Shaina Ettel

You might call it a Chassidic melody, or a niggun,but Shaina Ettel refers to the music she sings as "liquid chassidut": inspired; pure; flowing; deeply personal and musically precise. And, Shaina Ettel believes, the clear notes are also uniquely feminine.

"When it comes to communicating the nuances and spirituality within the song, the woman's voice is perfect for it," Shaina Ettel, a classically trained vocalist, says. "Kabbalistically, a woman's voice contains a very intense level of holiness that needs to be revealed in an appropriate manner," she adds. "There's nothing more beautiful than the power of a woman's voice combined with the power of Chassidic niggunim. Can't get deeper than that."

It is the power of the feminine voiceWomen have a unique capacity for musicality, Shaina Ettel says, in that they can understand and embody an idea that is essential in music – that of listening deeply and reflecting accurately the intention of the composer. In classical musicianship, she explains, "you listen for what the composer's intentions were. If Mozart wrote piano over a certain note, that means that the singer has to sing softly over that note to allow listeners to focus on the piano."

Although there are many ways to sing a niggun, the highest level of niggun moves worlds, each note having a very particular ramification on high. "It's not about what I can add to it, how I can do my own thing. It's about the song, and about how my tool can best be used to express that song."

It is the power of the feminine voice that Shaina Ettel hopes to bring to the crowds of women who have been flocking to her concerts. Two concerts in Israel recently drew crowds of three-thousand women each. Shaina Ettel also played Ruth in an original musical, Ruth & Naomi. The show was a production of the Raise Your Spirits theatre troupe, a women's only theatre company operating out of Efrat. The show played for twelve-thousand women in twenty-three sold-out performances over the course of eight months, in Israel and abroad.

By singing to groups of women, Shaina Ettel intends to bring a new standard of professionalism and heightened spirituality to Jewish women's music. She also wants to spread a message to women about using their talents to elevate the world. In fact, the title of her new CD Ya'aleh means to "raise up."

She has been singing for audiences since she was three years old "I feel like I was given job instructions," Shaina Ettel says. "You're a Jewish woman, you're going to sing Jewish music for women." By doing this, she hopes to help other women connect to their unique missions as well.

"Everybody has that special soul in them, different from anyone else's, that makes them unique and powerful," she says. "Together, when using our inherent talents in the proper way, we can change the world." This is a perspective on talent, Shaina Ettel says, that is not often seen in the secular world where talents are exploited, and we sometimes forget that talents are meant to build and not be competitive. "It's not about a nice voice, or, you're good at writing. Your gift that's different from other people's gift can actually change the world, and that part of you nobody else has."

Shaina Ettel is no stranger to a world where talents are used competitively. Starting out as a little girl with a remarkably clear and precise voice, she has been singing for audiences since she was three years old. From ages six to nineteen she was in around fifty musicals, and in university, Shaina Ettel received a degree in Classical Vocal Performance.

When Shaina Ettel started becoming Torah observant, her parents, who had supported her musical career, felt that they were losing her, that her career was over. That is, until they saw her using her talent "in a Jewish way ,as if nothing had changed, and they saw that the mitzvah of women singing solely for women was a blessing and not a curse." When she moved to Israel, Shaina Ettel was immediately asked to join a women's band and in the spring of 2006 she was scouted for the part in Ruth & Naomi. The opportunities came knocking on her door one after the other, leaving no chance to wonder if her musical career was over.

Rather than fearing the loss of her career, Shaina Ettel's parents are now her biggest supporters, encouraging her to express her talent. "Their attitude is: 'You have something specific, something different for the Jewish world. Use it'," Shaina Ettel says, giving voice to their support. "They were a huge inspiration."

Recently married and living in Jerusalem, Shaina Ettel prays that she can increase her ability to serve and strengthen the Jewish community. She hopes to travel and give concerts and speak to women, not only about the power of song but also about the power of personal talent to change the world.