Bracha Jaffe

Last updated
Bracha Jaffe
Born1988 (age 3637)
Brooklyn, New York, US
Years active2013–present
Website brachajaffe.com

Bracha Jaffe is an American Orthodox Jewish singer. [1]

Contents

Music career

Jaffe began playing piano at four years old and would sing as well. She later auditioned for Malky Giniger's Voices of Youth Choir. In high school, she taught piano and gave voice lessons. [2]

Jaffe began performing for local women’s events as a pregnant newlywed in nursing school. [3] In line with Orthodox Jewish law, Jaffe sings only with an all-female band and plays only for all-female audiences. She also makes her social media accounts available only for female visitors. [4]

2023 concert ban controversy

Jaffe was scheduled to perform in concert on January 15, 2023 at Hackney Empire in London. In late 2022, various religious authorities banned girls from local Jewish schools from attending the event, and the Vaad L'maan Tohar Machneinu ("group for the purity of our camp") branch of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC) stated they "[endorse] and [support] this decision" to ban the concert, citing fears of "spiritual harm in ruchniyus [spirituality] and hashkafa [Jewish ethos]". [5] [6] In response, Jaffe said "Our girls need healthy kosher music, healthy kosher entertainment that will bring them closer to God. [...] I only want to be a positive role model.". [5] [6] In a video message, she said that she was "greatly saddened" by the controversy but nevertheless hoped to have "an emotional and spiritual connection" with fans at the concert. [5] Reportedly, some women only attended the concert after hearing about the ban. [6]

Personal life

Jaffe was raised in Boro Park, Brooklyn, New York and lives there with her husband and five children. For a time, she lived in Far Rockaway. [4] She is a nurse practitioner. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Judaism</span> Role of women in Judaism

Women in Judaism have affected the course of Judaism over millennia. Their role is reflected in the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature present various female role models, religious law treats women in specific ways. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women account for 52% of the worldwide Jewish population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choir</span> Ensemble of singers

A choir, also known as a chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words is the music performed by the ensemble. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures.

<i>Hazzan</i> Jewish cantor

A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term also used in Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarit Hadad</span> Israeli singer (born 1978)

Sarit Hadad is an Israeli singer. She was named by Channel 24 as the "best female singer of the 2000s" in October 2009. She represented Israel with the song "Light a Candle" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orthodox Union</span> Orthodox Jewish organization in the US

The Orthodox Union is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs for the disabled, localized religious study programs, and international units with locations in Israel and formerly in Ukraine. The OU maintains a kosher certification service, whose circled-U hechsher symbol, U+24CACIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U, is found on the labels of many kosher commercial and consumer food products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Friedman</span> Jewish American singer-songwriter of liturgical music

Deborah Lynn Friedman was an American singer-songwriter of religious Jewish music. She was an early pioneer of gender-sensitive language: using the feminine forms of the Divine or altering masculine-only text references in the Jewish Liturgy to include feminine language.

<i>Shiksa</i> Term for a non-Jewish woman or girl

Shiksa is an often disparaging term for a gentile woman or girl. The word, which is of Yiddish origin, has moved into English usage and some Hebrew usage, mostly in North American Jewish culture.

Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Schenirer</span> Jewish educator and writer

Sarah Schenirer (Polish: Sara Szenirer; Yiddish: שרה שנירר; July 15, 1883 - March 1, 1935 was a Polish-Jewish schoolteacher who became a pioneer of Jewish education for girls.

Rabbi Sholom Rivkin was an Israeli-born American rabbi. He was the last Chief Rabbi of St. Louis, Missouri, and the last chief rabbi of one of only a few cities in the United States that has ever had a chief rabbi. He held the post of Chief Rabbi from 1983 until 2005 and was Chief Rabbi Emeritus until his death in 2011. He was also a chief judge on the Beth Din of the Rabbinical Council of America, and head of the Vaad Hoeir of St. Louis, the governing body of the St. Louis Orthodox Jewish community. He was an expert in Jewish law, especially family and divorce law, and was consulted by rabbis and rabbinical courts around the world.

Orthodox pop, sometimes called Hasidic pop, Hasidic rock, K-pop, Haredi pop, and Ortho-pop, is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music popular among Orthodox Jews. It typically draws stylistically from contemporary genres like pop, rock, jazz, and dance music, while incorporating text from Jewish prayer, Torah, and Talmud as well as traditional Jewish songs and occasional original English lyrics with themes of faith and positivity. The genre was pioneered in the 1970s by artists like Mordechai Ben David and the Miami Boys Choir, who incorporated secular pop and dance influences into their music in contrast to the more traditional Jewish music of the time, and has had continued success in the modern era with singers like Yaakov Shwekey, Lipa Schmeltzer, Baruch Levine, and Benny Friedman.

Julia Anne Blum is an American Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, actress, and speaker. A baalat teshuva, Blum studied music and theater at Harvard and Yale and worked with vocal coach Seth Riggs before becoming Orthodox in the late 1980s. She has released two albums, Stand Tall (1990) and Songs of the Heart (1998), and has toured throughout the United States, Canada and overseas.

Ruthi Navon Zmora is an Israeli Jewish singer and actress. She first came to prominence in the 1970s with her role in the Broadway musical Don't Step on My Olive Branch and her self-titled debut album, which sold well in her home country. After becoming religious through Chabad, she began a new career in the 1980s as a religious Jewish singer, beginning with the album Lead Me to Your Way (1988), which was marked "For Women Only" in accordance with kol isha. She has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and South Africa.

Shaindel Antelis is an American Orthodox Jewish singer-songwriter and actress. She has released four studio albums and has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel.

Miriam Leah Gamliel is an American Orthodox Jewish actress, singer, and activist. A baalat teshuva with a background in musical theatre, she is the founder of the Arts and Torah Association for Religious Artists (ATARA), an organization promoting Orthodox women in the arts. In 2012, she was named one of The Jewish Week's "36 Under 36", a list of influential Jewish figures under age 36.

Robin Saex Garbose is an American filmmaker and theatre director. Following an early career directing several off-Broadway plays and episodes of the shows Head of the Class and America's Most Wanted, Garbose embraced Orthodox Judaism and founded the Kol Neshama Performing Arts Conservatory, a summer camp and arts conservatory providing an artistic outlet for teenage Orthodox girls. With Kol Neshama, she has produced several projects, including the films A Light at Greytowers (2007), The Heart That Sings (2011), and Operation: Candlelight (2014). Her projects have been screened at the Museum of Tolerance, the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Cinematheques, and the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohr Torah Stone</span>

Ohr Torah Stone (OTS) is an international Modern Orthodox organization that aims to develop Jewish life, learning, and leadership. The organization is led by Rabbi Kenneth Brander. OTS was founded by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin in 1983. As of 2020, OTS included 27 educational institutions under its auspices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ofir Ben Shitrit</span> Israeli Orthodox Jewish singer

Ofir Ben Shitrit is an Israeli Orthodox Jewish singer. She came to prominence in 2013 as a contestant on the reality singing competition The Voice Israel. She received additional media attention due to her religious background, which led to controversy and opposition in her Orthodox Jewish religious community. She launched her professional singing career in 2013, performing Hebrew, English, Arabic and Spanish songs and covers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bracha Zefira</span> Israeli singer

Bracha Zefira was a pioneering Israeli folk singer, songwriter, musicologist, and actress of Yemenite Jewish origin. She is credited with bringing Yemenite and other Middle Eastern Jewish music into the mix of ethnic music in Palestine to create a new "Israeli style", and opening the way for other Yemenite singers to succeed on the Israeli music scene. Her repertoire, which she estimated at more than 400 songs, included Yemenite, Bukharan, Persian, Ladino, and North African Jewish folk songs, and Arabic and Bedouin folk songs and melodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosher slaughterer</span>

A kosher slaughterer or kosher butcher, also known as shochet is a butcher of cattle and poultry, one of the professions associated with the religious traditions of the Jewish community.

References

  1. Lazeroff, Shterna (2022-08-09). "Melody with Message". Mishpacha Magazine . Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  2. Grosskopf, Rachel (2012-12-28). "A Heart Full Of Song: Bracha Jaffe". Five Towns Jewish Times . Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  3. Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Avital (2021-04-12). "Orthodox Jewish Women Can't Sing In Front of Men. Instagram Is Giving Them a Voice". Glamour . Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  4. 1 2 Steinberg, Jessica. "Religious singer Bracha Jaffe books Jerusalem hall for women only". Times of Israel . Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  5. 1 2 3 Decker, Adam (2023-01-03). "Anger and confusion as strictly-Orthodox girls banned from London concert". Jewish News . Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  6. 1 2 3 Mosheim, Tash. "Bracha Jaffe's concert banned by Orthodox rabbis sells out after woman defy prohibition". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  7. "Bracha Jaffe bio". brachajaffe.com. Retrieved 2025-01-21.