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Re: FW: Who's on this list



     Okay, you asked for it, so...here's one person's experience of Hava 
     Nashira.
     
     ------------------------------
     
     Wow!  Within a short time of arriving, I have already met my two 
     biggest musical idols, Jeff Klepper (who is quite tall) and Debbie 
     Friedman (who is more my size).  And I have to say, as idols go, 
     neither one is a disappointment.  Debbie has a magnificent amount of 
     energy.  Jeff is a gentle soul.  I keep trying to watch their fingers 
     so I can learn to play guitar like them, but end up getting mesmerized 
     in the music instead.  
     
     It is my first time at Hava Nashira, so I have signed up to be 
     evaluated.  My evaluation session is first thing Thursday morning.  
     There are so many people sitting in this room in the lodge, which 
     looks just like you'd expect a lodge to look!  Large windows 
     everywhere overlooking beautiful scenery.  It is cold (I am from 
     Tennessee!) and I feel like a kid at camp again.  Very fortunately, I 
     am first to present a song.  I have not practiced enough, and I am 
     very nervous.  I am afraid I will mess up.  Everyone is tape recording 
     everything.  What if I forget the words, the chords? What if my voice 
     just doesn't come out when I open up my mouth?  None of this happens, 
     of course, and instead, I teach the song, a new one I have written, so 
     I know that no one knows it, and amazingly, within seconds, EVERYONE 
     is singing along!  The feedback is given in a very friendly and 
     supportive way: for example, I shouldn't ask, "Would you like to sing 
     this line with me?" I should TELL them to sing it.  Ellen, the faculty 
     member, is incredibly knowledgeable and her comments fit me like a 
     glove.  I sit down, relieved it's over, thinking how much I can 
     improve my songleading skills.  I listen to all the others and enjoy 
     learning from them, both the new songs and the songleading skills.  
     
     Mealtimes are really fun...long picnic style tables in several rows.  
     We make hamotzi, learning a new minchag, not to say "amen" after our 
     own brachah, but instead, to say, "b'tay avon," Hebrew for "good 
     appetite."  It is buffet style, serve yourself, and we all cooperate 
     in getting drinks and cleaning up afterward.  During the meal one of 
     the faculty teaches some songs.  The amount of joy in the room as 
     people sing multiple harmonies is awesome to say the least.  We are 
     also learning trope, the melody to chanting Torah.  This is something 
     I have always wanted to learn.  It is incredibly fun.  My tape 
     recorder is ON.  The food is simple, varied, lots of salad and fruit 
     available, lots of lemonade, cookies sometimes.  The faces I pass as I 
     walk around are starting to get familiar.  We all wear name tags 
     around our necks, with the first name in BIG BOLD letters, and that 
     really helps!
     
     Jeff Klepper gives a session in a theatre building that looks like a 
     big red barn.  It's cold, and there's no heat!  Someone fixes that 
     pretty quickly.  He shows us how a service should be run, how we can 
     make it fill up all the senses, sight, hearing, kinesthetic...with 
     something as simple as eye contact, for example....  He leads us on a 
     spiritual journey, to find that special place so we can relate to 
     God....We all take rhythm instruments and sing a niggun like it's 
     never been sung before. This is a totally new experience for me, and 
     one that takes getting used to.  My tape recorder is ON!
     
     There are services each day, morning and night.  This is no ordinary 
     go-listen-to-the-cantor-and-hear-the-rabbi-give-a-sermon type service. 
     It is led by Hava Nashirites.  There are 5 or 6 guitars up front, and 
     some of them are very talented young people, with tremendous spirit 
     and beautiful voices.  Several times, those wearing a tallit to the 
     service reach over and cover everyone else with it, as Debbie sings Mi 
     Sheberach for US, and there is not a dry eye or a cold heart in this 
     room.  On Shabbat, we all chant Torah using the trope we have learned 
     all week.  This week's parsha includes the priestly blessing, and we 
     all feel incredibly blessed.
     
     There are songsharings by faculty, in which we learn old Israeli 
     songs, and we also get to hear Debbie's newest songs, which leave us 
     breathless.  One song, with beautiful words of love, symbolic of the 
     morning modeh ani and tefillin.... And late at night there is an open 
     mic.  We get to hear each other present original songs and even 
     poetry.  It's fun to present and to listen.  And EVERYONE SINGS ALONG. 
     What a treat to hear all these people singing my rainbow song!  And 
     there are shakers, drums, an accordian.  Some of us wish there was 
     more opportunity for us to present and share.  Some of us are losing 
     our voices.  Some of us have a few comments or criticisms about Hava 
     Nashira, and this is all part of the experience.
     
     The grand finale night arrives.  It's Saturday night and Hava Nashira 
     has almost come to a close.  Looking around in the audience, waiting 
     for Donny Maseng to perform, I realize how many of these people have 
     become friends, or at least that we have a great spiritual and musical 
     connection.  Donny gives a wonderful concert, with Shimon Cohen, our 
     fearless choir leader, playing piano.  Then, perhaps the best moment 
     of the weekend, havdallah, singing Debbie's wonderful melody, standing 
     in a close circle of 90, and afterward, a great group hugging 
     experience.  "Good week."  Yes, it will be, for we are so energized, 
     so spiritually uplifted, that we will probably still feel these hugs, 
     still hear this music, for a week after we're home, if not longer.
     
     ------------------
     
     Well, I left out a lot, I know, but I hope this gives those who did 
     not attend or have never attended, an idea of what it was like.
     
     Thanks,
     -Karen D.
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: FW: Who's on this list
Author:  durleste (at) earthlink(dot)net (Adrian Adam Durlester) at +INET
Date:    6/17/98 8:47 AM


FYI
     
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org] On 
Behalf Of Adrian Adam Durlester
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 1998 7:17 AM 
To: Hanashir (E-mail)
Subject: Who's on this list
     
     
This is a friendly reminder to all that the Hanashir list is for all 
songleaders, teachers, lovers and aficionados of Jewish music and 
songleading, and is not just a Hava Nashira alumni list.
     
With that in mind, I offer the following observation: although there has 
been lots of talk about mini HNs, hoarseness, etc. there has been little if 
no description of what actually took place at HN, who it made you feel, what 
you learned etc. that might be of value to those who have not been or could 
not come to Hava Nashira.
     
     
     
Adrian
     
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Adrian A. Durlester  -  durleste (at) earthlink(dot)net 
http://home.earthlink.net/~durleste/
Media Specialist, Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute Camp 
Summer private phone line at OSRUI Camp: (414) 560-9809 
Nextel cel-phone (615) 207-2661
You can page me from http://www.nextel.com
List-Owner for hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Co-Owner for L-Torah (at) 
shamash(dot)org 
http://uahc.org/hanashir
Editor, Bim Bam (for Torah Aura Productions)
Evening Program Chair, CAJE 23 - San Antonio TX, Aug 9-13, 1998 
http://www.caje.org
Alternate Email: aad (at) iname(dot)com  adriand (at) aol(dot)com


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