tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76410832101933283112008-07-25T09:25:32.041-04:00Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-22072003816768141812008-07-23T07:52:00.014-04:002008-07-25T09:25:32.199-04:00

Yaffo in the morning Sunset at Ein Hod What a wonderful time to be in Israel. The country is bustling and growing, the shekel is strong against the dollar, and Barack Obama is in Jerusalem today assuring Israelis that he is on our side. Here's a brief travelog so far. 7/20 Sunday - Arrival 5 a.m. Stayed 'overnight' in Yaffo at the new, lovely (and inexpensive) Mishkenot Ruth Daniel. Took the

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-47070289119358919912008-07-23T07:45:00.002-04:002008-07-23T07:51:42.210-04:00

Recently hackers got into my website and hacked the index page. But everything has been fixed and the danger is over. A couple of folks told me that their anti-virus programs screamed bloody murder when they tried to access jeffklepper.com. The files have been cleaned and the passwords changed. I truly hope nobody's computer was messed up. It's a good reminder to get the best anti-virus

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-88520698787432836382008-07-11T16:06:00.011-04:002008-07-17T14:28:24.825-04:00

My last visit to Israel was five years ago. I can stay away no longer! So, I recently cleared some time on my calendar and traded in my last batch of United miles for a ticket. I'm bringing my guitar and some clothes. My hope is to sing in as many places as possible, and to stay in homes wherever I travel. I want to reconnect, see old friends and make new ones. I am not charging a fee for my

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-48638217253236787062008-07-06T00:13:00.015-04:002008-07-11T17:36:10.898-04:00

This past December I was asked to sing at a Chanukah party for Hillel at Harvard University. I was invited by one of my former Bar Mitzvah students.  He's a wonderful fellow (from a great family) and he plays in the Hillel Klezmer Band!  My gosh, how could I say no?   I had no idea what to expect.  I even brought my Jewish comedy videos with me just in case I needed help getting things going.  

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-23692244596430116262008-05-26T00:07:00.017-04:002008-05-27T18:40:05.045-04:00

Anyone who knows anything about Israeli music probably knows the name Naomi Shemer. By every measure she towered over other Israeli songwriters. For half a century her songs were, literally, the voice of a nation and a people. After her death in 2004 it was revealed that she had appropriated the melody of a Basque folksong for Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. The Jewish people held no grudge. But

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-40543219828215002682008-05-09T10:44:00.010-04:002008-05-26T01:34:57.139-04:00

Happy Birthday Israel! What a proud and momentous celebration - six decades of statehood. I still treasure the memories of my first trip to Israel in 1978. I lost count of how many times I’ve visited since then, each trip unique and wonderful. No aspect of Israel means more to me than her songs. They are her heartbeat and pulse, her very spirit. They live within me and I take them everywhere

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-82015736540441805972008-05-02T10:24:00.025-04:002008-05-02T14:41:21.079-04:00

It’s 36 years since Dan and I started singing together, in the Spring of 1972 (the name Kol B’Seder didn’t come until a couple of years later.) So, here’s a Kol B’Seder birthday present from Danny and me: 20 minutes of highlights from our concert last week at Temple Beth Zion in Buffalo, NY. This particular concert was a lot of fun, in spite of a very dicey flight situation from Boston. In

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-82298323699739779332008-04-28T21:22:00.013-04:002008-07-12T10:04:53.608-04:00

Though we're now a week plus into counting the Omer, I keep running into folks who swear they knoweth not about one of the coolest Jewish websites in the Liturg-O-Sphere.  I'm referring of course to the Homer Calendar. (Yes, as in Homer Simpson.)  It was researched, written and designed by my friend, health care advocate Brian Rosman, who guested with his family at our seder and presented us with

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-21338615984874922822008-04-28T13:33:00.020-04:002008-07-12T10:03:46.518-04:00

Ok, Pesach is over and we're eight days into the Omer.  We have to move on, but if I don't put this up now I'll have to wait a whole 'nother year, and who knows if the world will still be here by then. Michael Dorf, the powerhouse genius behind Oy!hoo, the NYC operation which has pretty much become synonymous with Cutting-Edge-Jewish-Music, posted a Virtual Seder on the cusp of Shabbat Hagadol.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-69918997985476311282008-04-25T14:07:00.003-04:002008-04-27T11:27:44.215-04:00

Ok, folks, we're in the home stretch and I've saved the best for last.  To get us in the mood for Mike Hammerman's extraordinary Dayeinu (see below), here are a couple of my favorite Dayeinu instrumentals: We begin with the Farbrangen Fiddlers, whose second LP American Chai (1976) is a pre-klezmer masterpiece of Jewish Americana (sadly, unavailable on CD). The Fiddlers' first record had a very

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-72238947666469518932008-04-23T20:51:00.000-04:002008-04-23T23:56:42.456-04:00

We're halfway through Chag Ha-Pesach, and our over-consumption of white flour is beginning to have an effect on the internal organs.  (They do sell whole wheat matzah, which isn't bad, but we never seem to be able to stock enough of it to last through the week.)  So, to help get you through the next few days with a smile, here are a few 'Songs you never learned in shul' relating to - what else? -

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-12348315684457913562008-04-17T15:07:00.000-04:002008-04-17T15:09:20.875-04:00

Wishing you and your family a sweet, healthy, and meaningful Yontif!

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-20533806351495531852008-04-17T14:12:00.003-04:002008-07-12T10:05:37.105-04:00

Maybe you already have these on CD, perhaps on cassette tape, or maybe you don't, but here's some Pesach music to sing at your seder from Kol B'seder. In Every Generation - mp3 - lyrics - music: page1 - page2 - page3  Here is "B'chol dor vador" from the Haggadah (just after Dayeinu), that we must see ourselves as personally delivered from Egypt.  We sing the Hebrew with the traditional wording,

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-61070731664098209972008-04-15T11:35:00.000-04:002008-04-15T12:48:26.659-04:00

As long as we're globetrotting, here is another version of Echad Mi Yode'a, this time in Italian, "Uno Chi Sa?", from the Roman tradition.  My trip to Rome in 1989 (visiting my wife, Deeana, who was doing a fellowship in history at the American Academy) had a profound effect on me.  I found the Roman liturgical  music - which has been carefully preserved for generations - to be meaningful in a

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-25422881341288185912008-04-13T00:38:00.001-04:002008-04-28T21:20:17.382-04:00

Every Pesach I try to convince my wife that I am actually Sephardic, and thus we should be able to eat rice and kitniyot on Pesach.  (I was spoiled by the one year we went to Jerusalem during Pesach and realized I could just walk into Supersol, pretend I was Mizrahi and buy a container of the best hummos I've ever had. Now, that was heaven - on matzah.)  Well, each year she doesn't buy it.  With

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-5391171355488225032008-04-10T15:58:00.000-04:002008-04-13T00:32:02.444-04:00

That is how my grandfather, Bernard "Barney" Klepper, z"l, introduces the Pesach melody taught to him by his Romanian grandfather 100 years ago, on a scratchy old record that floated around my extended family for years until I found out about it and got a taped copy.  (I'm told the original disc no longer exists.) Every time I hear NPR's 'Lost and Found Sound'  I think this recording would be

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-1517734292090543282008-04-09T01:21:00.000-04:002008-04-09T01:56:05.797-04:00

...next line? C'mon..." They're gonna make a big star out of me." Right you are. 'Act Naturally' by the Beatles - written by Buck Owens - and sung by Ringo! Which is just a lead in to this: I have a bit part in the new documentary, Voice Teacher by Danny Mendelson. It's about MY voice teacher, the legendary Donald Roberts. He's the guy who got me singing again. (It only took five years

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-76767336884144082472008-04-08T20:24:00.000-04:002008-04-16T02:31:48.048-04:00

As one of three cantors on the Editorial Committee of Mishkan T’filah (the new Reform Movement prayerbook) from 1999 to 2005 I was involved in many decisions about the content and form of this new sidur. There were hours of discussions around controversial issues such as, “should the Hebrew prayers be transliterated?” - the vote was yes - or “should the traditional second paragraph of V’ahavta

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641083210193328311.post-10683072632711697592008-04-07T20:21:00.000-04:002008-04-08T19:06:00.195-04:00

I'm gearing up and should be blogging with some regularity very soon...by Pesach?

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11433599956885446521noreply@blogger.com