This summer I decided to cover my guitar with old Israeli stamps. I don’t know what prompted my decision, but I’m happy with it. Reflecting now, I suppose it honors my belief that music isn’t about entertainment but about transportation. Stamps serve the function of allowing items to travel from one place to another. […]
Music
Rabbinic Reflections on Phish
So, “3 rabbis went to a Phish concert,” sounds like the setup for a bad joke. And maybe it is, but it happened. Or, maybe it didn’t. And it probably happens all the time. Or, maybe it doesn’t. Rabbis like Phish. Or not. Last Saturday night I checked out a local Phish show with a […]
Every Jewish Wedding
Every Jewish wedding begins with some sort of invocation. Typically it includes the words, Bruchim habaim b’shem Adonai, berachnu hem m’beit Adonai (Welcome are those that come in the name of God, blessed are those from the house of God). When my wife, Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus, and I had the honor of officiating at my brother […]
The Love Song You’ve Never Heard
So my wife, Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus, and I recorded an album of beautiful lifecycle music that we’ve written in honor of various family celebrations over the last decade. It’s called Eit HaZamir. Whether you’re Jewish or not, whether you’ve experienced the various lifecycles that are captured on the album or not, anyone should be able […]
Life Lessons, 4/8/16 from Atlanta to Memphis
Airports– one of the few public spaces where it’s not only appropriate but appreciated when people direct you toward your baggage. Airplanes– designed to fulfill a tremendous human need but done so in a way that denies or disregards pretty much every other human need in the process. Why is it so comforting to be […]
Eit HaZamir Liner Notes
Eit HaZamir (2016) is a collection of songs that my wife, Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus, and I co-wrote for various family simchas and life cycle events. Though we lovingly and purposefully composed these songs specifically for bothers, sisters, cousins, and friends, we recorded them knowing that others would find meaning in them as well. Over the years […]