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Juliet I. Spitzer, M.Ed. is an international award-winning singer/songwriter and recording artist,
and the guest cantor at Congregation
Beth Israel in Media, PA. She composes for, and performs with Theatre
Ariel, Pennsylvania's professional Jewish theater company. She is
a member of the a cappella trio MIRAJ, MIRAJ is a creative collaboration between three Jewish leaders and educators: Rabbi Margot Stein, Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, and Juliet Irene Spitzer. The three women met many years ago in a Hebrew grammar class as students at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. They formed a study group to help overcome the monotony of the course, and soon found themselves laughing and munching on chips as much as studying.
"We have met every Tuesday each week since then for rehearsal, but really it's more like lunch, life and laughter," says Rabbi Raphael. Commenting that it is the group's "exquisite good fortune to have this sacred, weekly time together," Juliet Spitzer adds that the women "sustain each other in ways that defy simple description." The members of MIRAJ have become close friends, supporting each other through subsequent childbirths-they have 8 children between them, ranging in age from 1 to 17-as well as the deaths of family members, job transitions, health issues, and other life changes. The group's songs sometimes come from these life events—the crisis or celebration of the moment. The women write richly harmonic original compositions for Jewish life rituals, Shabbat and holidays, as well as songs about Biblical heroines and events and new interpretations of traditional liturgy. Their focus is on developing songs that can make a service more powerful and inclusive of women's experience—what Rabbi Raphael calls a "feminist transformation of Judaism through songs, ritual writing and prayer." The women somehow manage to make time for their music in the midst of very busy professional careers and family lives. Says Rabbi Raphael, "Music seems to sustain us as we get through the tough times. As we know, it is a powerful tool for cultural change, empowerment and healing." MIRAJ has recorded two CDs, "Counting Angels in the Wilderness" and "A Moon Note." Each member of MIRAJ has also recorded two solo albums of her own, as well as collaborated with other Jewish musicians of Shabbat Unplugged to record a Passover CD, "A Night of Questions"-Songs to Accompany the New Reconstructionist Haggadah (available at www.jrf.org). www.shechinah.com/MIRAJ/women.html |
the vocal ensemble 
The
three later began working together with a fourth woman on a book about
Jewish women's rituals. During retreats to work on the book, they began
to sing together-all had been singers and songwriters before meeting-and
realized how well their voices blended together in harmony. Then singer-songwriter
Linda Hirschorn asked them to open for her at a local concert, and MIRAJ
was born.