How A Lifetime Of Singing Has Created A Sense Of Community For Neighbor Inbal Hever

Growing up listening to Israeli songs and singing them herself in Hebrew is something deeply ingrained in Park Slope neighbor Inbal Hever, who is now a professional classical singer.

“Whenever I sing in Hebrew, it feels the most natural and relevant to who I am and where I come from,” she says. “And, in a way, whatever I sing, also Italian Baroque, is influenced by this Hebrew experience.”

As a girl, Hever joined the Ha’efroni youth choir in Israel. Founded by Maya Shavit, the choir has charmed international audiences for decades, and it’s an experience that shaped Hever’s career — and her outlook on life, which she is fortunate to share with young singers today while teaching at Temple Beth Emeth in Ditmas Park.

“Besides the language and the music, there was also the group dynamic. (I really think that the three – language, music, feeling of a group – belong together.) We traveled together, performed, recorded, and met people from all over the world together,” she explains. “But especially the experience of having to learn to coordinate on music with my friends taught me something for life. When I look at Beth Emeth kids, who belong to a community that already prays and sings together, I can learn much of the kid that I was. This sense of community will be there for life.”

She says that working with the kids in the temple’s children’s chorus has taught her a lot about the power of music as a language that bridges gaps of age, language, and culture. Together with Ian Olasov, who teaches with her, they introduce kids to songs in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and of course English.

“These kids are amazing, they absorb the lyrics and the story through the melody, regardless of the language or origin of the song,” she says. “This experience reminds me of the way I acquired English: among other things, through singing (for example The Beatles). Watching Beth Emeth’s kids go through a similar process, only the other way around, so to speak, teaches me much about my own experiences with music and language as a child.”

Her experiences in music only grew after leaving the Ha’efroni choir as a teenager. She went on to study at the Buchmann-Mehta Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv University and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she earned her B.A. and an M.A. in Early and Contemporary Music.

Trained as a mezzo soprano, Hever now boasts a classical repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. She’s performed in these musical genres as a soloist in her native Israel, in New York, and in Europe, where she returned this past summer for engagements in Germany and Belgium. But it was Israeli folk music that brought Hever into the spotlight at the 40th anniversary of Jerusalem Day in 2007, which she says was a very special day for her.

“I was invited to come from The Netherlands, where I was studying at the time, and arrived directly to Jerusalem, where a very beautiful evening welcomed me,” she says. “My father was injured in the Six Day War, in Jerusalem. He was in the crowd, listening. Quite regardless of the immense crowd, and of the historical or political significance of the event, it meant the world to me that I could just personally sing for him.”

Now that she’s in New York — she moved to Park Slope in 2011 with her now-husband — she’s found new opportunities to express herself through music. In November at Temple Beth Emeth, she’ll be hosting a small ensemble of talented musicians at Songs From My Youth, a family-friendly benefit concert of children’s folk tunes — including many of her own childhood favorites.

“It was difficult to choose the songs for the show, as there are so many beautiful ones that I love,” she says. “Had I picked all of them, we would have stayed singing the whole weekend.”

The interactive program will include classics from ‘The 16th Lamb’ by Yonathan Geffen and Yoni Rechter and more, dealing with themes that transcend language — friendship, love, growing up, parents, pets, and more.

“For each one of them I have a special ‘old’ feeling, nostalgia if you’d like,” Hever says. “It’s almost like I could feel what I felt when I was young and listened to them over and over again.”

When she’s not guiding the chorus at Beth Emeth, Hever can be found around our neighborhood, practicing singing at a studio at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (“It became a second home to me,” she says). Though, depending on where you live, you may also catch her practicing at home — where she’s found she has some likeminded neighbors.

“My neighbors seem to like music — there’s also a jazz band somewhere in the building or the next, they play beautifully! And of course practice at reasonable hours.”

See Inbal Hever live at Songs From My Youth on Sunday, November 2 at 4pm at Temple Beth Emeth, 83 Marlborough Road in Ditmas Park. Suggested contributions for tickets are $18 in advance, $5 for kids under 12, or $40 for two adults and a maximum of two kids. Seating is limited, so reservations are recommended. For more information, call 718-282-1596.

Photos via Inbal Hever