The craziness of the past two weeks–rushing to find a new place, jumping into school, mountain-climbing on a regular basis- caught up with me around noon today, and I hit a major wall. I could barely keep my eyes open, which was a little awkward since I was sitting in the front row of a lecture. I quietly excused myself from class and headed home for a good, long nap. Good thing, too, since tonight was date night. Shuie and I left Yonah with Uncle Shloimie and Uncle Nechemia and headed out to Ben Yehudah Street for dinner. Ben Yehudah is a tourist hotspot with lots of cute, overpriced stores and restaurants, and is a great place for people-watching. You can see everyone from a Black-Hat Chassid selling amulets to a twentysomething girl shaking her patoot to a Shakira song. While we were eating at Cafe Rimon (Hebrew for Pomegranate–fitting, no?), a modestly-dressed woman set up a karaoke stand in the middle of the square and gave a full concert of American top-40 hits (Beyonce like you’ve never heard her before…).During our date, we ran into our friends Leah and Gershon, two VERY newlyweds (only a week!) who just arrived from the States and are setting up their new home in Bat Ayin, the town Shuie and I were planning on living in before we ended up in Jerusalem. Leah and Gershon seemed very happy and also very tired, which I completely understand. I remember that crazy whirlwind feeling of the week after Shuie and I got married, a time out of life when we were running to Sheva Brachos every night, trying to figure out our next step, and then later, getting our new place set up. Eventually the dust did settle (Or did it?), and life carried us forward. I hope Leah and Gershon’s transition is an easy one, and that they have much mazal (luck), simcha (joy) and hatzlacha (success) in their new life together.So Jerusalem is officially chilly. I didn’t think it would happen so quickly after we arrived, but I was definitely in need of a sweater tonight. The days are still hot, however, and hopefully will stay that way at least through Sukkot. It is not fun sleeping outside when you’re freezing. Which reminds me, the high holidays, or the Yamim Nora’im are approaching quickly. It’s amazing how quickly this year has come and gone, and how much has happened in twelve short months: having a baby, moving to Cape Cod, losing my mother, coming to Israel. I can’t help but think of the prayer we say during the High Holidays, Unetaneh Tokef: “On Rosh Hashana it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed…How many will leave this world, and how many will be born into it? Who Will Live and Who will Die…?”. We all ask these questions, and only the passage of time answers them. In one year, in one second, really, a whole life can change. The Yamim Nora’im are a loaded time, a time of introspection and an opportunity for change. I hope that celebrating them here in Israel will be a meaningful experience that helps me connect to Gd and to the person I am striving to become.

For some reason, I was under the impression that Israel was some kind of third world country where the cost of living was laughably low. I was enchanted by the thought of heading to the shuk (outdoor market) and trading bits of string or an old Debbie Gibson tape for my weekly groceries. Not so much. Rent prices are the same you’d find in any major American city, and food? Forget it. A 10-ounce block of tofu set me back almost four bucks. When I told the lady at the store that it was much less expensive in America, she shrugged at me and said, “That’s the price”. Guess she wasn’t a big Debbie Gibson fan.My school is hosting a shabbaton this weekend for all of the students in Har Nof, a nearby section of the city, but Shuie and I have opted to spend this Shabbos at home. Though I’d like to get to know some of the other young marrieds I’m learning with, we still need some time to catch our breath after all the moving around we’ve been doing. Thankfully, we have an invitation for dinner Friday night at our new friends’, the Katz’s, so I won’t have to do as much cooking as usual.Speaking of new friends, I have been searching the streets of Ramat Eshkol for potential posse-mates. The Mercaz Meschari (commercial center) is always filled with young mamas pushing strollers, so I’ve been taking The Bug out in the afternoons to check out the scenery. People here (mostly Anglos, by the way) are friendly enough, but many of the women are settled into their lives and may not feel the need to reach out to a stranger. I don’t take it personally, but the afternoons can sometimes stretch long with just Yonah to talk to. This afternoon in particular was a toughie; I was ready to climb the walls (which I was probably going to have to do anyway to get Buggy down from there). Then I remembered an ad that Shuie showed me last night in the local paper: a new playgroup starting in the neighborhood for 1-2 year olds. I dialed the number on the ad and spoked to a woman named Rachel, a lovely American from San Diego with a 15-month old son. While she wants her son to interact with other babies, Rachel confided to me that she had ulterior motives in forming the group. “I looked around and realized that yeah, I’ve been here for two and a half years, but I don’t really have any friends,” she told me. I practically shot my hand up into the air and said, “Oooh, oooh, oooh! I’ll do it!”. So, on Monday afternoon Yonah will hopefully make three new baby friends and I’ll make some new mommy friends.My brother-in-law Shloimie is attending a Yeshiva a few doors down from us, and two of Shuie’s other sibs, Tovi and Nechemia, are both learning here in Jerusalem. While it’s difficult for me sometimes to be so far away from my family (I had my first brief bout of homesickness today), it’s a comfort to have my sibs-in-law so closeby. Last week, we had them all over for dinner, and Shloimie comes by nearly every day just to visit or throw in a load of laundry. In exchange for the free grub and courtesy washer/dryer, we are guaranteed a weekly babysitting gig, free of charge. Date night!In Yonah news, many of you know that it’s been a struggle of sorts to get Yonah to use the sippy cup. Yesterday, Shuie had the brilliant idea of buying a bottle with handles. Voila! Yonah is rocking! Of course, Mommy has to warm up the milk first or The Prince won’t drink it. Besides babbling a blue streak, Yonah is also pushing himself up onto his knees and thrusting his torso into the air, his first efforts to stand himself up on his own momentum. Yonah has also discovered yelling. When he doesn’t want something, he scrunches up his face and lets you have it: “DADADMANADADADAAA!”. I don’t need my Babyspeak dictionary to know what that one means, but dang it, even when he’s angry, he’s the most delicious thing in the world.

America is a country obsessed with health and fitness. On every block you’ll find a gym of one sort or another, and all the weekly trash mags are constantly touting the latest health craze (”The Stairmaster Colon Cleanse!”, “Arctic Yoga: Build an Igloo and Strengthen your Heart Chakra!”). But I’ll tell you something: even the fanciest, most high-tech gym in the ol’ U.S. of A. ain’t got nothin’ on the hike up my street.  I am not exaggerating when I say that Ramat HaGolan curves sharply into at least a 65 degree incline, which continues for a quarter mile. Now, I’m not a gym rat by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought myself in remotely decent shape. Ha. This morning, I left my house particularly confident in my new hot pink skirt and carefully applied makeup, but by the time I pushed Yonah’s stroller up to the top of the street, I looked like Sigourney Weaver in “Ghostbusters” after she gets possessed by a demon.  Still, there was a distinct sense of satisfaction after I made it to the top of Mount Heart Attack, probably because I burned three days’ worth of calories and didn’t have to pay a cent.I have a new best friend in Yossi Reter, my landlord from upstairs. We’ve had a little trouble getting money out from the local Bank HaPoalim, so Yossi has been driving me to the one in the French Hill, about 5 minutes away. During our little tiyulim (trips), Yossi talks a blue streak in Hebrew, telling me all about his family, his wife, pontificating on everything from the number of Jews who have won Nobel prizes to the convenience of EZ-Pass (which was patented in Israel, by the way). I understand almost everything he says, and I am becoming more confident in my ability to respond. At the bank today, he called Carmela on his cell phone to discuss their plans for the afternoon. Almost immediately, I could hear her talking a blue streak to him. He tried to break in, saying, “Ani Yachol Ligmor? Ani Yachol Ligmor?” (Can I finish? Can I finish?) he said. After they hung up, he shook his head and chuckled. “She’s the general,” he said. “Yeah,” I replied. “It’s the same in English as it is in Hebrew.”I had a nice surprise this afternoon in the form of Seth Perkins, my sister Shira’s best friend, who’s made Aliyah to Israel seven months ago. Though Seth and I have met a few times and Skyped on occasion, we never had the chance to just sit down and talk. Today we got to do just that, and it was an absolute pleasure. I don’t want to embarrass him too much, but I will say that I completely understand why Shira loves him so much. Seth’s parents, Marlene and Gary, have opened their home many times to Shira, and I’m so happy to return the favor now for Seth.In other news, I’m starting to settle in at school. It’s a nice mix of married and single women from all over the spectrum of Orthodoxy where a funky personality like me can make a niche for herself. Morning text study alternates between Chumash (The Five Books of Moses) and Navi (Prophets), followed by a shiur (literally “quantity”, but is used to describe a portion of learning, usually given in lecture form). Today was a Navi day, in which we studied the story of Chana. Chana was a woman who suffered terrible pain due to her inability to conceive a child; desperate, she went to pray in the city of Shiloh, where the High Priest Eli saw her and accused her of being drunk (in those days, it was customary to pray out loud; Chana went and prayed in a whisper, which made her look like she was talking to herself). She explains to him that she is not drunk, but is praying from the depths of pain and anger. Eli gives her a blessing that she will have a child, and Chana goes home in peace. Later, she conceives a child, Samuel, who would later become a prophet of Israel. I was moved by this story for a many reasons, but the most poignant one is because it reminded me of my mother. For eight years, she and my father suffered from infertility. When doctors told them they would never have children, they were heartbroken. And then, miraculously, they had not only one child, but four. My mother raised us with immense joy, so appreciative was she that she had had children. Reading the story today, I could picture Chana’s happiness in finally having her son, the same happiness I saw in my mother every day of my life.And finally, we have an American phone line! This means that you folks can call us without paying astronomical rates, if you so choose. Our new # is: 646-300-9951. Now that our phone and internet are all set up, I think we can officially say that we are all moved in. Hooray!

Quite a bit has changed in my life since last I wrote. After losing my mother to cancer three months ago, I was given the opportunity to reevaluate my life and look hard at the things I wanted. Having carried the dream of living and learning in Israel for over five years, I realized that now was the perfect time to make it happen. My baby is young, my husband’s job is portable (Thank Gd for the internet), and so, once afternoon, I looked at Shuie and said, “Let’s do it!”One month later, we’re here.While this blog was originally meant for musings of the musical persuasion, it will be evolving into a travelogue of sorts during my year in the Holy Land. Not only will it give me an outlet for all of the wonderful things I’m seeing and learning after only a week here, but I’m hoping it will also give the people I love some sense of being here with me, and some peace of mind that I’m actually accomplishing something, not just chewing peote and dancing naked in the Sinai.That said, allow me to fill you in on our current events here in Israel. After running around like mad for the past week, looking for a place to live, we’ve finally settled into a gorgeous apartment in what is apparently “THE” neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol. Though I was willing to live in a concrete block like most other Jerusalemites, I harbored a secret dream of having a view and maybe even some greenery. Well, I got it. And more. Our apartment not only has a backyard with pomegranate, lemon, fig, olive and sheset trees, but we have an incredible view of a nature reserve. As I stand on our back porch and smell the sweet air, I can’t be anything but grateful.I’ve started my first day of school at Midreshet Rachel V’Chaya, which is a half-hour bus ride and short walk away in the neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe. I didn’t get much of a chance to socialize, since I’m just there for the mornings, but I was able to sit down and start learning almost immediately. They’ve placed me at the top of the second level (there are 4), which I’m grateful for. I was afraid that my reading skills went out the window along with my common sense and short-term memory after Yonah was born.Getting to school wasn’t too hard. I was too chicken to take on the Israeli bus schedule this morning and cabbed it after dropping Yonah off at Rivka’s, his mitapelet (daycare provider). However, the high fare made me happy to take the bus on the way back. It wasn’t so hard, as it turns out. Most people are happy to help, especially if you know Hebrew, which I like to pretend I do.Actually, from what I’m told, my Hebrew is not so bad, but I’m looking forward to picking up more of it day by day. My goal is to be fluent by 30, and as my 28th birthday approaches, I think I may have a shot. My favorite new expression is “Chaval al Hazman!”, which literally means, “A Waste of Time”, but is used to express appreciation of something really great. For example, Shuie he took a bite out of one of my oatmeal-honey muffins and cried out, “Oy! Chaval al Hazman!”. I like the phrase so much I’m trying to come up with reasons to use it: “That refrigerator is so cold! Chaval al Hazman!”In the meantime, Yonah had a great first day at Rivka’s, where he has a new baby friend named Tzvi. Apparently he slept for two hours, drank from his sippy cup and played nicely. I knew he was a doll, of course, but she got a two-hour nap AND the sippy cup? I have to wrestle that thing into his mouth! Rivka smiled at me. “HaMitapelet osah nisim (The mitapelet works miracles)”, she said. You’re telling me…Shuie may have found a program where he will be able to learn in the mornings and which has a kiruv (jewish outreach) component. If he chooses this route, there is also a weekly class for wives that I will be attending. I’m sure they will be interesting, as long as they’re not along the lines of, “How to cook for fifty people in half an hour”.As I sit on the bus, weaving through the streets of Jerusalem, or I sit on one of our chaises, looking out at the trees (or in one memorable moment, spotting a gazelle), I am amazed at how quickly life can change, and at how miracles truly are possible, if I make room for them. My mother was able to see the little miracles in life every day, and I know she’d get a big kick out of this one. It wouldn’t surprise me if she put in a good word for me upstairs.

I love Paula Cole. Her 1994 album Harbinger was on constant repeat during my senior year of high school and This Fire (for which she won a grammy) is my favorite album of all time. She has one of the most powerful and beautiful voices I have ever heard. Her music is raw, honest and so so beautiful. Back in 1999 her hit “I Don’t Want to Wait” was all over the airwaves and even became the theme song of “Dawson’s Creek”, the fabulous TV Drama/guilty-pleasure that I still miss to this day. Paula shot to superstardom in about 30 seconds and was overwhelmed with attention and offers of money. But instead of milking the cash cow, Paula quietly released 2000’s Amen and disappeared from view for seven years.During her break, Paula became a yoga instructor, had a baby, and spent some time just being a real person. She finally released a new album in 2007 called Courage, which I just discovered. There is one song on it called “14″ that I literally cannot stop listening to. You can visit www.paulacole.com to give it a listen.Paula Cole inspires me because she made a decision to have a life and maintain her integrity as an artist. She didn’t want the glamorous rock star world; reality suited her better. Rock on, Paula!

Okay. I know it’s been almost a year and a half since my last post, but I’ve been a little busy having a baby. Although playing Mommy to baby Yonah can be exhausting, I have never been more exhilarated or inspired in my life. I am so lucky to spend every day with my little miracle.

But back to business. Here’s my latest song, “Better Than Me”. Enjoy!

Hi, friends!

Happy Channukah, Merry Xmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Season’s Greetings, all that jazz. Here is “Naaseh V’Nishma”, the newest addition to my online repetoire.

The concept behind this song came from a teaching that moved me very deeply. When the Jews accepted the Torah from G-d in the desert, they did so unconditionally, without the need to understand everything the commitment required. They said, “Naaseh V’Nishma” (”We will do and we will hear”). They meant, essentially, “We will trust you and do as you ask, and later we will understand why.” In short, their words were an expression of the deepest kind of faith. The person in this song is in a place of confusion, not understanding why they are where they are or what they are supposed to do. But they take the next step and trust that the next one will be revealed.

May we all have the clarity to see our next step.

Enjoy!

New Song ‘Na’aseh Ve’nishma’ By Rea

On Tuesday night, I performed at “Girls Night On”, a women’s open mike at Mexicali Blues, definitely the hottest happening in Teaneck, NJ (possibly in the last half century). The bar happened to be right down the street from my apartment, so it was easy to get Shuie to haul my keyboard there and back. It’s so nice to have a man around to do the heavy lifting…

I decided to debut a song I’d written the day before, and I forgot the words in the middle of it! If you look closely, you may be able to find the exact moment my brain shuts off. I had to shoot from the hip, but it all turned out well in the end.

The rest of the show was fantastic. Incredible performers, a huge range of talent. You can see pictures of “Girls Night on” on their facebook page, or on their website, (you guessed it!) girlsnighton.com.

My New Original Hebrew Song - Reay V’anyainu

I hate the word “blog”. I feel like it’s something you do right before you throw up. But now I have one, and I have to admit, it’s kind of sexy.