Rising Song Community Spotlight: Beth Hamon

Interview with Beth Hamon by Liz Feldman, December 2021

Tell me about where you live, your work, and your Jewish community...

I make a living as a musician in Portland, Oregon. I was a bike mechanic for 20 years, but I trained in music education. So it came time for me to hang up my wrenches and see how far I could go with music. I really felt the pull to do Jewish music—to do the singer- songwriter thing, and also to be a touring artist and educator-in-residence. This has taken me out of town quite a bit, which also made me less available for things at home. So at this point I am not as involved in my home Jewish community, which is volunteer-run and now has almost 500 families. However, I am a “friend of the house” at several other synagogues in Portland. They hire me to sub, or to come in and do specific special programming. Portland has a widely scattered Jewish community, geographically, but it is a really special place where people fold their "Portland-ness" into their Jewishness and create this beautiful new fusion. Being Jewish here looks and feels different in a lot of ways, and interesting.

What was your Jewish background like, growing up?

I didn't grow up in Jewish community—my parents were definitely people on the outside. They were nightclub musicians, that is how they met. They made the decision to raise us to be good Americans. My dad left music to work in the hospitality industry, in hotel management. So we moved around a great deal and never really put down roots. I knew I was Jewish but I didn't really know what that meant; my parents weren't equipped to provide that for me.

But in my early 30s, my mom got sick and was in hospice. She asked me to promise her that I would say Kaddish for her after she died. I asked, “Where do I find this?” She said, “You live in Portland. Get a used prayer book at Powell’s with transliteration. Copy that page and put it in your wallet.”

I then met a rabbi doing a shift at the hospice as a chaplain. One night my sister and I were there, and my mom and the rabbi proceeded to do this thing called Vidui. After that the rabbi and I talked for hours. He invited me for Shabbat dinner, and that was the beginning for me. That was in the first months after my mother passed away. From there, I just started exploring Judaism; that's how the door opened. I’m an autodidact. I wanted to learn how to do stuff. I also had help: I went to synagogues and hung out; I joined the Reform synagogue in town; I learned a lot from their rabbi and took an adult b'nai mitzvah class.

And learning Hebrew—Cantor Judy Schiff was the best beginning Hebrew teacher ever. I entered this space and discovered all that I had missed growing up. When they realized that I had professional experience as a musician, and could sight read, somebody handed me The Complete Shireinu. So, I was doing all that, while I was working days at a bike shop. I’m an instrumentalist but I like to sing, and so I started learning all this wonderful music.

How did you get involved with Hadar and the Davening Leadership Fellowship?

I'm actually new to Hadar. I don’t even know what it is exactly, other than a group of people in New York, who are revisiting how we pray. I basically got into this to acquire some skills.

I've just started working closely with a rabbi in Portland who's into what Joey Weisenberg is doing. He advised me to apply for Hadar’s davening leadership fellowship. He sent me recordings and YouTube videos to listen to and watch. And I knew Deborah Sacks Mintz from Song Leader Boot Camp.

Joey’s very approachable on camera—he's very comfortable, at ease, very down to earth and very human—and I liked that very much. But he was using terms that I had no familiarity with. So it was kind of a mixed bag for me: this down-to-earth guy talking about this stuff that I had little or no exposure to. For example, I still don't know what I think of the word, "nigun."  To me, a nigun is an old tune by some guy with a white beard. As a Jewish musician I'm coming from someplace so different, from acoustic folk and pop. Nigun is this word that gets thrown around so easily. At Rising Song Institute, it's not necessarily referring to a traditional nigun, but they're using it to talk about music, in general. At first, I found that very confusing.

How did you get into writing Jewish liturgical music?

In the early days when our synagogue was smaller, community people took turns leading services. This is the synagogue where my wife had been a member already and I kind of married in. It was a place for me to learn some melodies to specific Hebrew prayers.

I was cranking up my Hebrew skills, I learned how to leyn Torah, and I was able to try out new melodies. Not growing up in it, I did not know many settings, so if the setting of a prayer did not appeal to me, I would write a new one. When it was my turn in Hadar’s Davening Leadership class to create a prayer space, I had written a new nigun. Then I put words to it, and then that became the space that I created: “The day draws down and we gather together. Watch the sky fade from purple to dark blue black. Strike a match, fill the space with sweet golden light, sparkle bright in our hearts, and the air hangs still…” I wrote that and I shared it.

That is so wonderful! I’m looking forward to listening to the songs you have written! What do you see as the next step for you in your Jewish music journey?

I have developed a lovely relationship with a new rabbi at one of the Conservative synagogues in Portland. He wanted to create a monthly event on the east side; we call it Shabbat Fusion. It's a Friday night service—first Friday of the month, almost entirely music. Maybe 45 to 50 minutes, and bring your own dinner afterwards. We light candles and make Kiddush and it's really sweet. And I've now been invited to come in and do a couple of other things at this synagogue. So, we'll see where it goes. The goal here is to create some new Jewish musical space and energy.

Finally, what questions might you have for others in this Rising Song community?

I’m curious to ask others: What brought you here? What was it that drew you to this sphere? And what do you bring of yourself—your spark, your creativity, your listening soul—that when connected with others could be amplified? Third, what do you want to take from your time in this sphere that you can use where you are?

I have loved this. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!

It's my pleasure; I’ve really enjoyed this! Thank you!

Check out more about Beth at https://www.jewishrockradio.com/artist/beth-hamon/