The Art of the Kumsitz: How to Bond with People, Israeli Style

One of the greatest joys in Middle Eastern entertainment is the art of the kumsitz. The kumsitz is a gathering where you bring instruments like guitars or portable keyboards, if you have them, your voices and yourself. You sit down either on the floor or on seats and you bond with your peers singing songs, telling jokes and stories and just being yourself, uninhibited by pressure. It's even better if you do it around a campfire.

In 1978 to 1979 I was at Kibbutz Shluchot in Israel's Beit Shean Valley. They had a group of young Israelis who in lieu of doing regular army service were part of a group working on the kibbutz instead as part of what is called a Nachal garine. They worked on various business concerns at the kibbutz like the carrot factory and the refet or cow stalls.

I came to the kibbutz to learn Hebrew in a crash course called an ulpan. The course was to last for about six months. The deal was, you'd work for about four hours a day and you'd learn Hebrew for about four hours a day.

As it's intensely hot in Israel during the summer months, especially in the afternoons, you'd work starting about midnight until four AM and then you'd rest from four to noon. Then you'd eat lunch at noon and go back to the ulpan at one PM until four or five in the afternoon. The evenings were the time that we did the kumsitz's

Many times, I got together with the garine and we did parties where I brought my guitar and I sang to them. It was greatly appreciated. It didn't take a lot to make us all happy. All it took to make us happy was just a guitar, a few singing voices, some good songs (mostly Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach music) and a little bit of harmony.

I had only been playing the guitar for about one and ½ to two years at this time and I was only 19 years old back then. At this time I only knew a few chords, some bass runs and was only just beginning to learn how to play lead guitar. But still, the best times I ever had playing the guitar were arguably in Israel in Beit Shean at Kibbutz Shluchot.

It was even more satisfying playing these kumsitz parties than playing as a hanger on to the Moshav Me'or Modi'in Band, which backed up Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. And I played quite a few concerts with Shlomo Carlebach back then.

My Uncle, Irving Green (author of Judaism on the Web) complained to me that I was having "the time of [my] life running around Israel with Shlomo Carlebach." It was high times even though I lived in poverty.

One time, someone came to me and wanted to borrow my guitar but he didn't want me to come to the gathering he was doing. I refused to let him borrow my guitar. I thought he had a lot of chutzpah (unmitigated nerve). I don't like people who only know how to take. In my world everything is give and take.

In 1984 to 1987, I was back in Israel and I went to college there. I brought my electric guitar and bought some rock and roll guitar lessons, specifically from Rock Performance Music and the Metal Method. I learned how to play music by Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen like Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower adaptation of Bob Dylan's tune and Van Halen's Eruption solo. I really got away from Jewish music back then and I only played to a few people.

I played Eruption to a friend of mine and he liked it a lot. He told a second student in the class when I was in graduate school that I could play the piece and the second person didn't believe it. The two of them got into a big argument over it. But rest assured, I did play the finger piece, which back then, was one of the most difficult pieces of rock music to play.

But later on, I came to my senses and I came back to Israel in 1995 right after Shlomo Carlebach passed on and I did a number of kumsitz' in his memory. It hurt me that a man who had done so much to make me feel better through his beautiful music, had passed on. The only thing left of his legacy was his teachings, his music and his family, which to this day are appreciated mostly within the Jewish community only.

Luckily, Shlomo's eldest daughter, Neshama, sings and carries on his legacy. She has a very beautiful voice and she even sings her father's songs better than he did, in my humble opinion. She also goes to Israel frequently.

I hope to see Neshama again in concert soon. I saw her about 3 and ½ years ago and I was impressed by the interpretations of her father's music that she does and I have a number of her recordings.

One of the most incredible Carlebach recordings is Haneshama Shel Shlomo, which features Neshama Carlebach, Shlomo Carlebach and C Lanzbom. Lanzbom plays some of the most incredible guitar I've ever heard and he enhances the recording immensely.

I heard Neshama is coming out with a recording of all English music tunes. She already played some music in English on the Dancing With My Soul recording. I know that her career has been taking off.

Neshama and her sister, Nedara, licensed me to do a limited run of three recordings. I hope to give some concerts soon, like I did in Israel years ago. I hope that everything will take off for me for the better.