Dear Blog, how have you been? It’s been a while since I wrote you last. And I know I begin almost every Blog Entry with that disclaimer, and I know it’s getting old, but I feel too guilty to leave it out.

So, last we spoke, I was in Romania.

Romania was very nice, as it turned out. We met some very nice people, Romanian and otherwise, and we had some very rewarding encounters.

We met a non-Jewish journalist whose father was saved by a Jewish doctor back when it was dangerous to have Jewish friends. Something like that.

We met an old Jewish man who pays 40 Lei every day, to get to the Shul so he can fix the lights, and wash the floors, and mend the curtains.

And we laid Tefillin with Hungarian tourists, Israeli visitors, Romanian natives, and Bar Mitzvah boys who knew not what this was.

And we collected a lot of strange looks.

Then we got back home.

But not before we met a very nice Jewish artist on the airplane who invited us to his home next time we’re in London.

Then was the Chazak concert, which was awesome. And I really can’t describe it either. It is something one must experience for one’s own self. It’s an unbelievable concert. And the performers were in top form as well, which is always nice.

Then it was some weddings in the Tri-State area. Then it was some meetings with some very well known composers. Then it was off to Amsterdam for a very nice and very joyous wedding.

I spent the weekend there, in Amsterdam, and it was just a very nice experience. The people, the Shuls, the canals, all added up to what was a very enjoyable shabbos.

And I also have to thank the Speiros for hosting me for Shabbos.

Then it was back to the U.S.A. for a couple of days, and then we got into a car and headed up to Montreal for the wedding of my good friend Moshe. That was nice. Then it was back down to the Catskill mountains for Shabbos. That was nice. Then it was back into the city for a wedding Sunday night. Which was nice. Then it was trying to get into Crown Heights Sunday night, as preparations for the West Indian Parade were getting under way. Which was not so nice. I sat between Grand Army Plaza, until Albany Ave. for aprox. an hour and a half. And not on Eastern Pkwy. which was closed in only one direction. I sat on St. John’s.

Then it was Yesterday.

Today I am packing up my backpack and heading off to Manchester for the wedding of my cousin Yochanan.

I will update you with anything of interest as soon as anything of interest happens, or soon after, or not so soon after. But, like a famous guy once said, everything is eventual.

Till then

So I decided that I would try and write a post about Romania without mentioning that song, but I couldn’t even get passed the title. It’s just so natural. When you hear that word, you hear that song. It’s a rule. This place is almost a song first and then a country.

So, we just arrived here in Bucharest, Romania. And when I say we I mean my Chavrusah Sholomke and I. We are going to be spending the night here in this city, hosted by Chabad of Romania, and then we will be embarking on the real journey. The journey into the heartland, where the land has a lot of soul, but no heart.

That’s when it’s gonna be time to get creative. I’m gonna learn how to drive stick-shift. I’m gonna learn how to argue about a price. We are going to stay at youth hostels. And we are going to meet Jews. We will meet Jews, and we will collect many Mitzvot, and we will go home more accomplished than when we left.

That’s the plan.

The reality, we will update you as it happens.

G-d willing.  

So, what’s been goin’ on? Hmm. Where to start? Should I just start with yesterday, even though the traditional thing to do is begin at the beginning? Ok. Yesterday we hit the studio in Staten Island, where Yaron Gershovsky was waiting for us so he could lay down some extremely tight, excruciatingly beautiful piano tracks for our new album. I tried, being that we are in the middle of the Three Weeks, to not enjoy it. But it was really something else. He’s a pro. We have had other pianists come in, good pianists, serious musicians, but Yaron comes in and makes it look like a breeze. It was a lot of fun, what could I say. This project is slowly coming together, and the more it grows, the cooler it is.

Then we were done for the day.

Then I high tailed it to Avraham Fried’s studio session, where I participated in laying down some choir tracks for a new album he is working on. That was a ball as well. Hanging with my uncles and cousins, singing together, making jokes, laughing, dancing, singing a little more.

Good times.

Then we went to eat dinner. But you didn’t have to know that.

In other news, I am officially doing my first big east coast shindig. The annual summer Chazack concert, with A Fried, Shlomo Simcha and Dovid Gabay. That is exciting, I’m not gonna lie to you. This is big. So, be there or be somewhere else, but with a good excuse. No bad excuses will be accepted.

Alright. What else is new and/or exciting? We have a bunch of little things planned. We keep coming up with these cute ideas. Oooh, let’s do this, oooh let’s do this. And some of these ideas will one day feel the joy of existing. And it will be a good day.

Until then, I bid you all a good day.

Your devoted and humble online friend

Benzion

That’s it, eh? Vacation is over. Sfirat HaOmer is behind us, Shavuot is behind us. Back to work.

But I was away from my desk for quite some time, so let’s catch up a little, you and me.

So, first there is the wrapping up of my Israel trip. In short, it was a great trip, a great ride, a great experience and great exposure. I have to thank Davidi, of Davidi Productions, for putting that trip together and making it happen. Todah rabbah! (Oh yeah, I picked up a little Hebrew along the way.) I would like to thank my dear friend Chazzan (Chattan) Zalman Traxler for so graciously hosting me for the duration of my trip. Mazal Tov guys! There are a few more people I would really like to thank for making that trip so memorable. Rabbi and Mrs. Yossi Swerdlov, and the OldCityTish.Com crew, Chaki and Chana Abehsera, Rabbi & Mrs. Meir Abehsera and family, Leibale Lipskier and his family, and all the Jerusalem taxi drivers who never fail to entertain you as they transport you to your destination. Thank you all, and all the families who so courageously invited a rookie to your personal Simchas. Shkoach!

Then, back in the states, I spent a few days in New York, and then it was Pesach. That’s when I got sick. The traveling, the weather changes, the lack of sleep all caught up to me. And I have three concerts Pesach. What to do? I don’t know. Pray and practice, practice and pray. That’s what I did. the first night of Chol Hamoed I was in Pittsburgh, PA, hosted by the Chabad Youth and Rabbi Shmuly Rothman. After a nice amount of Kosher for Passover chicken soup, it was off to work. B”H the show went well, and after the curtains went down a woman came up to me and gave me the nicest compliment I think I have ever received. She is not a very religious woman, as far as I could tell, and she walked up to me with a stride that said I want to say something. I wasn’t sure what it would be (as you probably have assumed.) And she says, “I know you like to consider yourself an artist,” and I thought to myself Oh Boy, here goes. She’s about to give me a lecture about my dancing. But then she continues with, “But you should really be wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope because you really healed a lot of people tonight.” I’m not going to lie to you. I was very touched by those words. She walked away before their meaning could really sink in, but sink in they did, and those words gave me a whole new respect for my job, the music and the work that all this entails. Oooh, and I got to sing a duet with Agent Emes. That was awesome.

Then it was off to Scottsdale, AZ, to a Pesach resort. I was feeling a lot worse than I was feeling the night before. I tried sitting out in the Arizona sun for a while, but that didn’t work. My head was throbbing, and my throat felt stiff. So I ran to take a nap, and hoped that when I woke up, it would all be gone like the dreams I might dream. But I woke up a few minutes before showtime, and it was still there. But I gotta tell you this: When I walked out into the field where the concert was gonna take place, and saw the stage setup against the lake, with the seats arranged bleacher style up the hill, I was taken by the site. It was gorgeous, it really was. Avi Begun, thanks for helping me out with that show. And also, thank G-d. Thank G-d the folks enjoyed the show, and we went way overtime, just because we were having so much fun. So that was nice.

Then it was off to Whistler, B.C. where my parents were spending Yom Tov in the Four Seasons Resort, KMR kosher Pesach retreat, or something like that. My ears were exploding, my throat was stiff, my eyes were droopy, and my family was gonna watch. So I warmed up, jumped up and down a little to get into the groove and then it was time to give the last show before Sfirat Haomer would begin. My brother Shmuli sang with me, and the rest of them laughed at my jokes, and together we all put on a very good show, so thanks guys, for all the help.

After Yom Tov I went to California for a friend’s L’chaim. While I was there I went to visit my voice teacher. We had a good time, and he really helped me out of the little jam I was in. Then I went home to Minnesota for a bit. That was nice, as was to be expected. Then I came back to new York, to hit the studios for the album that we are working on.

We worked on two songs now, two songs that have an electronic foundation, so that we didn’t have to wait until after our Israel visit (the recording visit, not the live show visit) to start working on them. One Elimelech Blumstein song and one Yitzy Waldner song. Good times.

Now it’s off to Cali for a wedding, then Kansas, the Chicago, then San Diego (I know) and then back to Israel for some studio hours.

Will keep you posted, BEz”H. Until then, don’t give up. (yes, I made that up myself, thank you.)

Signed: Benzion

Hello Blog.

I know. I say it every time.

But I really am sorry. I just can’t seem to keep a steady regiment of blog logging.

So now we have to catch up on like two weeks. OK. So let’s see. Two weeks ago… Yes. Two weeks ago I moved into a nice little house in Jerusalem, in a nice little neighborhood overlooking the Old City. It’s marvelous. Simply marvelous. I got there Thursday afternoon, Taanis Esther. I was invited to Jerusalem by the Swerdlov family, and they were the ones who directed me, as I was so lost in my ancient home. We had a wonderful start to a wonderful Purim (please forgive me if I say wonderful one or two too many times. I mean, after all, this is show business.) Jerusalem is one of those places where you go, and as your day progresses, you meet more and more people whom you had no idea were gonna be there. So besides for the new people that I met, which is a very nice group of dedicated Jews, I also ran into old friends. Friends from New York, Minnesota, Miami, Calabasas, Tucson and even Australia. It’s nice. Friday I went to visit some friends in far away Rechovot. It was wonderful.

Then came Friday night. I made the pilgrimage to the Western Wall. The walk is about twenty minutes from where I live to where I become alive. (Is somebody writing this down? This is good stuff!) And as you can imagine, with every turn you make, getting closer to the destination, more and more people fall into line on the same path, so that when you enter the Old City, you are surrounded by Jews from every imaginable corner of the world. Then we arrived, all of us together. It was Purim, it was Shabbos, and it was Jerusalem. It was beautiful. I walked into the main service area, just because I don’t know what else to call it, and I immediately heard my name being called. But when I turned, I saw nobody that I recognized. Then I saw him, waiving to me. Over here! I’m thinking DO I know him? Good Shabbos, he tells me. My name is Elimelech Blumstein. Well Hello! Elimelech Blumstein is the composer of some very very popular Chassidic songs, and he was saying Good Shabbat to me! So we shmoozed for a little while, talking a little about this and a little about that. Then he had to go, so we had to say Goodbye until next time. See you around. I’m not gonna go into all the terms we used as we parted, but Shabbat Shalom was in there, and, being that we were in Jerusalem, Happy Purim was in there too.

Then I found the group. The group I was searching for. There was a Rabbi at the head of the group, leading them in prayer. Oh man, does that mean I’m late? Rabbi Swerdlov was melodiously chanting the ancient words of the Friday night prayer, together with a group of men from the O. C. in California. They sang, swayed, danced and prayed until the angels were ready to take them from the Holy Temple to the Holy Tzemach Tzedek Shul where they would eat the Shabbat meal. Once there, another group joined them, this one from New Mexico (spelled that way due in part to the difficulties involved in spelling Albuquerque.) The meal commenced (started?) and it was gearing up to be a very special evening. The Rabbis at the head of the table spoke beautifully. And by rabbis I mean Rabbi Swerdlov and Rabbi Schmukler from N.M. People around the table were asked to introduce themselves and drink a L’Chaim. To hear people talking about their visit to the Holy Land, and about the Shabbat that they were experiencing really, in my opinion, would have been worth the whole trip. People got teary eyed as they spoke about their Bar Mitzvas, or about their grandmothers. They spoke about Judaism becoming something real, something worth taking a serious look at. Then I got the chance to sing My Mother’s Shabbos Candles. This is a song that really has a lot of power. It was so powerful, people started laughing just so that they wouldn’t cry. (I hope that was the reason.) Either way, it was a Friday night meal to remember. Thank you again to Rabbi ans Mrs. Swerdlov for having the best thing in town.