2014 in Review

This has been a whirlwind year, full of moves and career changes, new skills and old interests. Last year, Marc and I rang in the new year in Birmingham (yes, Birmingham, Alabama), having just moved there in December. By March, I was looking for ways out; by April, I had been accepted to graduate school at George Washington University; and by June, I had moved to Washington, DC, where I fell in love with museums all over again. It's been a strange, but wonderful year.

Birmingham

(December 2013-June 2014 with a brief return in August)

Birmingham Skyline from Railroad Park

I was so excited to move to Birmingham. Yes, you read that right. I - lover of all things Abraham Lincoln, who has ranted on multiple occasions about Confederate flag memorabilia, and loved living in Philadelphia - was optimistic about moving to the deep south. I said goodbye to my winter coat (though, luckily, I held onto it), bragged about the warm weather I enjoyed to my friends up north and laughed at the southerners around me who bundled up for 50 degree weather in January. I got involved in the Jewish community, which was tight-knit in a way that I have only seen in the south. I joined the Jewish young adult social group, became a board member of the Birmingham chapter of Hadassah, took a part-time job at the JCC, and became a substitute teacher at the Jewish Day School. Perhaps most impressively, I finally learned how to cook. I had plenty of time, since I was never able to find full-time employment, so I baked and cooked, and sent Marc to work with all my leftover concoctions. I even blogged all my recipes! I am most proud of my bagel recipe, which took me months to perfect.

If Birmingham was so great, why was I already looking to leave by March? It was a number of things, really, not all of them Birmingham's fault, though much of it was.  

• It is not a walkable city and I had to drive almost everywhere, despite living downtown. Marc was able to walk to work and we could walk to Railroad Park (pictured above), but for errands, for my job, or anything else, I had to drive and I hate driving.
• Birmingham inhabitants love their city, but questioned us constantly about why we would have chosen to move there. It is not a region to which people move without previous ties to the area, so we received a lot of strange looks when people learned that we did not have any relatives nearby or family history there. People were still very welcoming, don't get me wrong, but these kinds of questions made it seem like Birmingham had nothing of value to offer outsiders.
• The job market for me was terrible. My job at the JCC was a part-time front desk position, where I greeted members, answered the phone, and took payments for swimming lessons on the 5:00-9:00 AM shift. Talk about being underemployed!
• My unhappy job situation prompted me to really sit down and think about the career that I want. Over the past four years, I have continued to cycle back to two potential careers: museum exhibition development and Jewish education. For years, I have researched (with varying levels of seriousness) museum studies and Jewish studies programs. I came back to Jewish Studies this year, hoping to further my education far away from Birmingham. While looking for Jewish Studies degree programs on the east coast, I came across a brand new Masters degree: Experiential Education and Jewish Cultural Arts (EEJCA) at GW, which combines museum education and Jewish Studies into one two-year program. I found it in late March. I had missed the application deadline, but thankfully, they were taking late applications and by Passover in April, I was in and planning a move to Washington, DC!

Solo Summer in Washington, DC

(June-July 2014)

In the middle of June, I left Marc in Birmingham to start my first summer semester of graduate school at GW. It was the first time in my life that I have ever lived completely by myself, an experience I could have done without. Aside from the loneliness of missing Marc, I had a very active summer. I met 19 new people - 6 of them in the EEJCA program and 13 in the Museum Education Program (MEP) - and spent more hours at museums than I can count.

Top Row: U.S. Holocaust Museum, Building Museum, Air & Space, Frederick Douglass House
Bottom Row: Smithsonian Castle, National Zoo

I had classes about museums all day on weekdays, but managed to do non-class, non-museum related things as well. I enjoyed a Bruckner symphony at the Kennedy Center, trivia on Wednesday nights with friends from Philadelphia, and Friday night jazz concerts at the National Gallery Sculpture Garden.

Independence Day

(Fourth of July Weekend)

I did get to see Marc for the 4th of July weekend. We met for the weekend in Charlottesville, VA, where we spent even more time at museums. On the 4th of July, we saw 72 people become naturalized citizens of the United States at Monticello. We also visited the homes of James Madison and James Monroe, went hiking in Shenandoah National Park, and saw the Montpelier Train Depot, which is an amazing little self-guided museum restored to the time of segregation.

Clockwise from the Left: Shenandoah, Monticello, Montpelier Train Depot

Fall Term

(September-Present)

The best part of fall term was that Marc got a job in Virginia and we were able to move to Maryland together, instead of continuing our long-distance marriage. Goodbye forever, Alabama! In DC, we have thrown a few house parties, played some weeknight trivia, and witnessed the Nationals' no-hitter in the last game of the regular season (though sadly, they didn't go very far in the playoffs).

We briefly flirted with joining a Modern Orthodox shul down the street from us, which has a rabbi and a maharat (which is basically a female rabbi without all the religious authority they would have if they were men), a waist-high mechitza down the middle of the room, and a very welcoming community, but ultimately decided after spending Rosh Hashanah there that Modern Orthodoxy is not for us. We spent Yom Kippur at the Conservative synagogue across the street and are still trying out synagogues in the area for the right fit. Also, for Rosh Hashanah, I got to try out a new apple-stuffed challah recipe and it was delicious!

My class on contemporary Jewish life in America was by far the best. It was academically engaging and intellectually challenging and allowed for a mix of personal experience and professional detachment when analyzing the various topics. Outside of class, we got to see multiple Jewish plays and speakers, including a very interesting interpretation of Yentl at Theater J and a great performance of Fiddler on the Roof at Arena Stage.

Museum Audiences was also a great class with flexible assignments that gave me the opportunity to apply our readings to the audiences that I am specifically interested in engaging: Jewish adults and non-Jewish audiences in Jewish settings.

Teaching 5th Graders at the National Gallery of Art

Finally, there was the Museum Education Seminar course and corresponding internship at JPDS in DC. The seminar itself, which met once a week on Fridays so that we could learn education theory and discuss our internships with each other, was a thorn in my side, but the internship was wonderful! The teachers I worked with and shadowed were fantastic and I already miss my kids. For my final project, I took my fifth graders to the National Gallery of Art to learn about Exodus in art, Moses, and leadership.

That is basically my 2014 in a nutshell. In 2015, I hope for more of the same great experiences. I will try to be better about blogging them when they happen.

Happy New Year!

Quote of the Week: I wish I was Jewish

This semester for my field placement at JPDS, I am finally being forced to learn Hebrew in a real way. The third, fourth, and fifth graders know more Hebrew than I do, which makes it hard for me to help them with their Hebrew translations for Judaic Studies, but there are two new students to the school this year who have no Hebrew background, so I have volunteered to tutor them in the aleph-bet.

As an aside, I should mention that, while this is a Jewish Day School, it is also a community day school and they have a number of non-Jewish students enrolled (whether because it is better than their public school options, within walking distance of their homes, or any other reason that a parent would enroll their child in a private school). These two students - a boy and a girl - are not Jewish, so the Hebrew is new and hard for them, but they are so focused on learning it. Time for me to channel their drive, dust off my Rosetta Stone, and give Hebrew another try myself!

During our first lesson today, we reviewed the difference between בּ (a "b" sound) and ב (a "v" sound) and between ד (a "d" sound) and ר (an "r" sound), coupled with different vowels to make different sounds, like "da-beh" or "reh-va." Aside from the Hebrew, I also wound up teaching them about what it means to be Jewish. They were both shocked that I am not from Israel, have no family in Israel, and am not fluent in Hebrew. "But I thought you were Jewish!" the boy said with obvious confusion. We had a quick discussion about what it means to be Jewish, but the duality of Judaism as a people and a religion was a question that took me over a year to understand and three years later, I am still not good at articulating an answer. If the history of the Jewish people has taught us anything, it is that there is no easy answer to that question.

Later on in Judaic Studies, while my female student struggled determinedly to translate Parsha Vayetse - eyes flicking back and forth between the text and her vocabulary sheet to find סֻלָּם and scribble "ladder" above the Hebrew, circling the prefix and suffix on the word וְרֹאשׁוֹ in order to find the root meaning "head" in the middle of the word - she said in frustration, "I wish I was Jewish! Then I would already know Hebrew." If only being Jewish came with Hebrew proficiency that could be downloaded into your brain! Lacking that, we will have to stumble through the language together.

Pew: A Portrait of Millennial Jewish Americans

For my Contemporary Jewish Life class this week, we are reading and discussing the Pew Survery: A Portrait of Jewish Americans, published in October 2013, as well as five responses to the data, which were all new to me, despite the vast amount of reading I did on the subject when it was first published last year. Those articles, if you care to read them, can be found here (I reference this one specifically in my response below), here, here, here, and here, though there are many other great analyses of the survey out there as well. This class has forced me, after a year of trying, to put some of my own thoughts about the study into words. Those thoughts are below.

Pew Survey: A Portrait of Jewish Americans

Much has been written - both Jewish and secular - about the disengagement of the Millennial generation in almost every context. For Jewish purposes, this dovetails nicely with the ever-present concern of Jewish survival into the next generation. Whether it is our growing rates of intermarriage and secularization, decreasing support for Israel, or plummeting synagogue membership, we are a cause for concern about the Jewish future. Solutions to the Millennial problem have been varied.

Every generation since Abraham and Sarah has worried that it would be the last. In a sense, the numbers in the Pew survey can only serve to reinforce a fear that has never needed help gaining ground. Alarmists look at the numbers and predict the end of Judaism within the next two decades (or some equally short span of time). On the other hand, optimists see increasing pride in Jewish identity as a sign of the end of anti-Semitism in America. Others claim that the survey was flawed and, therefore, can be of little use. While the data can be interpreted in many conflicting ways, there can still be value in quantifying the obstacles we face on the road ahead, so that we can use our resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

In response to continuity concerns following the publication of the 1990 National Jewish Population Study, the Jewish Federation pushed for better Jewish education, creating programs like Birthright and pushing Jewish summer camps (see Tobin, Loving Us to Death). As a result, the vast majority of my friends who were raised Jewish have wonderful memories of their trips to Israel (I do too!) and a working knowledge of Birkat Hamazon. These experiences have clearly left an impression, but, except in very rare cases, those organized Jewish opportunities disappear once we reach adulthood and we are left with the difficult task of continuing our Jewish education and maintaining a Jewish life all on our own. It is my guess that if a study addressed the age at which Jews disengage with Judaism, it would show a significant drop in engagement around age 22, when we leave college and truly enter adulthood.

If it is becoming easier for Jewish Millennials to assimilate into American society, it should be equally easy, if not more so, to feel welcomed in our own communities. I think that a push for experiential education aimed at Millennials and no-pressure opportunities to learn about Jewish ritual observance (like Chabad offers, but without the Rebbe) would go a long way toward keeping us in the fold. Where they exist, efforts to engage young Jewish adults seem to be incredibly successful. Washington DC has Sixth & I, Philadelphia has The Collaborative (and others), and Birmingham, Alabama has You Belong in Birmingham. Each of these organizations brings together young adults for social and philanthropic events, sometimes in a specifically Jewish context, but usually not. The successes of these programs should attest to the desire of Jewish Millennials to engage Jewishly.

To a certain extent, I have to agree with Tobin's analysis that outreach to Jews who are on the edges of Judaism (and their non-Jewish spouses) is a waste of our time, in the sense that it does little to engage individuals before they reach the outskirts of our communities. Perhaps, similar to the 1990s push for Jewish education, experiential educational opportunities for Jewish adults who are post-college and pre-parenthood would create a comfort with and knowledge of Judaism to maintain that Jewish identity into the next generation or, at least, into the next stage of life for Jewish Millennials.

Graduate School: Week 1 Recap

As I mentioned previously, over the summer I started a graduate program in Washington DC! The summer was jam-packed with new friends, new projects, and new museum jargon. After a whirlwind 6-week summer semester, I returned to Birmingham for the month of August to digest all this new information and to pack up my life for a permanent move to DC.

I've been back for a week and I've hit the ground running! It seems easiest at this point to split my life into three categories: Personal, Religious, and Academic.

Personal
My new apartment in Silver Spring is wonderful and still has that new-apartment smell! I quickly learned how to get from my building to important places like the Metro, grocery store, and Starbucks, but I'm still working on remembering how to get to the downtown shopping center. There is a Ben and Jerry's and a New York & Co. downtown, so I'm sure I will find my way back there soon enough. Yesterday, I learned how to take the bus to the day school I will be working at for the semester. The apartment itself is beautiful.

My living and dining room

We have a great view of the Metro tracks and what will eventually be a landscaped park area. For now, Marc is still in Birmingham, so the apartment is pretty sparse and quiet. I can't wait until he moves here with me permanently to start his new job (three weeks and counting). This summer and the next three weeks are the first (and hopefully last) time I have ever lived alone. It's incredibly boring and lonely to live alone, so it has forced me to become more of an extrovert.

Religious
Learning my way around a new town also means finding the kosher food and the synagogues. Silver Spring (and Southern Maryland in general) has a large Jewish population, so I have many options to choose from. The local Giant carries plenty of kosher products, but I also have two kosher grocery stores within driving distance for even more variety. I had heard very good things about Moti's (formerly Kosher Mart) in Rockville. The accompanying restaurant of the same name has excellent falafel, pita, and hummus, but I was more impressed by the grocery selection at Shalom Kosher right here in Silver Spring.

On the synagogue side of things, I have at least four options within about a mile of my house (and that's not including the Reform synagogue), all somewhere between Conservative and Modern Orthodox. The High Holidays are coming and, for the fourth year in a row, I am in a new place shul shopping in a rush to find a community in time for Rosh Hashanah. So far, I have visited one - Ohev Shalom. It was my first experience in a Modern Orthodox shul with a mechitza. The mechitza is a half-wall that runs down the middle of the room, so men and women can see each other and have equal space and sight lines to the action. The community was welcoming and we had a very nice lunch after the service with a few members (thanks to one of my classmates, Rena, who coordinated it at the last minute). We have since been invited to the Rabbi's home for dinner. I plan to continue my Jewish firsts this weekend with a trip to my first independent minyan, Segulah. After that, I will head back to my comfort zone in the Conservative movement at Tifereth Israel.

Academic
It's been a long time since I was in school with readings, assignments, and projects to do. I have to say that I was starting to like the nine-to-five professional life, but education has sucked me back in. I'm hoping that I have outgrown some of my worse undergrad habits - like procrastinating and drinking too much caffeine - over the past four years, but I guess we'll see about that. I couldn't be more excited about this program. It combines everything I have ever wanted to do. For those who don't know, I will be receiving a Master of Arts in Education and Human Development (M.A. in Ed. & H.D.) in Experiential Education and Jewish Cultural Arts (EEJCA). Yes, it's a mouthful. Basically, it is a combination of Museum Education and Jewish Cultural Studies. There are seven of us in this "pioneering" cohort trying to find our ways into the wide-ranging field of experiential Jewish education. In addition to learning about Jewish life in DC with my EEJCA cohort, we are also part of GW's Museum Education Program (MEP), which is a class of thirteen. Together, the twenty of us spent the summer learning the history and best practices of museum education. My vocabulary now includes phrases like "entrance and exit narrative," "lofty outcome," and "MEPiphany" (credit to my MEP friend Alli for that last one). I missed them all on our month off and was so glad to see everyone again this week.

Coming from Knox's trimester system, where each term was only ten weeks long, I am having trouble envisioning a regular sixteen-week semester, but I'm sure I will appreciate the extra time later. This semester I have three classes:

1. Contemporary Jewish Life will cover Jewish life in America after WWII, including topics like Jewish cultural and religious identity, food, and music. There is not a single thing on the syllabus that I am not excited to read about and discuss. The Pew survey on American Jewish life? Can't wait to re-read it! Judaism in the Diaspora? Awesome! Interfaith marriage? Bring it on. Join me in my love for this class by watching Stephen Colbert's 1-800-OOPS-JEW Atone Phone segments. The class will require weekly blog-style papers in response to our readings, so hopefully that will make me better at keeping up with my own blog. 
2. Museum Audiences also promises to be fascinating. I look forward to building a skill set that will allow me to engage museum visitors of all ages and backgrounds. It is important in any public presentation to know your audience and museum audiences are no different. My classmates have wide-ranging educational and professional experiences that I hope to learn from in this class. 
3. Field Placement and Seminar is designed to give us experience with an audience we are not particularly familiar with. I have been assigned to the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital, where I will be teaching two special needs fifth grade Judaic Studies classes about art in relation to the Book of Exodus. I don't know anything about special needs education or art, so this will be fun. If you know of any art exhibitions in the Washington DC area that contain Biblical art (specifically about Exodus, if possible) and would be suitable for a fifth grade field trip, please give me suggestions! Thank you! 

This has been my first week of fall term. I will keep you posted as the weeks go on.

Quote of the Week: Anti-Semitism

In May, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum interviewed Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks for their Voices on Antisemitism podcast series. His comments seem especially appropriate in the current global climate.

"People trying to understand antisemitism study Jews, but Jews are always only the objects of antisemitism, they are never the cause of antisemitism. And the result is that you find antisemitism in countries like Japan that have no Jews at all. So when you try and understand antisemitism by looking at Jews you're looking in the wrong place. To understand antisemitism you have to learn to understand antisemites."

Listen to the entire insightful interview with Rabbi Sacks here and subscribe to future USHMM podcasts for free on iTunes.

Quote of the Week: Improve the World

US Capitol Grounds Memorial Tree

Aesculus Hippocastanum (Horse Chestnut)

Sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz to honor Anne Frank

"No one need wait; start right now to improve the world"

You may remember in April that I was very excited about the upcoming planting of a sapling from Anne Frank's chestnut tree outside of the Capitol. Well, last week I moved to DC to begin a brand new graduate school program at George Washington University (more on that later) and celebrated my first full week in the city by walking down the Mall to find Anne Frank's tree.

There are a lot of trees across the west lawn of the Capitol, so if you are looking for the Anne Frank tree, go up to the steps of the Capitol and follow the path south. The tree will be on your left, right about where the circled tree is here:

I love the quote that they have chosen to accompany this tree, though I think it is a paraphrasing of this longer Anne Frank quote: "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." It seems especially appropriate in this location. The city seems constantly charged with a sense of purpose, perhaps because of its transient nature, which is inevitable in a city built around our ever-changing politics. Even when our government is at a near standstill, the people are active. DC is filled with long-time residents, newcomers, students, and visitors, who use every moment to learn and grow and improve the world - and the world needs a lot of improvements. Here are some recent issues that Congress has failed to make any better:

• Gun control, because we should have said #notonemore a long time ago
• Student loan debt, so Millenials can have a life someday
• Raising the minimum wage, so that everyone can make enough to live
• Extending unemployment insurance, because the job market is still hard
• Funding the Department of Transportation, so you can get from point A to point B without the road or bridge crumbling beneath you
• Immigration reform, because the system is broken

No wonder Congress' approval rating is only seven percent, the lowest it has been in history. I think it would do Congress some good to take another look at this little tree on their way to work.

Count the Omer 2014

It's Passover, which means it is time once again to start counting the Omer! If you will recall from last year, the Omer is the period between Passover and Shavuot when we count from day one on the second night of Passover to day forty-nine. In Temple times, this seven-week period was the barley harvest between the Passover offering and the Shavuot offering (learn more at My Jewish Learning).

In today's context, these seven weeks represent the journey from slavery (Passover) to freedom (receiving the Torah at Sinai on Shavuot). Accordingly, Kabbalah mimics this Biblical journey by considering the counting of the Omer as a time of reflection and personal growth. Each week and day is assigned one of seven sephirot (characteristics) that we should try to improve. They are:

1. Chesed - Loving-kindness 
2. Gevurah - Strength, Justice 
3. Tiferet - Balance, Compassion 
4. Netzach - Endurance, Ambition 
5. Hod - Gratitude, Humility 
6. Yesod - Foundation, Connection 
7. Malchut - Kingdom, Leadership

HomerCalendar.net has a great calendar and the daily blessings for you to keep up with counting the Omer (bonus: Simpsons quotes!). Last year, I blogged all the days, which was fun and also very time-consuming. So this year, while I will be doing my own personal reflection, I am taking a different approach online. I encourage you to count the Omer and reflect, daily or weekly, on ways that you can improve yourself in the seven sephirot. For a refresher, feel free to check out my posts from last year. If a day or week hits you with particular meaning, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Happy counting!

Count the Omer Posts, 2013

1. Chesed sheb'Chesed, Loving-kindness within Loving-kindness 
2. Gevurah sheb'Chesed, Strength within Loving-kindness 
3. Tiferet sheb'Chesed, Harmony within Loving-kindness 
4. Netzach sheb'Chesed, Ambition within Loving-kindness 
5. Hod sheb'Chesed, Gratitude within Loving-kindness 
6. Yesod sheb'Chesed, Foundation within Loving-kindness 
7. Malchut sheb'Chesed, Kingdom within Loving-kindness 
8. Chesed sheb'Gevurah, Loving-kindness within Justice 
9. Gevurah sheb'Gevurah, Strength within Restraint 
10. Tiferet sheb'Gevurah, Harmony within Restraint 
11. Netzach sheb'Gevurah, Endurance within Strength 
12. Hod sheb'Gevurah, Humility within Strength 
13. Yesod sheb'Gevurah, Foundation within Strength 
14. Malchut sheb'Gevurah, Leadership within Power 
15. Chesed sheb'Tiferet, Loving-kindness within Balance 
16. Gevurah sheb'Tiferet, Power within Beauty 
17. Tiferet sheb'Tiferet, Harmony within Harmony 
18. Netzach sheb'Tiferet, Endurance within Compassion 
19. Hod sheb'Tiferet, Gratitude within Compassion 
20. Yesod sheb'Tiferet, Connection within Compassion 
21. Malchut sheb'Tiferet, Leadership within Compassion 
22. Chesed sheb'Netzach, Loving-kindness within Ambition 
23. Gevurah sheb'Netzach, Strength within Endurance 
24. Tiferet sheb'Netzach, Compassion within Endurance 
25. Netzach sheb'Netzach, Ambition within Endurance 
26. Hod sheb'Netzach, Gratitude within Ambition 
27. Yesod sheb'Netzach, Foundation within Ambition 
28. Malchut sheb'Netzach, Leadership within Endurance 
29. Chesed sheb'Hod, Loving-kindness within Majesty 
30. Gevurah sheb'Hod, Justice within Humility 
31. Tiferet sheb'Hod, Beauty within Majesty 
32. Netzach sheb'Hod, Ambition within Humility 
33. Hod sheb'Hod, Humility within Majesty 
34. Yesod sheb'Hod, Foundation within Gratitude 
35. Malchut sheb'Hod, Leadership within Humility 
36. Chesed sheb'Yesod, Loving-kindness within Connection 
37. Gevurah sheb'Yesod, Power within Connection 
38. Tiferet sheb'Yesod, Harmony within Connection 
39. Netzach sheb'Yesod, Endurance within Connection 
40. Hod sheb'Yesod, Majesty within Connection 
41. Yesod sheb'Yesod, Connection within Connection 
42. Malchut sheb'Yesod, Kingdom within Foundation 
43. Chesed sheb'Malchut, Loving-kindness within Kingdom 
44. Gevurah sheb'Malchut, Strength within Leadership 
45. Tiferet sheb'Malchut, Harmony within Leadership 
46. Netzach sheb'Malchut, Endurance within Kingdom 
47. Hod sheb'Malchut, Humility within Kingdom 
48. Yesod sheb'Malchut, Foundation within Kingdom 
49. Malchut sheb'Malchut, Kingdom within Kingdom

Quote of the Week: Chestnut Tree

"Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs, from my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind. As long as this exists, I thought, and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts I cannot be unhappy." -Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, February 23, 1944

Fourteen years ago, right around the time that I walked away from Lutheranism, I read The Diary of a Young Girl for a study hall class and tried (but failed) to hide my tears when I came to the end of it. I remember following the cut-it-down-don't-cut-it-down debate of 2007 over Anne Frank's dying chestnut tree with a vested interest and being saddened to learn in 2010 (just as I was beginning the official conversion process to become Jewish) that it had finally fallen down.

Since then, saplings from Anne Frank's tree have been planted all over the world and now, the tree is coming to Washington, DC! I am so excited!

Anne Frank's Tree outside the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, circa 2009
Image courtesy of The New York Times

Quote of the Week: Find Your Own Truth

This Quote of the Week comes from one of Matisyahu's "besht" songs: "Bal Shem Tov!"

Search heaven and the seven seas

The answer lies inside you

You know it won't come easy

You've got to find your own truth.