My Hashtag Is Oy Vey

I am Jewish and proud. I’m not the kind of Jew who goes to synagogue every week. Frankly, I can’t tell you the last time I went to an actual service, but I live my life with a very Jewish way of thinking. Heck, I even have part of the Talmud tattooed on my arm. “Dare to be different and to follow your own star.” Just one of the many phrases I try to live my life by. I’m Jewish and proud, and I feel like that’s something that is scary to say in this day and age which is terrible but, on Sunday night at The Hook & Ladder Lounge & Theater in Minneapolis, I was among like-minded people and to say that it filled my heart to the brim with love and a sense of community would be an understatement.

Lea Kalisch (aka Rebbetzin Lea) is a Swiss-born, NYC-bred Jewish diva. Okay, I know that the word diva can have a bit of a negative connotation, but that’s not what I’m meaning here. When I say diva in the case of Lea, I mean that she does it all. She sings, she dances, she acts, she writes, she directs —the list goes on and on. Lea brought her Shtetl Cabaret show to the Hook and Ladder with the help of some friends and Jewbalaya – a local klezmer (Traditional music of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe) group. I didn’t know what to expect when walking into this show, but I knew that, in a space as beautiful and welcoming as The Hook & Ladder, I was in for something as different as it would be uplifting, and I was right.

The first half of Sunday night’s show definitely felt cabaret-esque. It was about an hour filled with Lea’s gorgeous voice and super-talented backing band with members from across the world. Some of the songs felt familiar, but others were clearly all original. The way that Lea could seamlessly switch from English to Yiddish, all the way to Arabic and French, left my head spinning in all of the right ways. Much like the language, the music’s vibe seemed to change constantly. Some songs had a jazzy approach, while others followed a more traditional, Eastern European Klezmer path. I’ll be honest, I was at this show for the more traditional offerings as it reminded me of growing up with my dad and his Klezmer band (shout out to the Java Jews from Des Moines, Iowa), but there was no denying the beauty and talent that came with the more original-sounding songs.

Between tracks, Lea would get the audience involved by doing little schticks. Although I found some of them hard to follow, they all left me smiling and even cracking a few hearty laughs. From turning into a matchmaker at one point to making sure that the audience was all doing okay and even giving them a few moments to complain (which, as you know, is a trademark of Jews– and, yes, I’m allowed to say that because, again, Jewish and proud here), Lea quickly abandoned her spot on the stage and made herself comfortable among the audience. Tearing down this fourth wall was something that clearly came easily to Lea, and it just felt natural. Sure, I was hiding behind my camera every time she would start walking towards the back of the crowd for fear of her grabbing my hand and making me join in on that spontaneous hakafot (like the hora minus the raising people in chairs) that happened multiple times throughout the night but watching people dance around the room was one of my favorite things that happened. It took me back to Simchat Torah services when growing up, and I’ll be honest, there were moments when I thought about just leaving my camera on a table and joining in. That didn’t happen, but the fact that I was even thinking about doing this says volumes about the fun-loving energy in the room.

The second half of Sunday night’s show featured the bombastic offerings of Jewbalaya- a local Twin Cities Klezmer band that Lea has performed and worked with for years. Although their sound was fairly traditional, some of the songs had an almost New Orleans feel, adding a little extra chutzpah. This is when the party really seemed to start. Although the audience was a bit older than my typical show, I feel like there was more movement and action happening at this show than at many of the shows I frequent. It didn’t matter your age, if you were Jewish or not, what brought you out to this show– whatever– you were dancing. You may have been watching the first half of this performance, but by the second half, you were part of it, and it was one of those moments that honestly just made my heart so full.

I’m Jewish and proud. In this day and age, I feel like that’s not something to advertise, and that makes me so sad. Sunday night, I got to be Jewish and proud. I got to see and hear things that took me back to my childhood and reminded me of Shabbos days with my bubbe and zayde (grandma and grandpa). Sunday night was perfect, and I hope that Lea Kalisch, her band, and Jewbalaya do something like this again soon so I can have that feeling again sooner rather than later.