Scoot Over Sarit Chadad! Make Room for Natasha, Aliyah, and Olga!

On Friday, October 12th, I had the honor of singing with my two friends (Oh yes, I've made friends!), Natasha and Olga, at a Minsk Jewish Campus event! Our friend Vitusha accompanied us on the piano.

Together we sang "Shma Yisrael Elohai," by pre-eminent Israeli Mizrahit singer, Sarit Chadad. (Click here for lyrics)

(Can you spot the Babushka in the background?)

The very special event to which we were invited to sing was the opening of a new art exhibit at the Minsk Jewish Campus. The artist, Natalia Baronetzkaya, was a participant on Taglit Birthright Israel, a ten-day free trip to Israel, this past summer. She was so inspired by the sights and scenes of Israel that now, two months after her return, she has produced an entire exhibit of beautiful paintings. I was so impressed by the way she was able to capture the colors of nature in Israel and the way that light emanates from Jerusalem stone. Kol Ha Kavod Natalia!

Here are some of her paintings:

And here is Natalia the artist with me:

We were asked to sing "Shma Yisrael Elohai," because it is a very popular and powerful, but sad, Israeli song. It was written in 2000 after the brutal lynching of two Israeli reserve soldiers in Ramalla, and expresses the desperation felt by many Israelis during difficult times. Here is the Sarit Chadad Music video:



I miss Israel and long to be there, even though I'm enjoying my time here in Minsk very much. Today, while singing Sarit Chadad and viewing beautiful scenes from the holy land, I felt that much closer...