Blog Posts - Beth Hamon

The second half of 2018: UPDATE!

7/17/2018

Here's an update for what's in the works from now through December 2018.

In July and August, I'm mostly playing out in Portland, at jams and open mics as my schedule allows, while I turn wrenches a few mornings a week at the nonprofit Bikes4Humanity-PDX. My go-tos include Wednesday nights at EastBurn and Sunday nights at The 1905, both on Portland's east side. Occasionally I may also sit in with the folks at Ladd's Circle for an open old-time/bluegrass jam as weather permits.

All of this takes a back seat, of course, to preparing for the High Holy Days. I'm blessed to serve Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Bremerton, WA as cantorial soloist again this year; I'll be composing some new liturgical settings for them as well.
In October I'm off to Ashland, OR to enjoy the closing weekend of the Shakespeare Festival; while I'm there I'm hoping to also play out a little bit during late night. Stay tuned as I'm working on this right now.

I am THRILLED to report that, as of yesterday, I have now filled ALL the spots on my upcoming Florida Tour!
Beginning in Palm Coast and making my way south via Orlando, West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, I'm bringing my music to Shabbat services, house concerts and a special visit to the first ever Limmud-Boca!
More later, as I continue to fill in dates all the way through to July 2019! Stay tuned, and thanks for supporting Jewish Music Made By Hand!

hey, man, how does your value feel?

7/13/2018

overhauling bicycle headset bearings, 2011

(The title is a friendly nod to fellow mechanic Sam Tracy and his long-lamented Biker Pride 'zine. Thanks, man, my value feels pretty healthy these days.)

Back in the days when I turned a wrench full-time, I'd occasionally encounter someone who'd come into the shop and ask for free or discounted labor.
They dared to ask because they knew or perceived that I was gay, working class, and/or otherwise sympathetic to the plight of the working poor.
They ask me, "hey, would you be willing to help me out here? Sister to sister, you know... we have to stick together..."

In every case, I felt duty-bound to turn them down. Because we'd had numerous meetings (remember, it was a cooperative shop) about how discounting our labor was the worst possible thing we could do, that it lowered the value of that labor in the customer's eyes. And I believed that.
And, being a mechanic with a special set of skills, I still believe that today.

If you want to volunteer at a skill you're professionally trained in, that is your choice and I will support it wholeheartedly. There are times when I choose to volunteer my skills and time to help others, and I'm glad I can do that.

But if you make your living doing a skilled trade and you are asked, begged, wheedled or otherwise guilt-tripped into doing it for cheap or free by an individual, business or organization that can afford to pay you and chooses not to, then you have every right to stand your ground and say no.
Saying yes in such a situation serves no one but whomever is doing the asking.
They may try to sugarcoat it by saying YOU'RE the only one they want to do whatever it is.
That makes it even worse, because now they're not simply devaluing the work you do, but they're devaluing YOU, YOUR skills, and YOUR time. And that makes mutual respect a hard thing to sustain in that relationship.

Saying no, however, means you run the risk of not only professional but personal isolation, especially in a smaller community where the jobs and social/communal options are all fewer.

At what point do you allow yourself to be guilt-tripped?
Is the guilt warranted? Should you feel guilty for not giving it away for free when it's how you earn a living? Or is the guilt misplaced?

At what point do you put your foot down?
Are you suffering from delusions of overblown ego because you insist on being paid for the use of your professional skills? Are you guilty of not taking one for the side? Are you being selfish?

The answer, I suspect will depend on what you do for a living; who's asking you to do it for free, and whether or not your chosen profession is widely respected and compensated accordingly in this society.
Before you blame capitalism for this mess, remember that we are all operating in this system.

NEWSFLASH: The Torah is an inherently capitalist document.
Its brand of capitalism is more benign, as it makes room for a healthy dose of empathy; but it's still document based on people having to earn their living through the work of their hands (or, in the 21st century, their fingertips perhaps), and the reality that some of us will earn more than others. That said, it also cautions against withholding wages and mistreating those who work for you, because work is still a human enterprise and we are required to treat each other with respect and dignity.

So, as I read post after post from fellow bike mechanics who feel they're underpaid and Jewish professionals who feel undervalued and taken for granted, and after considering my own professional struggles over the last several years, I think it's worth pondering these questions through the lens of Torah.

I'd greatly welcome suggestions for commentary and books that might shed some light on this.

Meanwhile, I'm going to sit in front of my fan, drink buckets of ice water and melt in the heat until sundown.
Happy Friday and Shabbat Shalom.

introducing a kindergartner to guitar, 2002

on pleasure, rest and renewal in an overworking world

7/6/2018

Working all the time is one of the great dangers of being a freelancer. You think you have to work all the time, or at odd hours of the day and night, because you've been taught that this is the honorable way, the RIGHT way, to earn a living. You've had it drilled into your head and heart that, by eschewing the 9-to-5 path and choosing to work for yourself, you must work twice as hard and three times as long. Consider it part of your penance, society insists, for being independent.
As a seventh-grader, I read a short story called "Junius Maltby," by John Steinbeck. To say it altered my views on the nature of work would be an understatement. Combined with watching my father work eighty hours a week at a job he never really loved, it showed me a different path.
Humans are not meant to work so long and hard all the time. Reeducating myself has been and remains a struggle. Every time I take a moment's leisure -- to nap, to daydream, or to play music for no other reason but pure pleasure -- I must fight the societally imposed guilt that pops up.
So today, I dared to set aside the unrealistic work ethic for a few moments to play music of no great consequence, just because the feel of wood drumsticks playing open, timed diddles on a deliciously resonant practice pad was so marvelous.
May the coming weekend give us all a chance to do something for no other reason than pure pleasure and renewal.
Happy Friday and Shabbat Shalom.

red, white and love

7/4/2018

I used to look forward to Independence Day celebrations. As a Girl Scout, if we were at camp, I volunteered for the honor guard for morning flag raising because the beauty of that ritual gave me chills. As a teenager marching in drum and bugle corps and high school band, I loved the moment in the field show when we did the "Color Pre" drill (present the colors, a drill set designed to highlight the American and State flags which all drum corps were once required to carry in every performance. The requirement was discontinued in the late 1970's and today no one does that anymore).

Today, my sense of patriotism has been radically altered, by twenty years of working in a radical bicycle collective whose members included Socialists, Wobblies and other shades of radical activist and by my own awakening vision of a world with fewer and fewer borders and more peace.

Am I naive? Yes.
Am I stupid? No.
I still believe, more than ever, that all human beings matter, that unchecked capitalism creates and sustains poverty, and that racism is a scourge that must be educated out of us. Are these things possible? Not right now. Sorry.
The world, and especially our nation, is far too polarized for that change to come about in my lifetime.

But as we are instructed in Pirke Avot 2:21, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

And so the work -- the education, art, music, protest and activism -- continues.
On this Independence Day, let us remember that there are those living among us who are not free and who are not independent. Let us commit ourselves to the work of making our neighbors and fellow Americans free. And above all, let us do the work of freeing ourselves and each other from old assumptions, fears and prejudices that hold us all back. If we can do that, then we can reach outward and help the rest of the world.
Speedily and in our day, O God.

Let's write together! My 2018-19 focus

7/3/2018

Happy Summer!
Now that I'm home until High Holy Days, a major focus of mine will be working with synagogues I've scheduled visits to in the coming year to talk about writing a new song for each one. This can be a setting of liturgical text; or it can be a totally original song. This has become a fast-growing part of my work as a touring Jewish artist, and I could not be more excited as it combines my love of songwriting with my love of teaching.

Below are some examples of songs I've helped create in some kind of collaboration with various communities. If this looks like something you'd like to explore with me, and perhaps build an artist-in-residence weekend around -- let me know soon so we can add it to the calendar.

Below, in order:
1. Let's Come Together (Temple Sinai, Houston TX)
2. Happy Are We/Ashrei (Temple Beth Tikvah, Roswell GA)
3. Where In The World (Machane Jehudah day camp, Overland Park KS)

The Last Incredible June

6/21/2018

Tomorrow is the last day of Machane Jehudah Camp for this year. For the last two weeks, we've taken campers on a journey through the history of ancient and modern Israel, using experiential and informal education, art, music, theater and even sports to help teach the story of the Jewish people.
It's been wild and crazy at times, but overall the kids had a great time, growing in knowledge and spirit every day.
A week ago I could barely hear them singing during lunchtime ruach. Today they carried the melodies themselves and danced with delight.
This Shabbat will also mark the end of my sixth -- and final -- Incredible June, the ast summer I'll serve MJ Camp as Spiritual Life DIrector and Music Specialist. I've had an amazing time, but I am ready to let a younger person take on these tasks. I hope to be able to return to B'nai Jehudah now and then as a Shabbat guest artist and guest educator over long weekends, but this is my last full-on camp trip with this sweet community.

I am grateful for all that I've learned from my colleagues and especially from the campers. And I know that I will treasure the memories of my time working at the best Jewish day camp in the universe for a long time to come.

Thanks, MJ Camp! It's been an amazing ride.

Am I Asking For Too Much

6/4/2018

On the surface, I wrote this song in a couple of days. In reality, it took me over forty-five years to write it. I had to live long enough and learn enough and be in the world long enough to lose my way and find it again, to cut through everyone else's noise and give voice to the fifth-grader who couldn't understand why the conflict between Israeli Jews and Arabs never stopped. Could never stop. Getting back to what I believed when I was ten, in that awful fall of 1973, required me to put aside the rhetoric, the extreme polarization of both sides and a sense of nationalism that I was not raised with and which I realized I could not pretend a strong emotional attachment to.

(Having just written that statement, I realize I may not be welcomed into any Israel-centric circle on the right or left. That's okay. I'm an Oregonian, which is like being a 4-year-old Libertarian; we're not joiners, preferring to go our own way.)

So I took my own winding way back to who I was and realized that I still feel the same way. I believe with all my heart that if we don't put down our weapons and our indignation and start to listen to each other, we'll end up destroying the whole world. So I remain an idealist, someone who believes life is sacred enough to compel us all to choose peace. I will choose peace, for the rest of my life.
And here's the Israel song I finally wrote. If I don't write another, that will be okay.
Feel free to share as you like. And thanks for being patient.

May 28th, 2018

5/28/2018

For ages, friends have asked me, "when are you going to write a song about Israel?"
For a long time I didn't know how to respond.
I want you know I'm finally working on it.
I can't promise everyone will love it, but I can assure you it will come from the deepest honesty of my heart.
You're welcome.

Making music by hand in my refurbished studio space.

the israel/palestine conflict is killing Jewish education

5/22/2018

(Written in response to an online posting to a Jewsh Educators FB group -- to participate in an online discussion about how to navigtae the sticky morass that is the Israel-Palestine conflict -- and especially to those who answered the invitation with absolute vitriol that such an invitation from ANY left-leaning organization would be posted on a Jewish Ed site.)

To the folks who worry about Jewish education becoming "politicized" -- talk to those of us who cannot teach in a synagogue school because we still don't know how we feel about the Israel/Palestine thing and are not allowed to be honest about our ambivalence or lack of knowledge. Jewish education is already politicized whether we like it or not. And the vitirol being spewed here makes me want to avoid the topic altogether and consider what it might be like to be a Jew without a connection of any kind to Israel.
And guess what? I'm not alone.

A lot of us who grew up outside the bubble are not getting the support we need to learn more, to ask honest questions and to examine the multiple perspectives that inform the discussion here in North America and on the ground in Israel-Palestine. So if I don't feel safe asking my questions without getting slammed for having them in the first place, it's no wonder I'm considering how i might live Jewishly without that connection. Seems like too many people here want me to Stand With Something Or Other from the start. Sorry, that hasn't been my path. Sue me. And I'll be skipping this online conversation because I can already see that it could end up being a bashfest on both sides.

Perhaps -- and I write this knowing full well the professional risks involved in doing so -- it's time to have a discussion about how to live Jewishly outside of Israel without one's Jewishness depending on what happens in Israel.

Before anyone screams at me, know this: if you have the means to send your kids to Israel and/or visit yourself every year, if you have relatives there, if you are descended from Holocaust survivors who made their lives anew there -- this conversation is probably not for you. Because it cannot be for you.

But if you came to Judaism some other way, through some other doorway; If you are a convert, if you are low-income, If you are unaffiliated, If you live a town with virtually no or very little Jewish communal life happening -- then this conversation could be for you. Because being Jewish does not and cannot automatically require us to live in a certain place or even in a certain way anymore. It hasn't since before I was born, and outside of the most Orthodox communities it may never be that way again in the foreseeable future.

My Judaism is DIY, creative, resourceful and does not depend upon a strong connection to Eretz Yisrael, at least for now. It does not exclude Jews whose lives look different; rather, it creates a louder voice for those Jews who don't feel welcome in North American Jewish circles for one reason or another (the two biggies are intermarriage and poverty). The music I write, the art I create, and the way I inhabit my Jewish sefl are all informed by this reality. And I believe there's space in the tent for me and other independents like me.
Moreover, I believe there MUST be space in the tent for us if Jewish identity and Jewish life are to survive outside of Israel.
I want to be someone who helps make that space happen.

believe it or not, i think there's another album in me

5/17/2018

I've been writing Jewish songs for twenty years now (really?!).
And when I went to compile set lists for my two upcoming Seattle-area shows this weekend, I was surprised to find how long the list of songs was. Of stuff I'd written and recorded.
Then I turned to the list of other stuff I'd written but had not yet recorded in a studio.
And imagine my surprise when I realized that, if I pulled out just the good songs, songs I'd be happy to share, it was about half of an album.

What I'm saying is that there is very likely a fourth album of original; Jewish music in me.
I've already got a working title, and a vaguely overarching theme. (See photo and try to guess. Maybe I've made it too easy but that's where I'm going with this.)

And since my July and August are mostly here at home in the PNW, I'm going to spend a fair amount of time thinking about and writing more songs that fit under that vague umbrella.

Stay tuned.