SHARON GOLDMAN
Kol Isha (A
Woman’s Voice)
(A version of this
review was published in the April 3, 2017 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)
Sharon Goldman, a New Jersey-based
singer-songwriter, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home, has created in Kol Isha (A Woman’s Voice), a remarkable
song-cycle in which she writes eloquently
and sings beautifully, from a liberal and feminist perspective, about being a
questioning Jewish woman.
Sharon’s role as
a questioning is established in “The Tribe,” the album’s opening song, in which
she explains who she is, the traditions she was born to and feels bound to, and
the lines and limits “I knew which I could not cross/For the survival of a
people,” until she meets the man who would become her second husband – and
asks, “Could I meet him as a woman/Not as a member of the tribe?”
Later, in “Kol
Isha (A Woman’s Voice),” the album’s title song, she reveals that her
questioning began to formulate as a 12-year-old girl, seated silently in the
women’s section in her synagogue, because only men’s voices were allowed to be
heard there. As someone who wanted to sing, and who knew the melodies, she
longed, in vain, to lift her voice during the service.
One of the most
telling songs is “The Sabbath Queen” in which the perfect image of the Sabbath
queen hides the reality of the hard life experienced by an Orthodox Jewish wife
and mother in a rigidly traditional household.
Sharon draws on
biblical imagery in a couple of songs, most notably “Pillar of Salt,” which is
based on the story of Lot’s wife. Sharon notes, with more than a hint of
resignation, that Lot’s wife was “a nameless wife and mother” in the Bible
legend, “that no one hears her voice.”
And in two
songs, “Jerusalem (Yerushalayim)” and “Land of Milk and Honey,” Sharon sings of
her complicated relationship with Israel – a loving relationship rooted in
ideals but tarnished by contemporary realities.
Sharon’s songs –
with their lovely melodies – are arranged in traditional folk styles. A couple
of songs have a distinctly Middle Eastern feel in the arrangements thanks to
oud player Brian Punka and percussionist Cheryl Prashker.
Kol Isha (A Woman’s Voice) is a very
special collection.
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--Mike Regenstreif
