Gershon studied at the Jewish
Theological Seminary and at Co-
lumbia. She figured it would be
a nice place to go and meet nice
Jewish boys and get away from the place where she
was known as the "rabbi's daughter." She shared a
suite with five women, three of whom were daughters
of rabbis. All three promised they would never marry
a rabbi. All three did.
There were times when Gershon would take her gui-
tar to a Jewish home for the aged and sing to the res-
idents. There was a time when as a cantor in Danbury,
Conn., she would sing Kol Nidre to hospital patients
room by room. She also was a High Holiday cantor for
a student pulpit in Danbury.
"I thought that maybe Pd be a cantor," she said. "I
majored in sacred music in the seminary and had 21
credits of cantorial school classes. But I decided that
two clergy in the same family wasn't a good idea. I gave
it up."
Raquel Pomerantz
Gershon: A quality of
humanness.
PHOTOS BY DANIEL LI PPI TT
"I had this fantasy
of being an Israeli
rock 'n' roll star."
Jerusalem On My Mind is its own kind of tasty mu-
sical "cholent."
Gershon's rich voice, accompanied by a variety of
well-mixed instruments, takes us for a ride into spiri-
tuality. This isn't "Hava Nagila" and an accordion. It's
the real musical deal, and you don't have to be a Jew-
ish music maven to enjoy it.
By the way, what's in the tape deck of Gershon's car?
Try a little Hootie and the Blowfish, some Gloria Es-
tefan, some opera and some Debbie Friedman. Not to
mention a few dug-out Cheerios complete with lint.
"I had this fantasy of being an Israeli rock 'n' roll star
when I was in high school," she said. "I remember my
father tried to push me in front of audiences when I
was young, but I was shy."
A secret: The rebbetzin can sometimes be caught
singing Donna Summer's disco hit, "I Will Survive."
(But never in front of anyone.)
While her husband was in rabbinic school, they
spent a year in Israel. It was there that she became
a member of the Jerusalem Chamber Choir. She was
a soloist on concert tours in Israel, Germany and Nor-
way. Her most memorable moment came while
singing "Hatikvah" with the choir at the Bergen-
Belsen concentration camp.
When the Gershons came to Detroit nine years ago,
Raquel taught music at Hillel Day School and then
later at Temple Beth El. She'd get to Beth El early
and play the piano to herself. It was at one of these
quiet pre-class sessions that she came up with the
catchy tune to the award-winning "Kol Yisrael Are-
vim," which is Hebrew for "the voices of Israel are all
intertwined.'' She took a year and a half to perfect
it. She even dreamed her song "Sim Shalom," waking
up with enough dream intact to put together what
would be a cut on her first album.
She would perform "Kol Yisrael Arevim" at a na-
tional conference on Jewish education and have peo-
ple ask her if it was recorded yet. She was even told
by some that she reminded them of Jewish. singer
Debbie Friedman, an entertainer who Gershon calls
a role model.
Friedman had good things to say about Jerusalem
On My Mind, commenting, "I think the quality of
Raquel's humanness, of her being is reflected in this
music. She's a stunning and really thoughtful person
who really cares deeply."
Gershon writes about people being created in God's
image, tolerance and equality.
"We're all the \same," she said "We all have God in
us."
She called the trip to L.A. to produce the album an-
other dream come true. There, with producer Sam
Glaser and a group of musicians, she gave her songs
the professional polishing she'd always hoped for. It
was a long way from the piano at Temple Beth El.
Now, all of a sudden, she was accompanied by sax,
trumpet, bass, keyboards, drums and other instru-
ments.
"I was fulfilling my fantasy by doing this album,"
she said. "I still do double takes when I see the CD,
and say, 'that's really me.' "
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