The Jewish Singer
This podcast is for Jewish singers on a journey to become not only a good singer, but a well-rounded vocal artist with meaningful music to inspire and light up the world. Here we'll explore how to bridge the gap between technique and artistry with discussions about artist identity, vocal technique, stepping into the Jewish music scene with confidence, developing healthy singer mindsets, practice routines, and so much more.
The Jewish Singer
Ep. 10: Sweeten harsh decrees with your sweet voice
In light of The Three Weeks we're discussing how you can use your voice to sweeten the harshness of this time. You already know singing is important and amazing, but let's dive into really how spiritual it is.
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Hi, welcome or welcome back to the Jewish singer podcast. I'm so happy that you're here listening or watching. I really appreciate you tuning in. I have to say that when I started this podcast, I wasn't really sure who was going to listen or if anyone was going to listen, and I knew that I needed to make this because I had. stuff to say and something to share. And so I'm really grateful for this platform to be able to share with you the things that come up and to be able to give over hopefully some inspiration and useful tips. And I really, really appreciate those of you that have sent me WhatsApps or Instagram DMs, sharing with me the things that you've loved about what you've heard on the episode. It really warms my heart and helps me know that I'm not just talking to nobody, even though just talking to even one person and helping would be amazing for me. So keep them coming. If you hear anything that really resonates with you or you have an aha moment, please share it with me. I would really, really love to hear from you. Especially if I don't know you and we've never talked before, please send me an Instagram DM. I'm at@nechamaleahmusic, or I will leave my email in the show notes and you can email me also. Okay. So today's a milestone. We're on our 10th episode of the Jewish singer podcast, which is exciting. was reflecting this week and also I shared with, um, the people that are on my email list that I don't think I've ever been this consistent with a piece of content or a type of content in my business. I have been. Producing and releasing a, an episode every week for the past 10 weeks. And that's a big deal. It's been really cool to have that experience of showing up for myself and my audience, even when I didn't want to, or more so that I wasn't sure what I was going to say, there was a one or two weeks where I've just felt like, Oh, I'm kind of dry. I need a recharge. I need a reset. I'm not really sure what I have to give at the, at the moment. And, and so then having to go through that process of, okay, I need to find that charge somewhere. I need to find that inspiration somewhere And so was able to come back feeling a little bit More like I had something valuable to give you and also just that inner talk, which I know that all of us singers have of, well, who am I, what do I have to give and having to work through that, you know I like one or two times, I've made it a shorter episode because I thought, okay, I don't need to drag on and on about this thing, but I have this one little thing I want to say, and I think it is valuable and to just share what it is that's coming up And so I just kept it, you know, kept it to what it needed to be and that's it. And that, okay, here's what it is. And letting go, I think is a very, Useful thing for singers as well, because sometimes we get it in our brains that everything has to be this huge production when sometimes it's just, okay, I have a song I want to sing. I'm going to video it. And I'm going to, I'm going to send it to my friend or I'm going to video it. And I have a WhatsApp group or I put it on my Instagram, wherever, you know, you're holding with, with that. And just, zehu, like, that's it. I created for the day. My job is to show up and create. I just wanted to mention that, even though that has nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about today, just came to mind right now. Um, I think it's helpful that we all kind of remember that it's okay to just have these like micro micro creations, you know, and let it be what it is. Okay, so I'm going to move on to what my actual topic is. So we are in the three weeks, which as you know, as you probably know, is a time when we are mourning for lots of different things that happened in Jewish history, you know, the breaching of the walls of the Beis haMikdash, um, you know, destruction including, breaking of the tablets, lots of things, right? This is a time of mourning, a time of sadness. And I would like to say that also a time of building and a time of, of dreaming of better times, a time of, you know, machaziking ourselves. So I was listening to Gedale Fenster podcast earlier in the week, and he was talking about the idea of sweetening judgments and that during the three weeks, it's such an important time to do extra things that will sweeten harsh decrees, right? So we have the power as people here on earth, as Hashem's creations to help Uh, mitigate, so to speak, harsh decrees in the world. And we obviously have so much going on that we would like to sweeten and lessen and mitigate and, you know, bring Moshiach, obviously. So he said that there are three things, um, three words that all have the same numerical value. Kol, meaning voice. Tzom, meaning fasting. And Mammon, meaning money, they all have the same numerical value of 136. I looked it up. So prayer, fasting, and Tzedakah, basically he's saying are these, these pillars of things that we should be activating and doing more of during this time so that we can bring on more sweetness to the world and bring on the mitigating of those of that harshness of that din that we feel, I don't know about you, but when we enter the three weeks, I mean, regardless of the fact that we start it with a fast, right? There's this, there's this energy, there's this feeling in the air, there's this feeling of din. He even said that it's very common that this time of year we're feeling more irritable, right? We're in the heat of the summer. And you can literally feel that heat. We are maybe more inclined towards anger, inclined towards judgment of others. And, we can take upon ourselves to do things that are going to lessen that and sweeten that. So, the reason I'm talking about it, right, is not because I give, uh, Torah shiurim, but because this first word that he talked about, which was kol. So it's interesting to me that the word here that he used is kol, and not tefilla(prayer). Because he was saying, you know, it's prayer. Right. So, but, but I, I think he didn't say this explicitly, but I think that we can learn from that, that it's not just, you know, tefila from the siddur that we're talking about, but also any, any positive way that we use kol. Any positive way that we use your voice and the way that you use it for good. And there are many ways. I'm thinking, even just, you know, speaking words of Torah, giving a kind word to a friend, words of encouragement, or giving somebody a bracha, you know, after they had surgery or whatever, you know, had a baby, mazal tov, you should have much healing and all of that, you know, whatever way that we can use our voice for good in the world. It has an energy. It has a koach(power) for good. And then obviously we have Shira, we have singing, which is why we're talking about it here. So we know that singing is a super high, holy form of tefila. It elevates it to a whole new level, right? The chazan at shul, he's singing. He's singing the words. He's not just, uh, you know, we, we have to sing our praises to Hashem. In fact I heard from one of my teachers, I think it was, I think it was Yehudis Golshevsky a few years ago, back when I was studying, uh, with her in Nachla'ot. Um, I wrote down this quote and I've had it ever since to refer back to, uh, that says Chizkiyahu HaMelech could have been Mashiach, except that he didn't sing shira. And just for reference that's from Gamara Sanhedrin, daf 94A, in case you wanted to look that up. So whoa, right? He could have been Mashiach, except for he didn't sing his praises to Hashem. Right. We, it's crazy. I'm sure he spoke words of praise and Torah all day. Right. But he did not elevate those words into song. He didn't sing his praises to Hashem. So he wasn't worthy of becoming Mashiach or being Mashiach. Crazy. So we see how important singing is, how important that you are as a Jewish female singer. What a job that we have. Right. We can literally sweeten harsh judgments with our voices. And since we are in the three weeks and we're in a time period of din of judgment, we need all of that sweetening that we can get. Am I right? Uh, and I'm going to be really honest. I, as a, as a Jewish convert. This is one way that I often feel really lacking because I didn't grow up listening to Jewish music. So I don't know, I don't know all the songs, you know, particularly all the songs that go with each holiday and all the bazillion tunes that each of them have and the, which group sings what or, which sect of Judaism sings what and which tune, and, you know, there's so much to know and learn and literally the other night I asked my husband, uh, which songs are kashur to the three weeks. And he's like, uh, Im Ishkachech Yerushalayim? I was like, okay, cool. Which, like, what tune? So he sang me a few different tunes, and of course I knew them. I've heard them, I know them, but I don't know know them, like the back of my hand, like, you know, growing up in camp, singing all of'em. But I felt that energetic shift. Like I said, I felt when the three weeks came in, I felt this energetic shift, the somberness of the time, the holiness and the fragility of this time. It was, it was all right there. I could feel it in the air and I felt like, well, I can't just keep on trucking along, like talking about vocal technique on my podcast or on my Instagram page. And I feel this call to connect with music that relates to these times, even if I have to dig around and learn the songs a little bit. and so I guess my point in bringing that up is that if you're listening and thinking, yeah, I didn't grow up with these songs either. How do I really put myself into this mindset of praising Hashem with holy words. First of all, whatever Jewish songs, you know, will do, you know, but also why not try out just singing whatever davening that you already do. if you daven regularly in the morning. Sing that. Sing it instead of just whisper it under your breath, you know? Or sing your brachot. Like, even if that's the bare minimum that you can do, because you're super busy and you're this and you're that and you're kids and it's summertime and we're all crazy. Instead of, like, whispering super quickly, like I do most of the time. You know, your brachot under your breath to sing them out, even if nobody's there to say, I mean, even if you're in the home home alone, you know, just to sing them out, to sing, connect with yourself because this, that singing really connects ourselves to our, to our Neshama, to our divine place, to that place in us that is Hashem. And then we bring that out. You bring out that holiness. We bring out that spark of light. When we sing, and especially when we're speaking, you know, holy words or singing holy words. So I thought like, maybe we can have a little challenge or we have that we can do it together this during these three weeks that you sing your brachot, sing your, your davening, sing your tehillim, sing your, benching, whatever it is. And maybe if you don't usually daven in the morning, maybe during these three weeks, try to carve out, one or two times you do daven, you know, daven shacharis and do a bit of singing. Just since this is such a holy time and there's such a, um, a raw time for us to be calling out to Hashem for more mercy. So even, and especially if you don't think that you have a great voice. still use your voice sing sing out sing more songs you know go around singing like my husband said is a good one I would love to hear your song suggestions of your favorite songs actually that are connected to the three weeks or connected to the Beis hamikdash or whatever So that I can learn them. So, like I said, even if you don't think you have the best voice in the world, use your voice because it is holy. If you're listening to this, you're probably a singer. So I'm sure you have a wonderful voice. you, you were gifted this, this talent and this desire to sing and to bring music in the world for a reason. And really we all have this capability, but you as someone who really has brought it in as a large part of your life and maybe even attached to what you feel is your purpose in life. We have this extra opportunity and responsibility even to spread this light. so sing, so go sing spread your light. And bring more sweetness into this harsh world. And b'ezrat Hashem(with God's help), this time can be one of growth and healing and building ourselves up. And our nation so that we can see the coming of Moshiach so, so soon. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I really hope you enjoyed this episode and got something out of it. Have a wonderful rest of your week and happy singing.