Rising Song Community Spotlight: Melissa Baden
Connectedness is so vital, especially when we only "meet" each other virtually. What follows is one of a series of interviews conducted by Liz Feldman with other community members to help us get to know each other a bit better. We hope these spotlight interviews will contribute to our feeling connected to one another and to the sparks of holiness within each of us.
Interview with Melissa Baden by Liz Feldman, January 2022
Let’s start with you telling me where you live, what your work is, and a little bit about your Jewish community and your background.
I live in Cumming, Georgia, a town about 30 minutes north of Atlanta. And I am an addiction counselor by profession; I have a private practice. The shul that I'm affiliated with, Ahavath Achim, is Conservative—it's actually the oldest synagogue in Atlanta. I have made my way through the Jewish community of Atlanta, plus I’m a Limmudnik, so I’m a part of that community as well.
I come from a family of musicians. Most of my mom's side of the family have conservatory educations and are music educators. I have a degree in vocal performance and music has just been a lifeline for me forever. It's something I'm really passionate about. Specifically, communal music, choirs have always been where my heart is. The style of Joey Weisenberg, Josh Warshawsky, and others now—their music really speaks to me.
I'm actually from an interfaith family: My dad was Catholic, my mom is Jewish, and I wasn't raised with much Judaism. When I started my journey into Jewish observance, when I was in my mid 20s, I decided to check out the local Chabad. That's really where the service and the music kind of gripped me. Some of the tunes and some of the words were familiar from my grandfather, he was my favorite person ever. I actually started picking up Hebrew just by reading the English as I listened and sang along with the services, because I knew a couple words from exposure. After listening to services for long enough, I became familiar with the melodies. And the Saturday afternoon tisch—I frequently was the only woman in the room for hours, with the men all going at it! I’d stay off to the side, trying to sing quietly out of respect for the denomination.
How did you start leading services?
I met several musicians in the Jewish community who would ask me to help with pieces of a service as I became more observant. Then I helped plan Shabbat for Limmud through the YAD program in 2014. I also got involved with some of the musicians there. The first full service I led was Kabbalat Shabbat at Limmud that year.
And I kept getting pulled into this shul that I'm at now, because several of the congregants and rabbis are really good musicians themselves. We formed this group called the Meshorerim. There are around seven of us now, and we have done group work throughout the pandemic.
At the beginning of 2021, the junior rabbi asked me to lead several times, just the two of us, and then he asked me to cover for him while he was away that summer. From there it's just kind of grown. Sometimes I lead with the rabbi, sometimes with the Meshorerim, and sometimes on my own.
That's fantastic! How is it for you, when you're the leader in those different contexts?
They are three different experiences and the main reason for that is a bit of imposter syndrome.
I don't understand necessarily what I'm saying in the moment of davening, as I never had a Hebrew education. That's really my main struggle, so I feel the most comfortable when I’m with the Meshorerim. We can make some really great sounds together, wonderful harmonies. I love the communal part—that's my sweet spot. When I lead with the rabbi, sometimes it's easy and it just flows, and other times it’s a bit of a struggle for both of us, depending on what life has thrown at us that week. Leading alone is also a mixed bag, but it’s becoming more comfortable for me as I've learned more about truly what it means to be a Sha”tz [shaliach tzibbur]. I’m starting to find my true identity as a prayer leader. Being a part of the Hadar Davening Fellowship this past fall helped a lot with that growth. The study we did around halacha, the peer feedback, and listening to and learning with other prayer leaders opened my eyes to what it truly means to be a Shalichat Tzibbur, not just a spiritual person at the bimah with vocal ability. I’ve really been able to take inventory of my strengths and areas of growth as a prayer leader, which has been a tremendous help in understanding how to hold that communal prayer space in a way that’s authentic to me, as well as to my kahal. There's something settling about that, just being more comfortable in the role.
I really only lead Kabbalat Shabbat and holiday services right now. Services are virtual but the Meshorerim sing together in the sanctuary. It is different than leading a kahal in person, because we're just in the moment all together, which I think has allowed us the room to grow as a group and to create what we have. Everything has been virtual, except for the High Holidays this past year, we were finally able to do an in-person hybrid thing. We have opened the doors on an “as requested” basis for fully vaccinated congregants and community members to attend Kabbalat Shabbat services. Since this change, I can say that I have now (very recently!) led a minyan in-person!
We are about to start a monthly Meshorerim Shabbat, and Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe holds a nigun circle once a month here, which I attend as often as I can. She and I are collaborating on getting a group of local musicians and Jewish music writers together to create a monthly jam and song share as well!
How did you find your way to Joey and Hadar?
The new junior rabbi introduced me to Joey when I was preparing to lead solo for the first time, back in May and June. He referred me to Joey's website for the videos on it to learn to lead. And so I started watching those videos and learning some things. I really like Joey’s "Shokhein Ad" and "Nishmat." Also the "Sheves Achim Nigun" is great. So I was signed up on the Hadar email list, and saw the email about the Davening Leadership Fellowship. And the rabbi encouraged me to apply for the fellowship!
The senior rabbi at Ahavath Achim, Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal, has been a really big part of my Jewish musical journey. He's been a great mentor! He was musician out in LA himself before he became a rabbi and has been a great supporter—he keeps pulling me back into leadership. In fact, I didn’t even know myself that I wanted to go down this road of leading services before his nudge, and I’ve found that I really love it!
Finally, are there questions you have for others in the Rising Song community?
If we're speaking of Jewish prayer leadership, what I'm really interested in from people is their process, whether that's creative or spiritual or both, or something else. I would enjoy hearing about what worked and what didn't work, and how they found that thing that worked.
I’m fascinated by what people feel called to do, and why, and where they're going with it and how that's going to shape how they lead. I’m also starting to write nigunim and interested in people’s process with that! I found a new goal in the Hadar fellowship: mastering the art of nigun!
That's a wonderful question. In many ways it goes to the heart of what the experience is like for us—as prayer leaders or meshorerim, and as musicians and composers of nigunim. Do you have a link to one of the nigunim you’ve written, would you share it?
OK, here is my most recent niggun!
