I was living in Manhattan, skating to work every day, and playing guitar and singing in downtown clubs and bars at night. Secretly, I had always wanted to get married and have a family, but it was almost lame for a young woman to admit it! You had to be focussed on your career, your identity, your blah blah blah, like all the writers, artists, musicians, actors and dancers I hung out with. Well, I thought that was lame -- if that was ALL you had, without a family to share it with and make it mean something special.
When I found out about Torah living, I was part blown away, part resistant, like any proud, secular Jew. But when I saw how smart the Torah lifestyle is, especially for a woman, it caused me to put aside my defensiveness and really look into it. I learned with a chevrusa (learning partner) and asked all my pointed questions. I experienced Shabbes, its beauty and peace, and came to see the "restrictions" as a gateway to freedom -- to being a spiritual, strong Jewish woman with everything to be proud of! Whoo hoo! Hurray for Torah!
I spent a year in Israel learning how to be a religious woman at Nishmat. To try out performing for women-only audiences, I started Women's Open Mike Night at the historic Pargod Theatre in Nahlaot, Jerusalem. The show was a hit -- over 100 women at every performance, 30+ performers getting on stage. Off-shoots of Women's Open Mike Night are still going on in Baltimore, Jerusalem, South Africa....
When I returned to New York, I met my terrific husband, Danny Greenspan! (I was introduced to him using my Hebrew name, Elana, thus, the evolution of my name.) We moved to Israel, where he attended medical school. We started having some really cute children k"h, B"H, and I got my master's degree in Creative Writing at Bar Ilan University. (Check out this article I wrote for Aish.com! And another! And another!) We moved back to the States for Danny's residency, and have been living in Passaic, NJ. Summers, I worked at Camp Raninu, and now I'm working at Camp Dina directing drama. Hashem is so good to me, on top of all that bracha, now He put all this awesome music in my head, and gave me the ability to play, sing and record it! Now, I hope He'll help me infect a ton of people with it! So click on "Order CDs Shipped to You" and help make my dream come true! Whoo hoo! You read this to the end! You're awesome! Wanna be my friend?