I just wanted to share details about this Jewish book I have started to read to my son called “A Time to Hope” by PJ Library. It’s a really lovely book for kids.

PJ Library is a charity that provides free educational books to Jewish children of all ages, starting from 3 until the end of primary school mainly. My family has benefitted over the past 10 years from PJ Library’s free books, and experienced the positive impact of their brilliant, funny, insightful, inspiring books first hand.

I’ve also been nosing around their website resources and it’s not just for kids – it’s a great educational read for everyone, adults included! They are also great resources for non-Jewish people to read too.

I love how they include information about Sigd too which is a festival celebrated by Ethiopian Jews. It’s really interesting to hear about their traditions too. It’s such a miracle so many thousands of Ethiopians were saved and flown to Israel. However many times I read about this, I’m always amazed. 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were saved in November 1984 (“Operation Moses”) and then 15000 Ethiopians were saved over 3 days in May 1991 (“Operation Solomon”). Picture that, so many incredible, beautiful lives saved. Now, this Jewish community called “Beta Israel” are thriving in Israel and their customs and traditions are well respected, nurtured and celebrated. It’s lovely how Jewish people from all over the world share the same traditions but also, it’s so interesting to see how they vary according to each person’s culture depending on where in the world they come from.

I love how on this website, all the resources are neatly organised under each festival, for example, any songs, music, traditions, art or cooking activities for kids, recipes, or stories that relate to that particular festival. There are also lots of opportunities in this book to self-reflect, to see how these stories relate to our everyday lives and make us more conscious of how we are spreading our light in the physical world and perhaps inspire us to spread even more….

It’s easy to follow, it can be read in small chunks and the design is nice and bright which always fills me with hope.

https://pjlibrary.org/hope

I went to a Rock choir event yesterday with a few friends and a whole theatre load of other Rockies called “You’re The Voice” for the London/ Greater London region which took place at the New Wimbledon Theatre.

You’re The Voice – named after the song by John Farnham – captures the essence of this show, of the concept of Rock Choir, and also of life and how every day, we start a brand new chapter or page,

“We have the chance to turn the pages over, We can write what we want to write”. Such an empowering song!

Just because we’ve had a bad day or start to the day, it doesn’t mean that tomorrow will be the same. We can change the course of our day as we choose – we don’t have to let the stress around us affect us so much. Of course it’s not always straightforward and our lives can get stressful in situations that are out of our control, but we can only do our best and make sure we dip in and out of self-care as and when we need it. Which is where singing comes in sometimes!

We can’t ever take our life for granted – there’s no guarantee of tomorrow – which is why it’s so important to live in the moment and live each day as it comes with as much joy as possible.

Sunday evening’s event was absolutely incredible – “singing heaven” I call it – absolute bliss. The atmosphere was fabulous with around 1200 other people we call “Rockies” from different choirs coming together in unison to sing all our favourite Rock choir songs. The energy in the room was so high vibe and so liberating – the adrenaline from all the music, singing and laughs we had kept us going and standing up most of the time (even though we all had seats!!!). It was such a shame it had to end! It was great to see all the Rock choir leaders on stage and to cheer on our own leader Simon Reynolds every time he came to the front of the stage.

During the show, we did all the fun bits we enjoy doing at the end of class when we sing along in all our different choir voices along with the live track, but this time, we were all scattered all around the theatre and sang our parts as best as we could, though I’m sure quite a few of us dipped into the tune as well or some of the other sections – whoops! – but we all sang our hearts out and the energy was electric! So much so that the sound on stage stopped working towards the end of the show, but all was well as it was handled well on stage and it only lasted a few minutes and then the power was back on! There were some new songs that were sang as well by the leaders which we hadn’t sung in Rock choir – classics like “You are my sunshine” which was a great song to sing. So much musical talent amongst them all, each one of the leaders with their own personality and style which we all love and respect.

Also, there was a live band playing with a big screen in the background showing videos and lyrics of each the songs we sang – this was even more blissful for me, as anyone who knows me, knows I love karaoke too! It’s always good to have a reminder of the words we are supposed to be singing so we can enjoy the singing even more and don’t have the worry of wondering what the words are that we should be singing next, especially if it’s a song I don’t know or a song I haven’t sung for a long time.

During the show, we also recorded a new song – keeping my lips shut about any more details – which should be released next year, so that’ll be exciting to see how that turns out! It was nice to be part of this experience too and also to be raising money for Comic Relief at the same time.

“You’re the voice, try and understand it, Make a noise and make it clear…. We’re not gonna sit in silence…. We’re not gonna live with fear”.

Oh, whoa – powerful words! Why should we have to live with fear… We can’t control those who want to make our lives fearful, but we can choose to not live in fear! It is however within our control and our decision to choose what’s right for us as an individual, and at the same time, what is right for us as humanity.

We have to fight for what is right, for how we want society as a whole to look from the inside out. This is the only way to a more loving, joyful society. We all have a huge innate capacity for love that we can give to ourselves and also that can be shared with other people around us. We are so much better as human beings when we stand (or sing!) united as this is what enables our lights to shine so brightly over the darkness which I hope and pray will fade in good time. Darkness doesn’t ever lead us anywhere good, but increasing the light around us can make us feel so incredible, and so peaceful that the sky is our limit of never-ending possibilities, which is a wonderful feeling. Never underestimate the amazing feeling peace and joy can bring to us! “A Thousand Years” was a great example of this last night with all our phone torch lights lighting up the theatre so brightly along with all the multi-coloured lights people were waving in the air too.

Caroline Redman Lusher, founder of Rock Choir, was amazing as always last night. This was her 11th – out of 12 – show! I can’t imagine how she must have felt at the end of the show. It must be an indescribable feeling… It’s so amazing how she has created this choir that is now truly well established all over the UK. No doubt Caroline must be feeling on top of the world for what she has achieved in creating such a fabulous choir and giving so many people so much joy in their lives to look forward to every week and during these fun events they put on for us where we all come together in unison.

I’m going to end this blog and share some lyrics from one of the many favourite songs I love to sing, “Reach” by S Club, one of many songs that were played at yesterday’s event and a great message for us all:

“We’ve got to all stick together
Good friends are there for each other
Never ever forget that I’ve got you
And you’ve got me, so

✨✨⭐️ Reach for the stars⭐️✨✨
Climb every mountain higher
Reach for the stars ✨💃✨🕺✨
Follow your heart’s desire ❤️💙💜🩷🧡💛
Reach for the stars ✨💃✨🕺✨
And when that rainbow’s shining over you🌈
That’s when your dreams will all come true”

Singing is such an uplifting and spiritual experience for me which I why I was curious to try out Mill Hill community choir. I already go to Rock Choir locally, and though I love it there, I was interested in singing different types of songs and see where it took me without any expectations.

I love to sing so it was a no-brainer that I wanted to do more of it, feel all the feels and expand my musical capacity and my capacity for joy too. Especially as I have some spare capacity, this has been a great way to meet new like-minded people and has made the “networking” process fun. Isn’t this what life is all about, enjoying our time on this planet whilst we are alive? There is so much in life that can get us down and cause us lots of anxiety – we can’t take our life for granted anymore. Each and every one of our lives are so precious – so it’s so important to grab those opportunities for joy when we can and make the best of life as it is with what we have right now in this present moment and look after our mental well-being.

The warm-up exercises Ryan, our choir leader, normally starts with are lots of fun – we all let our hair loose and have a good laugh. I sometimes wonder in class what others might think when looking at us from the outside – however, in the moment, we are so focused on the joy and fun we are having that it really doesn’t matter!! Ryan isn’t ever fussed if we make a wrong move, sing a wrong note or in the wrong tune or harmony though most of the time, we manage to get the vocals right in the end and it always sounds great by the end. I always get lost in the joy that singing brings to me. The most important thing Ryan says is to get it out of your system! The more we do it, the easier it gets.

It really is very empowering just to let it all out, to let our voice loose. We all have our own voice and the right to express ourselves as we truly are. Singing is a great way of connecting with our authentic selves – it really helps us to access our own heart and sense of compassion, even if it is only for ourselves. Self-care and looking after our own well-being is so important, and singing plays an important part in this.

It’s so lovely to see everyone from all walks of life coming together in unity and joy to sing lots of new, insightful, empowering, uplifting, peaceful songs with various different harmonies – and also in different languages sometimes – which we all experiment with to see which frequency harmony resonates with us the best. We can all explore as we choose when we get to class – we aren’t ever stuck in any particular harmony though I often like to sing the alto parts and sometimes those higher frequencies if I can manage it.

Music is a great tool to communicate our experience of life in a way we wouldn’t normally express ourselves with words. It also makes a big difference to our well-being and the communities around us and really helps to connect us all like no other medium can.