To achieve this, the artist seeks a balance of both mind and heart, and a balance of the left and right sides of self (Hessed and Gevurah). And there must also be a balance between the right and left brain hemispheres (Chochma and Bina); - and such balance becomes expressed through the originality of interpretation and the dedicated energy of the feelings. The soul of the poet soars through the creativity of words. The soul of the violinist flows through to the fingers touching the strings. The soul of the painter flows through the clarity of the inner eye, coupled with the dexterity in use of brush, and onwards.
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Rumor has it, in your recent conversation with Dalai Lama, you asked him to tell "the Yidden to go home." How did he react to that?
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Ah, rumours are a dangerous thing! Why don't we simply say that we had a 'frank exchange of views'. Actually that diplomatic jargon is not correct as it suggests a somewhat disagreeable conversation and ours was very friendly and warm. I did mention, en passant, that the yiddishe neshomo is ultimately not of the Buddhist variety. And I do understand that the Dalai Lama later said in an interview recorded in the NY Times that he encourages all peoples to investigate their roots. At the time my proposition did bring a smile to his face. But who can accurately interpret the inscrutable smile of an eastern cleric?
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When learning, I often can't help thinking "this would be great for a poem", which could certainly be classified as learning "lo lishmo" - any advice?
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No at all. Learning and being inspired to express the learning in poetic style or interpretative mode can be a most valuable tool of study. In fact, my master, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, told me that if we learn with the consciousness that we will teach what we learn, the learning is 1000 times more effective. How you regurgitate the teaching is a matter of your inclination and gifts. But the very fact that you seek to re-teach it in some format is a wonderful mechanism of allowing the teaching to truly penetrate your being. You are well within the boundaries of Lishmo!
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Who's your favourite poet? Writer? Musician?
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Poet: Yehuda HaLevi, and dare I say it, Banjo Patterson (Australian folk poet of earlier times). Writer: G-d seems to have done a creditable job and is the world's best selling author of the work known as Torah. I also very much enjoy Shai Agnon's writngs. Musician: I would have liked to hear Moses' sister Miriam who apparently played a mean set of drums and tamborines, but I will have to stick with song writer Moshe Yess in Canada, but with an admission that I love Gershwin.
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Rabbi Laibl Wolf is a lawyer, psychologist, and Hassidic Rabbi from Australia who is probably the most travelled Jewish spiritual teacher and facilitator in the world. He has published a variety of books, including "Practical Kabbalah", printed by Random House in 1999. He can be contacted on spiritgrow@laiblwolf.com and his web site is http://www.laiblwolf.com
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Yitzhak Ben Yehuda is the author of the Mima'amakim 5762 cover, as well as a number of other wonderful contributions to this journal.
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How did you get to the Moshav and Reb Shlomo's
Hevra?
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 By mere chance, if there is such a thing: I had
just landed in Haifa, with the ferry from Greece for a
short stop-over in the Holy Land and didn't even know
that I was a Jew; I knew that my mother was Jewish, but
thought of myself as a Greek Orthodox Christian like my
father.
After wandering halfway around the globe, especially in
India, immersed in Yoga, meditation, Tibetan Buddhism,
etc..., it was an enormous surprise to me, who had been
told there to look in Israel for Moshav Modi'in and Reb
Shlomo's hippie tribe from San Francisco; when I met
him and he clarified my identity issue, my world
changed so suddenly, but in a sweet way, like a taste
of chilled watermelon at the end of a fast day.
He celebrated our Jewish marriage and after we met him
again at a concert in New Zealand we came back to
Israel which has been our home ever since; I planted my
vineyard and my fig tree and I am still here after 26
years, eating incredible organic figs and drinking wine
pressed with my own feet.
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By what in your opinion does Reb Shlomo stand out
in his approach to Jews who have missed out all their
life on their identity, sense of belonging, Jewish
pride, etc...?
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Now that Reb Shlomo æ"ì is no longer with us we
have found ourselves cast in the role of continuing his
life's work of bringing peace to Israel and the world,
by showing how bright is the light of the Shabbat
candles and of the Divine Providence that brought us
back to rebuild our Holy Homeland from the four corners
of the Earth.
This is the gist of the Jewish education he gave us,
given that we had not received one in our childhood and
had to start on one from scratch as adults; the main
difference I see is that you cannot take intelligent
grown-ups who have pushed all their life the envelope
of personal freedom and dump on them a huge shopping
list of "thou shalt not..." and "you don't need to know
why, but this is the only allowed way..." and in fact a
marriage, a divorce or even the purchase of a bottle of
wine, are only valid and leave you fulfilled when they
are undertaken by free and informed choice, not if this
freedom has been usurped with any means whatsoever by
others, especially if they claim to do so in G-d's name.
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In other words, he got the attention of those who
found it difficult to take seriously the more
conventional types of Rabbi?
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Exactly, Reb Shlomo taught us first of all to love
and respect each other, and that each one of us
possesses unique gifts which however are worth much
more when shared and integrated with those given to our
fellow travelers on this planet; that surrendering for
instance the freedom of eating a cheeseburger meant
receiving in return a keener appreciation of either
meat or cheese on their own, understanding how tried
and true is the old axiom: "You are what you eat".
I realize that this is a coarse oversimplification, but
what I mean is that in order to appreciate the
beneficial effect of resting on Shabbat instead of
attending a football game one has to experience the
former as only one who has experienced the latter can,
by knowing the alternative.
It is happening so frequently nowadays that the world
has shrunk because of fast planes and faster Internet,
that life is tethered to cellular phones (I refuse to
carry one, I like to get to where I choose to go
without being yanked out of my path by anybody else's
convenience) and we have traded the taste for inner
peace with the loosest kind of verbal masturbation,
like in some of those TV late night action movies
wherein every fourth word is the F word.
A true Jewish lifestyle is the panacea for this kind of
pressure, leaving the worldly burdens for a day a week
to dedicate it to family unity and harmony, singing
around the table for festive meals, blessing and
educating the children, who in families estranged from
their Jewish roots just go roam the streets or the
discos, each with their age/peer groups as their family
crumbles away.
One additional perk here is growing and eating our own
organic produce, having lots of Shabbat guests, no
family needs to go without that, and doing reserve duty
in our own Army, where being called a dirty Jew only
means that it's time to take a shower after a long
march in the same desert our ancestors marched in.
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Do you sometime feel that you had already been
here in a previous lifetime?
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Absolutely, the biblical scenes that I paint
depict my live view of those times, they are my way of
sharing this kind of light with those who haven't made
it here yet, to help them miss it so much that they get
the urge to pack and buy their ticket to this higher
dimension, higher definition life, this exquisite
sensation of having come home at last.
The patriarchs and matrons of the Torah are alive here
and now, and you can get a whiff of the Garden of
Eden's air at the Cave of Machpelah, then you can't
fool yourself anymore, the sense of smell is intensely
connected to our most intimate emotions, and
contributes an uncanny experience of our sense of
being - here and now.
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What is the focal point of your life these days?
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I paint most of the time, but I always give myself
enough space to go to the beach, jog or bicycle in the
forest; also, I have just celebrated the weddings of
three of my kids within five weeks and I am now praying
to be blessed with the joy of being a grandfather.
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Do you miss anything from your former lifestyle?
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Not a thing, I travel often enough to Europe and
the USA to do shows and meet my private clients, and
the more I see these societies the more my heart picks
up its beat at the happy thought that I have a return
ticket in my Israeli passport; the lower accessibility
of material goods in Israel is more than offset by the
spiritual and intellectual harvest I am blessed with by
living on the Moshav.
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Yitzhak, where would you be if you had not met
Reb Shlomo?
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Who knows, who cares? I am so grateful
to HaSh-m for having let it happen, that I don't even
want to imagine who, what or where I would be instead,
but I guess I'd still be painting.
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Stephen Hazan Arnoff
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Director of Makor Artists Network
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| By Leah Fortgang |
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The Makor Artists Network is a new program at Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92nd
Street Y. Makor is a place where people of different backgrounds join in various events and workshops devoted to art and culture. The Artists Network is meant to build the artists' community, and let the artistic freedom express itself to its fullest. The director and creator of Artists Network is Stephen Hazan Arnoff, who will be leading workshops in multiple art programs. Published writers, screenwriters, directors, musicians, filmmakers, and other artists will be invited to speak about their art careers. In a conversation with Mr. Arnoff, I had an opportunity to find out more about the reasons and ideas behind the Artists Network.
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Do you think that artists need this type of network and a place like Makor to express themselves freely in their art? Do you feel that by opening this venue for the artists you will be able to give them inspiration while facilitating their networking?
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I think that art always thrives better in a community setting. Artists need other artists for critique and for collaboration. So, we will be providing different skills for artists in order for them to become better craftsmen in their art. We will be providing new content for them so which could be their inspiration or the raw material that will help them put together work that will be able to be exhibited. We also provide the social matrix of it, not just by the fact that Makor is a beautiful place but also by bringing them closer to their talented peers.
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What about those who are not professional artists, who do not have training in arts, but have always been interested in the artistic arena and are curious about discovering their artistic potential?
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We are making it very clear that this network is not providing simple drawing classes or acting classes, this can be done at the 92nd Street Y. We are more focusing on people who are proficient in their artwork. We want to meet each artist at where they are in their skills, someone who can speak the language of art, not as a beginner but someone who can set up their craft and grow with our help. We don't have levels for people to meet them at a specific stage, but we do however, work with everyone individually and the people who will be joining the workshops will be able to work together as well. The next stage in the program we will introduce residency program that will have selected residents who want to pursue art even further.
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Who are the artists that will be coming in to lecture the students in the workshops?
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I will be the facilitator of all the workshops, but we also have master teachers and artists who will come and have discussions with the students. For example, a master class is a class where a master violinist will come and join a group of five or more students who are also violinists and will have a discussion with them about his/her own work and his/her own career as a violinist. The master teacher will also be providing the students with his/her critique and his/her own responses to their work and the work of others.
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Is this network designed only for Jewish artists or is it for everyone? How do you plan to reconcile the diversity of the Jewish artists or artists from all over with the diversity of their art? Do you think it can become complicated gathering many views on art and the work of the artists together?
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There is no religious agenda for this project; it is a cultural agenda. This project is to enrich the artist's lives and their work. There is no expectation on how the artists will come in and how they will come out religiously. This specifically Jewish cultural initiative is to invite people of different
backgrounds into one community. Which means that people who are part of the Jewish community want to bring their traditional ways with them are more than welcome. And if there are those that are not Jewish and want to come in knowing that much of the content is Jewish content, then they are more than welcome as well.
Also, one of the pieces that I added to this program was using the techniques of traditional Jewish study patterns and study sects to engage artistic material and artistic process. Midrash was the art of Rabbinical/Jewish interpretation and reading is a tool that can be used by artists without the religious agenda that is attached to it. I think we can use the Midrash as a way to delve into the material, challenging and asking questions about the material and then generating new material from that process. One of the things I will be doing in the sessions is looking at how the Midrash has functioned traditionally as a source of textual engagement with images and ideas in the spectrum of the arts. So that in the end we can say, how can I use the Midrash to look at a painting or a film? We want to use the traditional way of understanding art while giving it a contemporary voice. People that are interested in that no matter what denomination they are or how they identify themselves religiously will be able to improve their skills without concentrating on their religious background.
Presently in the Makor gallery are presented three artists whose work blends the common themes of Chanukah in different artistic media. One is a photographer, one is an artist, and another is a writer, but they all express in different ways their individual visions of the meaning of this Jewish holiday. This is an example of the kind of interaction between artists that will be the model employed at the Artists Network workshops.
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For more information on the Artists Network please visit the Makor website at: www.makor.org or emailStephen Hazan Arnoff, or call: 212-601-1000.
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Abraham, Mahler,
and being a Jewish writer in a post-Zeppo world
Full Interview with Joseph Skibell
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By Mordechai Shinefield
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Publisher's Blurb for A Blessing on the Moon: When Chaim Skibelski is killed along with the other Jewish citizens of a small Polish town, his story is just beginning. Now a ghost, Chaim wanders the countryside, often accompanied by his rabbi, who has turned into a crow. He visits his home, now occupied by a Polish family whose dying daughter is the only one who can see him. He meets a talkative head that belongs to the soldier who may have shot him. He visits a grand hotel that caters to the dead with mysterious comforts--and helps two eccentric holy men search for the fallen moon. This afterlife is a remarkable journey, a long way from a peaceful eternity.
Publisher's Blurb for The English Disease: The English Disease (aka melancholia) is the story of Belski, an expert on Gustav Mahler and, like Mahler himself, a talented, neurotic, and non-practicing Jew. Belski suffers guilt over his contribution to the decline of the Jewish religion, especially since he married a gentile and now has a gentile daughter. We follow Belski from the deserts of the American Southwest, where he contemplates divorce, to the abandoned Jewish quarters of Poland, where an obstreperous colleague pegs him as a self-hating Jew, and back to his California home, where his great-grandfather scolds him in a dream.
Mima'amakim: You wrote The English Disease after a period of writer's block. What led to the block, and how did you arrive at Belski from it?
Skibell: What led to the writer's block, if that's what it was -- it was never medically diagnosed -- was just this sense of having reached a new plateau in my work with A Blessing on the Moon. The way I described it to a friend was: it's as though you had a mirror of your ideal self, of who you want to be, and as you progress in your work, you move closer and closer to that mirror, closer to the ideal image, until, finally, you're standing right in front of the mirror, and the image and you are pretty much identical, and then -- you take one step forward, through the mirror, and you're suddenly on the other side with nothing in front of you ... no desired image of yourself to steer towards as a north star. And that's a very debilitating position to be in. It was a pleasant challenge to assimilate the success of the first book, but part of that assimilation was thinking, "How am I ever going to do something comparable again?" You know? As for Belski, before A Blessing on the Moon, I'd often written about characters like him: alienated, isolated, neurotic Jewish men. I felt that with The English Disease, I could give him his own book as a way of saying goodbye to him. Kind of like a thank you for 15 years of good service to the company and then happily retire him.
Mima'amakim: You have said that the character of Belski represents an earlier form of thinking about God and the Holocaust, how has that changed?
Skibell: The character of Chaim Skibelski in A Blessing on the Moon was a kind of quantum leap for me from these more Belski-like characters. Unlike the neurotic, alienated Belskis, he was, on the contrary, openhearted, right-thinking, big-souled. It was actually very spiritually uplifting for me to spend nearly two years in his company, so to speak. Belski, on the other hand, speaks out of the narrow places of the psyche. He's un-centered and troubled, frankly, and I feel that, at least in my own personal case, the question of a depthful spiritual sense was kind of subverted by the effects of the Holocaust on family and tribe, you know?
Mima'amakim: Belski joins a number of famous literary characters in his thinking. You mention Woody Allen in your book and his persona is one of those neurotic Jews. Do you feel that Jewish literature has been affected by the Holocaust much as you say that Belski was himself?
Skibell: But this is something nobody picked up on, at least in terms of reviewers: in the Poland episode with Liebowitz, Belski throws up at the sight of Woody Allen. To me, the sort of neurotic, self-loathing, weak, guilty, nervous, intellectual image of the Jew, which Woody Allen embodies if not better than anybody else, then certainly more famously, is in the end sickening. It's part of "the English disease," the Jewish disease, and for Belski, when he finally looks that inherited imago in the face and sees his own face in it, the symptoms are overwhelming nausea.
Mima'amakim: So why do you think that this inherited image is so often replayed in post-Holocaust Jewish literature? Can your character in Blessing on the Moon only exist in a different era?
Skibell: That's the entire theme of The English Disease, isn't it? My sense is that not only are we dealing with a huge amount of unexpressed grief -- perhaps inexpressible grief, still, so many years after the Holocaust, but we're also dealing with a lot of anger directed towards the realm of the divine -- a certain sense of grand betrayal and mistrust -- and there's a lot of survivor's guilt, manifesting as embarrassment. The sense of embarrassment over being alive and being Jewish in the second half of the 20th century, I think, is enormous. On the one hand, say what you will, Hitler gave a great deal of importance to the Jews. It's hard to live up to that sense of cosmic importance. So it's best to do a little funny Kafkaesque dance of existential inoffensiveness instead: Woody Allen.
Skibell: As far as the characters in A Blessing on the Moon only being able to exist in a different era -- you'd have to be more specific about what you see as no longer being plausible.
Mima'amakim: Well, you mentioned the characters being open-hearted, yet that character isn't found in abundance in current literature. More often the Jew is portrayed as being cynical and self-loathing. What happened to the Jews with the big hearts?
Skibell: I was thinking about this tonight because of Parshas Vayera and the binding of Isaac. Abraham's being willing to sacrifice Isaac is really, when you think about it from one of 1000 possible points of view, similar to those Buddhist monks who build these intricate sand paintings and then immediately destroy them. Being willing to sacrifice Isaac meant that Abraham put living in harmony with the divine imperative above preserving "the Jewish people" or "the Jewish religion." Of all the possible Jewish responses to the Holocaust, I think you'd be hard pressed to find one that suggests that preserving the people and preserving the religion so fiercely is actually contrary to the theology. But on some deep level, it is. (Even now, typing this, I shudder thinking, "What could the Holocaust deniers, et al, make of this!" which is part of this un-Abrahamic sense of panicked attachment.) There are of course Jews with big hearts still, but I think the Holocaust has deformed the Jewish character to a large extent. That's what interested me in this book, even to the extent that at one point in the book it's suggested that converts will renew Judaism because they don't have the same historical baggage as the rest of us -- Jews not by choice. I'm sure it's not just a Jewish problem and it's not just a post-Holocaust problem. In all walks of life, in all eras, I imagine people avoided contact with the holy. I mean, that's why, in the midrash, when the Yetzer HaRa jumps out and frightens the men of the great assembly, it comes out of the Holy Ark. You have to remember, as well, that the temple was a way to simultaneously concretize the relationship with the Holy One and to avoid it altogether.
Mima'amakim: Is it possible to say that the drive and desire to survive and propagate can mask the connection to holiness, such that one can be overwhelmed by "surviving" and get stuck in that way of thinking?
Skibell: Well, I'd be the first person to vote for survival and propagation over dying for your ideals, especially collective communal ideas! But, from a higher point of view -- always suspicious to a fiction writer (we tend to dwell in the lowly) -- it's true that wanting to survive at all costs, wanting to protect yourselves at all costs, when part of the spiritual hardware is non-attachment and open-ended trust in the divine flux, is distorting.
Mima'amakim: In The English Disease you use the Marx brothers to describe the progression of assimilation. In regard to your current relationship to Judaism and God, which of the Marx brothers are you?
Skibell: Gummo
Mima'amakim: Gummo?
Skibell: Gummo was the fifth brother. He never actually joined the act.
Mima'amakim: So would Gummo be the writer documenting the others from the outside looking in?
Skibell: Not actually. I mean, not in reality, not in Marx Brothers history.
Mima'amakim: So how are you Gummo?
Skibell: Well, look, as far as the Marx Brothers go as an evolutionary chain of assimilation, they only really cover up to where we are now. According to Liebowitz's scheme in the book, in our European wanderings, we started out as Harpo and now, more or less, whether we want to admit it or not, there's a lot of Zeppo in each of us. So let's say Gummo is where you go after you go through Zeppo. But since no one knows what Gummo looked like or what his character is, that's where I am. I'm definitely post-Zeppo, but what that means is unclear. Hence, Je suis Gummo.
Mima'amakim: So what do you feel your job is as a Jewish writer in a post-Zeppo world?
Skibell: Well, that's a very interesting question. As far as being a Jewish writer, it's hard to say what that means exactly. I'm definitely a Jewish person and a writer. I live a Jewish life. But as a writer, I feel that part of signing up for the job is that you never know where it's going to lead you. It's like being in the muse's army: she can post you anywhere. On top of that, I don't like repeating myself and I also enjoy examining themes and questions from many different sides. So I could imagine writing about Jewish people and Jewish life from all points of view or not writing about it at all. On the other hand, I do feel that literature is meant to be curative, in some sense, it's supposed to reawaken us to our higher selves and I do feel that that's part of being a Jewish writer of fictions. On the other hand, in the Abrahamic tradition of the akaida, it's best not to get too attached to five-year plans and self-definitions and ideological schemas.
Mima'amakim: In The English Disease, Belski's questions about himself and his faith culminate in a greater acceptance of Judaism, is that where you see the assimilated Jew turning to?
Skibell: In real life: no. And I'm not sure that's where Belski ends up. The last line of the book is pretty ambivalent, as far as that goes. But I think the assimilated Jew has a hard time -- and remember, even the most frum hasid is walking around wearing Polish clothing! I mean, we're all assimilated to some degree -- but I think the modern Jew lives inside a real dilemma. Most modern people really don't care about religion and their disinterest in it is not without just cause. (I'm sure I don't have to go into detail here.) But as Isabelle says in the book, once the fundamentalists have staked their claim to the only authentic access to the Holy, what are the rest of us supposed to do with our longing for God? The real dilemma is: now at the end of history, at the end of nationalism, at the end of tribalism, at the end even of individualism, what does one do with the need for a nation, a tribe, a people, and a creed? Belski's dilemma is that he can't live with these things and he can't live without them.
Mima'amakim: When I read Isabelle's declaration about her longing for God, I wondered, is the return to a traditional, Orthodox Judaism the only way to satisfy that hunger? Or is Isabelle's journey a unique way to resolve her dilemma?
Skibell: Well, don't forget, Isabelle is married not only by the ultra-Orthodox rabbi but also by the alternative Jewish renewal-type rabbi as well. And while the ultra-Orthodox rabbi forbids her to learn kabbalah, she continues to study it with the renewal rabbi. As far as our historical moment goes, I'd say that it's the fundamentalists on all sides who are setting the agenda. We live in extremely dulling times and so the more moderate paths are simply boring; we're all too spiritually asleep to be awakened by the golden mean. The compromise religions that were the mainstream of 20th century American life don't feel authentic anymore. Once their sense of moderation made them attractive, now it makes them seem compromised and inauthentic. If your priest tells you - you can't have an abortion, or you can't use contraception, then he must really be authentic! On the other hand, if your bishop is gay, then that's gotta be the real true word of Christ, right, because Jesus said to honor the least of us, etc., etc. The moderate streams of all religions are just ... well, not extreme enough for these extreme times.
Mima'amakim: Perhaps there is joy, as you suggest in The English Disease, that comes with the ceremony as well. In fact, throughout the book, Belski is confronted with some very joyous Jewish music. Yid Vicious, The Klezmatics, and even Chassidic Niggunim. Music in traditional Judaism is sometimes very uplifting. How does this relate to Belski being a musicologist?
Skibell: Well, don't forget that Belski's specialty is Mahler. As far as the book is concerned, Mahler is sort of the embodiment of neuroticism and alienation in music. But it's interesting that you see these more naive and simple forms of music rescuing Belski from the kind of chaos that the more formal music of Mahler represents, and I'd have to agree with you, to some degree. (Everything in this book is ambivalent.) You know you only have to think of that scene where Teddy Olinger sings "One Tin Soldier" or Isabelle's guilt over singing "Goodnight Irene" with its dark lyrics to her daughter as a bedtime tune, to see the ambivalence even in the popular music. But that's why I begin the book not only with the statement of alienation from one of Mahler's letters, but also the beautiful lyric from Leonard Cohen, from a pop song, which I think expresses the sense of recovery and reconciliation that I hope comes through in the book: "Every heart to love will come/but like a refugee."
Mima'amakim: You have said that you wanted to be a rock musician growing up, what music inspires you?
Skibell: Now? Or when I was a kid?
Mima'amakim: Now
Skibell: Oh. Well, I listen to a lot of stuff actually. Recently, but not too recently, I was listening to "69 Love Songs" by Stephen Merritt and the Magnetic Fields. Merritt gave himself the task of writing 69 love songs and he goes all over the map and some of them are really incredible, especially from a lyrical point of view. I've been listening to Elvis Costello's "Blood and Chocolate," from the 80s, I guess, and for some reason, I can't listen to it enough. What else? Bruce Cockburn's most recent CDs have some really wonderful songs on them, particularly "Charity of Night.". I still listen to Mahler a lot, actually. I love the Kronos Quartet's "Pieces of Africa." I've been listening to Chava Alberstein. Yiddish songs are very important to me. I don't know why, but I'm finding myself really drawn to Joni Mitchell's albums from the mid-70s: "For the Roses" and "Court and Spark." I really love the art of the song, you know.
Skibell: Elvis Costello's "I want You" is always thrilling to hear -- from the Blood and Chocolate album.
Mima'amakim: Do you play music as well?
Skibell: As a kid, I played guitar and piano, and actually wrote songs myself. But now I play very rarely. I have a friend who is part of the Austin Lounge Lizards, a satirical bluegrass band, and whenever we get together, he makes me play and I always have a really good time, but alone, at home, it's hard to pick up a guitar.
Mima'amakim: Who are some of your literary influences?
Skibell: They're all over the map. At a certain time in my life, Kafka was very, very important to me. At another point, Edward Albee and Sam Shepard, Samuel Beckett. (Actually, these guys don't seem too much all over the map, do they? As far as the map is concerned, they're basically from the same country.) So who else? Casanova's Memoirs was an important book for me, as was Italo Svevo's Zeno's Confessions, and Goncharov's Oblomov. Right now, I'm reading Edward Whittemore's Jerusalem Quartet. Whittemore is known as the best completely unknown American writer and it's probably true. The books are great. Working personally with J.M. Coetzee and Peter Carey was fairly formative. Who else? Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian novelist. I felt I learned about how to write about Jews by reading his African novels. The midrash, 1001 Arabian Night, big long story cycles like that, the Ma'asah Buch.
Mima'amakim: The Midrash and other "sacred texts" can be seen as both religious books, but also as literary books. Do you see yourself at all as a continuation of the historical books that the Jewish religion has produced?
Skibell: My books are probably somewhere between the condensed Yiddish version of the Bible they printed up for women and Solomon Almoli's "Interpretation of Dreams."
Mima'amakim: In what way?
Skibell: They're of very little significance… But hopefully popular! (I'm joking, of course. It might not come through in cold type.)
Mima'amakim: I understand.
Skibell: Whew!
Mima'amakim: There is significance to any literature that helps reflect a period of history, and the way people are living. In a way, I am asking if you see your writing, I suppose more specifically A Blessing on the Moon as having a spiritual connotation in addition to its literary implication.
Skibell: I try very hard not to separate the poetic, the spiritual, the erotic and the psychological. They're all different ways that parts of ourselves -- the body, the soul, the spirit, the mind -- are awakened and aroused. Why separate them?
Mima'amakim: And that lack of separation is something people strongly responded to in A Blessing on the Moon. One reviewer compared it to Chagall. Are you going to be returned to that very poetic style in later books?
Skibell: It's hard to say. Part of what was frustrating about writing The English Disease and which may or may not be frustrating about reading it, is that I was intentionally, purposefully dealing with broken forms. The narrative is in pieces, like a song cycle, and it constantly disturbs that kind of lucid dreaming you get in a novel with a more graceful plot line. Personally, I like working with stories and story archetypes, but in this book, because of its subject matter and themes, I had to work with pieces that had sharper edges. The problem with going back to an older form is that one might easily start imitating oneself, but the novel I'm working on now kind of combines the two styles.
Mima'amakim: Can you say anything about the novel you are currently working on?
Skibell: It involves Vienna around 1895.
Mima'amakim: Do you feel pegged as a Jewish writer by critics?
Skibell: Well, I did with this second book. I didn't know how to deal with these themes and questions except honestly from an insider's point of view and I worried that it made the book unpalatable to reviewers. I don't feel pegged necessarily, but I do feel that there's an unofficial code of conduct that reviewers expect -- they expect a writer to be liberal, spiritually skeptical, nonpartisan, and ecumenical -- and I imagine this book was too contrary.
Mima'amakim: I think that is some of the appeal of your writing. A lot of readers are looking for a writer to discuss Judaism from a more spiritual point of view. Sometimes going the other way seems like reverse-propaganda
Skibell: See, I thought that the real contribution The English Disease makes to American Jewish literature is that the characters actually move closer to the tradition. The shisksa actually converts! When does that happen in American Jewish literature (and of course, when did it ever happen in American Jewish history, but it's happening now in America, so it's got to happen in the books as well) but the American zeitgeist is still living in the 70s.
Mima'amakim: And still despairing about the assimilated Jew, while you take it the other way and say that the assimilated Jew is bringing the gentiles to Judaism, not the other way around.
Skibell: Listen, I once had a friend over for dinner. He was my college roommate, a Jewish guy, who had married a fundamentalist Baptist. We ended up discussing religion, and his wife ended up somehow saying that she felt authentically Jewish as a Christian, that Jesus was the last Temple sacrifice, etc. etc., and I thought to myself, "Surely this is the 'end of days,' which is supposed to resemble Purim: the Jew says he's a Christian, the Christian says she's a Jew." My friend's mother who was totally unhappy that her son had married a non-Jew eventually converted to Christianity herself because after her mother died, the cantor at her Conservative synagogue wouldn't tell her that there was an afterlife. I mean, this is what is going on in this country right now! How can you ever get it all into fiction? It's all crazy and Charles and Isabelle's story is a true story: many of my Jewish friends have married non-Jewish women who have converted and brought the whole family into deeper, authentic yiddishkeit. So nu?
Mima'amakim: Unless there is anything I missed, I am out of questions for the moment. The interview has been a pleasure.
Skibell: Great. I enjoyed this
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Interview with Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder,
Producer of Aish Kodesh New Music Sampler
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By Steve Goldberg
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Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder is the rabbi of Kehillat Aish Kodesh in Boulder Colorado. He plays and appreciates music - good music. One of his goal as a rabbi is to bring a sense of living Judaism, gleaned from Bat Ayin, to America. He supplied three songs for the album.
Q: Rabbi, what drove you to put together this album?
A: A basic nausea with Jewish art of the last couple of millennia. As a good friend of mine said, people think if it doesn’t have violins and Shabbas candles it’s not Jewish. If the Jews are the chosen people, if the Torah is God’s book and if Jewish practice brings one closer to God, then Jewish art should reflect that. Jewish art should be intense, existential, beautiful, and should reflect the state of the world - which is, to be honest, in shambles. Jews who are “out” Jews should be writing for major magazines, making movies, writing books, making music, social action, everything. Jews should be sensitive to the world, and reflect its current state.
Q: Why music? Why didn’t you put together an art show, or a festival of modern Jewish cinematographers?
A: Well, a few answers. I am calling for all out revolution, and I want Jews to lead it. And every good revolution has a soundtrack - Bob Marley was leading his people with music. Bob Dylan was leading his people with music. King David, while he was running away from Shaul and leading his own revolution, was writing Psalms and having big jam sessions. Music often carries the new message, the new freedom, and the new dance to the world. Dance is an area where Judaism needs a big kick in the pants - Jewish dancing is either the white man shuffle - people holding hands moping around a bimah or a bride and groom - or the traditional and certainly-more-soulful-but-not-quite-there, horah. Why don’t Jews boogie? Why is dancing seen more as a formal duty than an opportunity to express one’s self? Part of it is beautiful - Jews love to dance together. But there is a part missing. Where I went to yeshiva, in Bat Ayin (Gush Etzion, Israel), I played for one of the wedding bands on the scene, and the first half of the dancing at a wedding was the group stuff, and very intense at that. The second half would always be “freak-out time” - Grateful Dead covers, longer jams, something funky and improvised and spontaneous, and people would have their eyes closed and they’d be shaking and moving and grooving. Good stuff.
Q: This album doesn’t exactly sound like a call to revolution. A lot of it is still traditional Jewish song material - verses and quotes, Asher barah, etc.
A: Yeah, I think it’s a slow process. If I may be so bold, the first step is to get people off the idea that Jewish music needs to sound a certain way. There may be traditional themes here, but no one has ever heard a “Shir Ha’malot” like the one Aharon Razel put together. The harmonies on Asher Bara remind us of the good 70’s soul. That hasn’t been heard in Jewish music for some time. The guitar on “Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe” is intense - it reminds you of Mahavishnu Orchestra and it’s Jewish. People need to hear that it’s OK to express these feelings Jewishly. People need to hear that when we talk about soul in the Jewish sense - Neshama - and when we talk about soul in the sense of Funkadelic and Sly, it’s the same soul - or at least it should be.
Q: How does this connect with you being a rabbi in Boulder, Colorado?
A: I’m bringing the same message to my sermons as I am to this album. Remember to be human; remember to fully experience all of your emotions; remember that Jewish experience and practice can be fun. You can laugh in the middle of Shmoneh Esrei. Shabbat Zmirot should make you want to sing them - look around, find good melodies, sing nice harmonies, drum on the table, get up and dance, dance on the table, and find a way to connect everything you are feeling to the Judaism you are practicing. The reason that Judaism doesn’t attract young people is that people are being told subliminally, through art, music, and literature that they can’t fit everything they got into the prayers, the Passover Seder, or Purim. Judaism has become an inherent compromise. It’s something you do for Bubbie and Zadie, not something you do for yourself. It is almost never cathartic, at least in orthodoxy. You know what? Go to Israel and on a Friday night go to Meah Shearim, and ask where Carlin is, and go there, and see if you can put everything you got into Judaism. Granted, they got a different scene than we do, and different stuff to express, but they’re doing primal screaming Kabbalas Shabbas every week. Every day they daven like that. In America it’s like “L’cha dodi likrat kallah” some old stupid melody that you’ve been singing since you were six. I’m Orthodox, mind you. I know some of this is happening in Renewal, and good for them. But I insist it can happen in Orthodoxy as well.
Q: So is there anyone you like on the modern music scene who is Jewish?
A: I really dig John Zorn, especially with Masada. He’s doing it with Klezmer, taking Klezmer through to the other side. I hear a few bands doing it with Klezmer - Hassidic New Wave, and the like. The whole Tzaddik Records/ex-Knitting Factory/Tonic scene is exciting, and if I was in NYC, I’d be there digging it. And what I love about John Zorn is he’s out, he’s wearing tzitzit on stage, and he’s saying “This is who I am now, and this is where I come from, and they fit together.” Good stuff.
Off the Jewish question, I dig what Robert Randolph is doing. He’s all soul, such intense musicianship, and that same excitement - “This is who I am, and I am rooted in G-d and spirituality, and there’s no break between the two.”
Q: Let’s get back to the album. I read in the liner notes that there is a women’s album project on the horizon.
A: Yeah, we’re hoping that works out. There are some really good female performers in Israel, and a totally different kind of music. I think women are better songwriters than men, more willing to take risks and jumps, like Joni Mitchell. But, as I mentioned in the liner notes, most religious women don’t want their music listened to by men. And I respect that.
Q: Any other projects on the horizon?
A: Actually, I am really hoping to put together a compilation of Jewish Reggae that is happening. There are a bunch of bands in the states, and a bunch in Israel. But I’m gonna need a lot of help with that.
Q: Anything else you want to tell people?
A: Pray hard for the evolution of the Jewish people. We got to keep on movin’. Support people and organizations that are trying to push Judaism to be all that it should and can be.
Check Out the Music…………
Hashem Yoshev (Bat Ayin Band)
Shir ha'Ma'alot (Aharon Reizel)
Hakol Letovaj (Neshima)
Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe (5 Level of Soul)
For information on the album contact heyrabbi@comcast.net or visit www.boulderaishkodesh.org.
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