By Caleb McGever | FāVS News Reporter
After travelling the world for his singing, Jewish Classical crossover singer Yudi Cohen will visit Spokane for the Chabad of Spokane County’s yearly pre-high holidays concert fundraiser.
The concert will take place on Sept. 11 at The Box Car Room, 116 West Pacific Avenue Suite 100 at 7 p.m.
His concert will be titled “Ani Yehudi,” which translates to “I am a Jew.” The subtitle is “Beyond Reason,” which indicates the ways Cohen hopes to explore the question of what it means to embody the Jewish identity.
Cohen said that he chose music that represents different moments in his life and hopes the audience can experience a relationship with themselves as individuals and with God.
Being proud of being Jewish
The message of the show is to be proud, comfortable and confident in who you are, as well as to strive to be the best that you can be, said Cohen.
This message is a universal one, he continued. Since the show focuses on his own life, he plans to explore these themes as a Jewish person.
Cohen tries to bring out an authentic Jewish perspective throughout his performance. His music will be “unapologetically Jewish,” specifically an unapologetic “Judaism based on the teachings of Hasidic teachings.”
Cohen hopes that his performance could help non-Jewish people understand what Judaism represents.
Putting on a demonstration of Jewish pride is especially important today, he said, due to large-scale misconceptions about the Jewish people.
“A lot of people today, a lot of countries as well, are suddenly waking up to discover that a lot of their relationship and what they understand about Judaism is only anti-semitism,” Cohen said.
Sharing a message of Jewish pride is also important for Jewish people who feel beaten down and unconfident in their identity as Jewish.
“Because of what’s happened to the Jewish people over thousands of years, confidence has been smashed out of [Jewish people]. We now need to wake up, because it’s messianic times,” he said.
He said that Jewish people try to answer antisemitism logically, but that these answers don’t tend to satisfy opponents. This is where the theme, “beyond reason,” comes into play.
“My perspective is that as Jews, we need to start expressing to the world in a way that not giving reason, we are who we are,” he said.
Beginning in the Chabad
Cohen’s musical travels started when he was a child and he flew from London to New York as a child soloist with the Jewish enclave of Stamford Hill.
Although a large portion of these trips was spent in the recording studio, an important element of the trip was the visit to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Schneerson, who died in 1994, lived in New York and was an important figure in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Amongst other things, he taught that Jewish people should live to reflect the values of Judaism.
He helped establish Chabad-Lubavitch centers around the world to provide Jewish education and social services. The Chabad of Spokane County is one of these centers.
“We used to go from London to New York to visit him, you know, as any spiritual person would go to visit their spiritual leaders,” said Cohen.
While Cohen’s music career began in Jewish choirs, and still remains there, it soon grew to include other music. Specifically, it expanded to include opera.
Entering the world of opera
Cohen was attracted to opera music and eventually pursued a degree in it in South Africa.
Cohen has performed operatic roles such as Don Jose from “Carmen,” Rodolfo from “La Boheme” and Alfredo from “La Traviata.”
“In fact, it’s funny because I did my rabbinical ordination in Melbourne, Australia. I think it was in 1996 and the first opera I did was ‘Carmen.’ It was a very interesting contrast between the two worlds,” he said.
While the music of religious and Orthodox Judaism focused on the service of spirituality, Cohen found that opera’s focus was elsewhere. One difference he experienced in opera was singing onstage alongside women, as opposed to only with men.
“I think that religious and Orthodox Judaism is focused very much on the service of religion and the service of spirituality and doesn’t encourage, let’s say, men singing with women. I mean, and here I was singing with women on stage, which was quite a departure from where I came from.”
It was a challenge to have a foot in both worlds, but Cohen said that while he balanced between the different methods of the two genres, he didn’t change his motivation.
“Although I am a singer, my main focus is on reaching people. My main goal is to open people’s hearts, and therefore all the music that I sing is geared towards that purpose,” Cohen said.
Sharing unity through music
Cohen said that he chooses to spread his message through music because it brings people together so easily.
“I think that music is something that unites people […] music brings people together when we sit and we sing the song,” he said.
Although it can be used to spread negative messages, Cohen said that it helps people connect together, that it transcends boundaries and that it transcends languages.
To demonstrate music’s ability to unify people, he offered a comparison: “If I’m giving a speech, and somebody else starts talking whilst I’m talking, it’s very disturbing, right? But if I’m singing and somebody else harmonizes with me, that’s beautiful.”
“It’s way beyond speech, which, if two people start speaking at the same time, they disturb each other. But if two people sing at this time they come together to unify,” he continued.
The recommended fee for attending the concert is $25, but people who aren’t able to pay the fee are still welcome to join.
“None one is turned down due to lack of funds,” says the event poster.
Rabbi Yisroel Hahn from the Chabad of Spokane County said that everyone is welcome to the concert, no matter their religion.
“We’re here together. And when non-jews get together and join us, that’s also a symbol of strength, that we’re together, we’re not alone. That’s a very powerful thing,” he said.
The concert is meant to bring people together and connect people with spirituality and to give people a way to be in touch with a deep and meaningful reality.
Additionally, while there is a suggested donation for attending the concert, those who are not able to pay are still welcome to attend.
“I want people to know that money should never be an obstacle,” said Hahn.
To buy a ticket for Chabad of Spokane presents Yudi Cohen’s Ani Yehudi, click here.
