Greetings friends. Earlier this week I have arrived back in good ol’ Southern California. After a three and half month trip with dozens of stories, playing at big festivals, and studying at Yeshiva in Jerusalem, I am finally catching up on sleep. No more days of shlepping my belongings through biblical cities….at least for a few weeks. I am currently compiling pictures, stories, and movies and I will be uploading new content once everything is organized.. so stay tuned. In the mean time check out this awesome video of me beatboxing in the Hold City of Tzfat. Glad to be reconnected with you.

Blessings
Mikey

Sunday night I performed a handful of songs and did a brief interview on Radiofreenachlaot.com with both Steve and Lorelai. Both of them started their own independent radio station here in Jerusalem. I was accompanied by Lorelai’s new husband Rabbi Benzion Lehrer who was playing lead guitar. This video was shot by my videographer and close friend Jason Pieser who is in Israel studying in the film Israel Pathways program. Enjoy this acoustic version of “Yaish Lanu Aish,” (We Got Fire).

Blessings,
Mikey

BIG NEWS EVERYONE:  Yesterday I was offered a performance at the world famous Jacob’s Ladder festival in Israel.  I will be performing Friday May 4th at 1pm on one of the main stages.  I have been manifesting playing at this festival for a few months now, and somehow this amazing opportunity fell into my lap.  Big thanks to Harold Jacobs who booked me at his birthday show in Tel Aviv where he introduced me to the Israeli Folk Community.  After the show he has been helping me find more bookings all over Israel, including introducing me to the promoters for Jacob’s Ladder.  Also big thanks to my friend Jason Feddy who introduced me to Harold.  Jason and I have known each other for a couple of years and have had the ability to write some liturgical music together.  Jason is one of the most creative songwriters who has ever lived and I am so honored to be able to jam and write with him.

Now, that I am playing Jacob’s Ladder festival, I must find my own funding to come back home to California.  You are probably saying to yourself,” What is Mikey Talking about?”  Well watch this video and make sure to help me fund my way home on indiegogo.com:

Take a look and do what you can to donate to my cause. We only have 34 more days left.  Lets do this.

Blessings

Mikey

It has sure been a while since my last post. I have fully immersed myself in a super natural, complex, beautiful, mystical culture filled with life!!! I have been living in Nahloat which is a Silverlake/East Village/ Mission District type of community in Jerusalem. The people here are artists/hippies the create sort from all over the world. This is a spiritual community right across from the Shuk which is an open market similar to what you see in movies where people bargain for fresh produce, like in the Disney classic Aladin. Every day I eat fresh barakas, produce, and drink fresh juice. I am still keeping up with my daily yoga and meditation. During the week days I wake up early head to the yeshiva to study Tania. From Tania, I walk over to the Mikveh, (a spiritual bath house), where I cleanse my soul and physical body. From there I walk up stairs where I pray and wrap tefilin on my body. Every morning I pray during the entire Shachrit morning service and then I continue with Shemona Esrei. On the days they have torah service I am finally able to follow along with the hebrew text without using any vowels. I am able to understand the prayers and the intentions behind all of them. Every morning I am able to get VERY present with the universe through morning prayer and I am falling in love with this practice. For the first week or so my Rabbi, Rabbi Sholom Brodt would wrap the tefillin on me and teach me how to say the blessings. Now I am able to do this all on my own. I feel so powerful! Rabbi Sholom has taken me under his wing and been teaching me torah through teaching me rituals and Jewish lifestyle skills you can’t learn in an academic program. He teaches me the same way Jewish Summer Camp teaches the campers about Judaism. The secret is emerging yourself in the culture. This is why experiential education works! Not just works. It works the best!

Following morning prayer I head over to the Yeshiva for Gamora class where we study talmud and opinions of rabbis discussing blessings and rituals. Then I partake in a halacha class, which is a biblical law where we discuss what makes Jewish cooking kosher, and how to prepare a kosher shabbat meal. Then we study torah and rashi where we read the torah portion of the week in hebrew and translate the text. From here we read Rashi script and compare and contrast the texts. After this class we join the women for egalitarian learning and study in a class where we discuss Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach’s philosophies. Every day we sing niggunims composed by Carlbach.

Last week I performed my first show at a Tel Aviv Folk Festival joined by many artists from all over Israel. It was an incredible show and I was very well received. I have also been busking all over Jerusalem and building up a strong fan base. Last saturday I performed at post shabbat concert at my hippie commune in Jerusalem and I played for a room of 60+ people. Last night i performed at Hamelech babar for a benefit, and the shows keep on rolling in. The Israel’s are very supportive of my music and my career is growing very quickly. I am so thankful. Thank you to all my friends that I have met our here. I feel very loved and supported.

Tomorrow Night I am hosting and playing a songwriter showcase called the Nachla’ Or Songwriter Showcase starting tomorrow at 7:30pm at 18 Yosef Chaim. Make sure to come out and support local Jerusalem songwriters!!! I will update you again soon. Thank you for checking in and reading my story.

Blessings
Mikey

Wednesday night after a kosher shakshukah run with our Birthright participants we headed to the airport to send back our group. I said my goodbyes to my Israeli guide, co-staff, medic and the rest of the participants on the bus. As soon, as I began walking downstairs to jump on the train I suddenly felt my energy start to deplete. I bumped into the logistical coordinator for Birthright Israel and after our conversation I slowly walked over to the ticket booth. I missed the train by five minutes and chose to wait for the next train, rather than taking a taxi which would have cost me over 145 more sheckles. Here I was sitting on a bench waiting for the train to arrive, with my large hiking back pack, large suitcase and guitar. Not a person was in sight, so I thought it would be a great idea to pull out my guitar and sing a few songs. As soon as I began to sing I felt a shift in the energy of this environment. I can’t explain exactly how I felt at this time. All I know if that I felt like I was being elevated by some mystical force. I closed my eyes and sang, “Rishon Rishon.” At the conclusion of this song I opened my eyes and to my suprise I was surrounded by a diverse group of travelers who were dancing. One of the men was recording me on facetime on his iphone and was broadcasting my song to his israeli girlfriend, named “Eli.” Wow. Eli is one of my favorite names for the divine. I connected very well with this young man who was broadcasting me. When the train arrived he helped me load my belongings. He shared that he is a professional hand ball player for the Israeli team and travels all over the world playing this sport. Little did I know I was hanging out with an athletic celebrity. He invited me to come stay with him in Haifa, and that he would come see me play when I perform in Zichrona. Tom was his name. Tom was a mensh.
I arrived in downtown Tel Aviv by train in about 20 minutes. I walked over to central station where I boarded a sheirut and commuted to my friend Nikki’s house. I arrived with a wave of exhaustion. She gave me sheets, a towel, a heads up for what to do the next day. I hit the pillow like a rock.
I had a dream that night that I was lying down on train tracks, and did not have the ability to move. The train was coming, honking the horn, I was yelling and screaming for help. The lights approached at warp speed, and I made impact. BOOM!
I woke up with a cold sweat. Modeh ani lefanechah…. melach chai v’kayam.. something didn’t feel right. I felt like I was actually hit by the dreamworld train. During the past 10 days as staff for Birthright, did I actually ever get sleep? I thought I did. I know I did.. but did I? My body was aching. My palms were wet. I was felt the chills. I told myself I was healthy so the feelings I was being present too didn’t persist. I went for a walk, and then returned back to the apartment. I was feeling really exhausted. My stay with Nikki was coming to an end so I hopped in a taxi and headed to Gal’s house. We jumped on his motorcycle and headed to the bar for happy hour. Here we met Nikki, and we had a few beers and pizza. I headed back to Gal’s with basically no energy. I admitted to the universe that I was sick and BOOOM. The fever kicked in. My language manifested my sickness. It was finally time to be sick. I needed to let my cells restore. I am in a new land and my body and mind is ready for my next transformation, so I let it be. I passed out. My dreams were scattered and I entered the dreamworld subway.
I woke up feeling like the sickness was going through me. The muckus was green. the fever was gone. So I headed to a cafe and had one of my final Tel Aviv’s breakfasts for a long time.
As I was sitting at this cafe contemplating my stay in Tel Aviv this sudden feeling came upon me. It was 12pm on Friday and Shabbos was coming. You could call it the “Shabbos Bug,” and yes I definitely had it. I traveled across the United States, got complete with my entire past so I could ‘live,” in Jerusalem. I didn’t want to waste my first free shabbos at a bar. So I bolted back to the apartment to pack my bags and headed for Jerusalem. I met Nikki to pick up my jacket that I left at her house. She asked me how I wanted to travel to Jerusalem, and I told her a semi-private van similar to a shuttlevan….. In Israel they are called “Shereuits.” She directed me to where I should wait on the corner for a sheruit to Jerusalem and every single one drove by without stopping. After waiting for 20 minutes, I realized that I should catch a cab if I wanted to get to Jerusalem before my housiing closes its doors for shabbos. I hopped into a cab and the it drove me to the bus station. I took a bus from tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and whoah was it easy and cheap. I know our western media says that buses are not safe in Israel. Forget what they tell you. I felt very secure, and the best part was it only took me 40 minutes for the entire trip.
I arrived in Jerusalem at 3:15 and I only had 45 minutes until the dorm doors closed. I walked from the bus station all the way to the shuk. I imagined that I would be bumping into this jewish rapper/singer that I jammed with the shabbat before. As soon as I reached the shuk I reached into my phone to look up the address for the dormitory that I’ll be staying in. I walked right up to this chabadnik and asked him, “ Where is Yosef Chaim street?” This man said, “I am Yosef Chaim,” So i said, “No.. really where is Yosef Chaim Street?” This black hatted Jew said to me, “Really! I am Yosef Chaim.” He pulled out his wallet and what do you know? Indeed it was Yosef Chaim. As we connected the rapping jew showed up wearing a sign with the kabblistic spherot which is a diagram mapping out how the energy flows in Kabbalah. I pulled out my guitar and we did a freestyle song. A crowd of 20+ people surrounded us taking pictures and dancing. We were two strangers creating beautiful free style music about the divine. I looked at my watch and what do you know it was 3:50pm and Yosef asked if he could put tefilin on me. Even though I was running late I could not turn down the mitzvah of putting on tefilin. At 3:55pm I rushed through the alleyways searching for Yosef Chaim. I was in a old city looking maze, and completely helpless. All of a sudden I heard, “Mikey.. Mikey.. is that you?” I turned around and a man wearing a thick coat, beanie yarmukle, and holding a bag of fresh challah and wine waived over at me. His name is Aryeh, and he is the owner of the dormitory. He invited me into the house which holds 18 men who are either in study or professionals looking for temporary housing. This place looks like a hippie commune, which is similar to where I lived wit Liz at the love-hub in Silverlake.
Friday night I joined a few of the roommates at “Kol Rina”, which is a Shlomo Carlbach singing kabalat shabbat minyan. It reminded me of “Happy Minyan,” which takes place in Pico Robertson area in Los Angeles. The big difference here is that there was double the amount of people, multiple harmonies, and people praying directly from the heart center. This is why I came to Jerusalem. I came to learn from the mystics who pray with the heart. We sang with all the chuzpah we had. Following the minyan I joined a few of the roommates for a kiddush back at the pad, where we had a few glasses of wine, mixed nuts, challah and freshly made tehina. We walked ffrom our house all the way to the old city where we danced and sang with the Breslov Jews. These hassids were dancing jumping like rabbits in a pumpkin patch. If only my students could see this ruach. Maybe I can take them here for a field trip next year. Anywho, I enjoyed the 20 minute walk back to our dorn and passed out.

More to come soon. For now I must pass out. BTW if you live in Jerusalem I will be hosting a new songwriters night here in Nahloat. If you want to perform please send me a digital demo (songs, picture, bio) to info@mikeypauker.com. Lilatov and enjoy that SuperBowl Game!!!

Blessings
Mikey