36 August 1 • 2019
jn

T

he entertainer for this year’
s 
Stephen Gottlieb Concert — at 
Temple Israel Maccabi Host 
Family Night — holds staying power.
Jacob Spike Kraus, who immerses 
himself in Jewish themes and will be 
joined Aug. 7 by a band, has been 
chosen artist-in-residence by the 
temple to plan and lead innovative 
programs throughout the community 
for at least one year. 
Kraus’
s debut concert in Michigan, 
sponsored by the Sarah & Harold 
Gottlieb Endowment Fund in mem-
ory of Stephen Gottlieb, is open to 
the community at no charge for the 
concert or dinner.
“I’
m coming out to Michigan 
toward the end of my summer tour,” 
says the singer-songwriter, 27, who 
is moving from New York to Ann 
Arbor. “I’
ve been visiting 15 camps 
and a couple of synagogues across 
North America to present concerts 
and workshops.
“I’
ll bring high-energy Jewish 
music, and the songs are all going 
to be my original numbers. I have 
recorded two albums of contempo-
rary Jewish music, and they can be 
heard anywhere you can find music 
online. We’
ll also bring CDs to the 
show.
“You could call my music pop soul 
or pop folk or pop R&B. It’
s really an 

eclectic mix. Some songs are totally 
in Hebrew, some totally in English 
and some a mix of both. There will 
be a few liturgical pieces.”
Kraus, the son of a 
reform rabbi, plays gui-
tar. He will appear with 
Ricky Watts on drums, 
Matthew Krane on key-
boards, Dan Lee on bass 
and Chris Range on sax-
ophone. 
Two songs, one from 
each album and perhaps 
in the Michigan show, 
have special resonance 
with Kraus — “Pitchu 
Li” from Cornerstones 
and “What Makes You 
Glow” from Shake Off 
the Dust. Both have to 
do with recognizing and 
appreciating the unique 
qualities and abilities 
that individuals have.
“I do a lot of per-
forming for kids and 
teenagers primarily, 
and everybody at times 
wonders about fitting 
in because of some-
thing that feels different 
about them,” the singer-songwriter 
explains. “Sometimes, the things that 
make people different make them the 

most important to what’
s going on.
“Musically, the first song exem-
plifies what I do because it’
s upbeat, 
exciting and catchy. The rhythm is 
very jumpy and border-
lines on rap. There’
s a 
lot of internal rhymes 
and plays on words. It’
s 
a mix of my own words 
and words from the 
psalm, and it was pro-
duced in a very modern 
style so there are a lot 
of synthesizers.
“The second song 
is really accessible 
because it’
s a call and 
response song, so peo-
ple are learning it as 
they sing it. It’
s straight 
pop, happy, excited.”
Kraus, who grew 
up in Massachusetts, 
became known to 
Temple Israel through 
people who watched 
him perform at a 
Canadian camp.
“I find his music 
inventive, catchy, pro-
fessional and beautiful,” 
says Cantor Michael 
Smolash, who will take part in plan-
ning the upcoming programming. 
“He’
s a full-fledged recording artist 

with talent and charisma and 100 
percent committed to Jewish music. 
I think he’
s a tremendous resource 
for the whole Jewish community.
“We had him booked for the 
Gottlieb concert some time ago, and 
I heard a rumor that he might be 
moving to town. When we heard he 
was going to be here for three years, 
we worked something out. We’
re 
really excited to have him as an art-
ist-in-residence.”
Among the later plans for Kraus 
will be leading satellite services for 
residents of Huntington Woods, 
Royal Oak and other areas at a dis-
tance from Temple Israel. Besides 
performing, he also will be conduct-
ing classes.
“He’
s excited about bringing in 
other artists, engaging artists in the 
community to do Jewish music and 
setting up coffee houses,” Smolash 
says. “His first community service is 
being planned for Sept. 13, and there 
will be eight of them throughout the 
year.”
Kraus’
s musical interests began 
before he thought about professional 
possibilities.
“I picked up a guitar at age 10,” he 
recalls. “My father (Rabbi Jonathan 
Kraus) was a song leader when he 
was growing up in New Jersey. He 
taught me how to play guitar, and 
I learned many songs at Jewish 
summer camp. I found it a way to 
engage in Jewish text and values and 
wrote my first religious song in high 
school.
“I went to Muhlenberg College (in 
Pennsylvania) as a creative writing 
major and took a few music classes. 
At the end of my freshman year, I 
thought about making a career out 
of Jewish music and traveling the 
country, and that kicked off in the 
summer of 2016.”
Kraus, with a music performance 
degree, has been a camp counselor 
and New York teacher. He joins with 
people expressing different ways of 
religious observation and has been a 
member of the diverse Jewish a cap-
pella group Six13.
“I write non-Jewish music, but I 
don’
t perform it,” Kraus says. “The 
chords come first and the words after 
except when I write music for prayer. 
Then, I think how the music can 
serve the lyrics. I write Jewish music 
for functionality in partnership with 
art.” ■

High-Energy Music

Jacob Spike Kraus kicks off this year’
s Stephen Gottlieb Concert.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

music
arts&life

Details
The Stephen Gottlieb 
Concert at the Temple 
Israel Maccabi Host 
Family Night is set for 
Wednesday, Aug. 7. 
Dinner starts at 6 p.m., 
and the concert starts 
at 7 p.m. The program 
is free to the community 
with reservations 
needed by Aug. 2 to 
temple-israel.org/
gottlieb.

COURTESY OF JACOB SPIKE KRAUS 

