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Margot Stein, Geela Rayzel Raphael and Juliet Spitzer

Margot Stein"" Geela Rayzel Raphael"" Juliet Spitzer

The Women of Miraj

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front to back: Margot Stein, Juliet Spitzer
Geela Rayzel Raphael

Rabbi Rayzel Raphael is a singer, songwriter &, Rabbinic Director of the Faithways Project of Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia and Rabbinic Director of New Legends Creativity Project. She is co-recipient of a Philadelphia Federation Continuity Grant to develop Shabbat Unplugged, featuring musical Shabbat and Havdalah services. In addition to her collaborative projects, she has a solo CD, Bible Babes A'Beltin'. Her life ambition is to be a Jewish Feminist Rock 'n' Roll star, transforming Jewish tradition with music.

Juliet I. Spitzer, M.Ed. is a singer/songwriter and recording artist, and the guest cantor at Congregation Beth Israel in Media. She composes for, and performs with Theatre Ariel, Pennsylvania's professional Jewish theater company. She is a member of the a cappella trio MIRAJ, the vocal ensemble SheWho, and the musical troupes Shabbat Unplugged/ Havdallah Live and Tof b’Yadah. Juliet leads music and healing workshops in the Philadelphia area and teaches on various topics in Judaism in the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School.

Rabbi Margot L. Stein is an award-winning singer/songwriter and has produced or co-produced 5 albums of original Jewish music. Her musical play, "Guarding the Garden," toured North America for four seasons, was seen by some 20,000 people, and was featured on the cover of Lilith magazine. Formerly the Director of Communications for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Margot composes and sings with the a cappella trio MIRAJ and the troupe Shabbat Unplugged. She teaches Jewish Ethics at Gratz College's Melton Adult Mini-School, and utilizes the performing arts to teach teens Torah.

The Miraj Story:
(excerpts from Orlando Jewish News story, March 2003)

Miraj is a creative collaboration between three Jewish leaders and educators: Rabbi Margot Stein, Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, and Juliet Irene Spitzer. The three women met many years ago in a Hebrew grammar class as students at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. They formed a study group to help overcome the monotony of the course, and soon found themselves laughing and munching on chips as much as studying.

The three later began working together with a fourth woman on a book about Jewish women's rituals. During retreats to work on the book, they began to sing together-all had been singers and songwriters before meeting-and realized how well their voices blended together in harmony. Then singer-songwriter Linda Hirschorn asked them to open for her at a local concert, and Miraj was born.

"We have met every Tuesday each week since then for rehearsal, but really it's more like lunch, life and laughter," says Rabbi Raphael. Commenting that it is the group's "exquisite good fortune to have this sacred, weekly time together," Juliet Spitzer adds that the women "sustain each other in ways that defy simple description." The members of Miraj have become close friends, supporting each other through subsequent childbirths-they have 8 children between them, ranging in age from 1 to 17-as well as the deaths of family members, job transitions, health issues, and other life changes.

The group's songs sometimes come from these life events-the crisis or celebration of the moment. The women write richly harmonic original compositions for Jewish life rituals, Shabbat and holidays, as well as songs about Biblical heroines and events and new interpretations of traditional liturgy. Their focus is on developing songs that can make a service more powerful and inclusive of women's experience-what Rabbi Raphael calls a "feminist transformation of Judaism through songs, ritual writing and prayer."

The women somehow manage to make time for their music in the midst of very busy professional careers and family lives. Says Rabbi Raphael, "Music seems to sustain us as we get through the tough times. As we know, it is a powerful tool for cultural change, empowerment and healing." Miraj has recorded two CDs, "Counting Angels in the Wilderness" and "A Moon Note." Rabbi Stein has also recorded two solo albums, and Rabbi Raphael and Ms. Spitzer each have recorded one of their own. They also collaborate with other Jewish musicians on a musical troupe, Shabbat Unplugged, that performs in the Philadelphia area and has recorded a Passover CD.