Lights Ignited - hopefully towards Change!

This past sunday, in a minivan loaded with instruments, musicians and Trader Joe snacks, Sarah Aroeste (the Ladino songstress) and I headed down to Philly to meet up with our Roots Rocker friend Chana Rothman to perform in our self-produced show: "Lights Ignite Change".


This event was all about three things:
1. bringing the community together around Hanukkah to celebrate with music
2. showcasing FEMALE talent
3. most importantly, that this female talent is committed to social justice and social change.

We invited many organization in the philly are to sponsor by promoting the event and promoting their programming - anything from the "Collaborative" which programs events for 20-30s, to the Jewish Farm School to the Philadelphia Moishe House special thanks to Rebeccah Karp) to a Dialogue Group focusing on peace initiatives through dialogue.

But we, as women and as activists, wanted to also, in this dark month of December, shed some LIGHT on a very very important issue in the Philly community, the Jewish community and the whole country. DOMESTIC ABUSE AND VIOLENCE.

Jessica Schaffer from the Jewish Family and Childrens Services in Philly came and spoke to the sold out crowd about this issue - that 1 in 4 (that's right, ONE IN FOUR) women in their lifetime will experience some sort of abuse or violence in their relationships. Often women lack resources to get help or even to leave - and JFCS is working hard through programming, hotlines and even CASH support to help women regain control of their lives.

We were just thrilled that everyone took information with them about this issue so that maybe they can help someone they know (or themselves) regain control of their lives.

The CONCERT itself was an amazing program of music that relates to Hanukkah and Judaism and social change - Chana, Sarah and I all sang with each other on our material - harmonies were flowing. An example here is Chana and Sarah singing Elohai Neshama here!!!!!!!

Thanks, Philly, for a great night.
Thanks to our sponsors, including the Philadelphia Federation Renaissance Group for the support.
And if you'd like a community event like this, please do contact me.
We were thrilled to create this for Philly and would love to do the same for your community!
naomiless@gmail.com