94 | JULY 14 • 2022 

Kum Lei Lei” is an African 
folk song with just a few words 
repeated to the sounds of pro-
fessional musicians.
The book, Eretz Yisrael Sheli, 
(or in English, The Land of 
Israel Is Mine) teaches Hebrew 
words and shows Israeli sites. 
It was written by Israeli writer 
Datia Ben-Dor, translated into 
English by Smolash and illus-
trated by Casey Wright, the wife 
of Jacob Spike Kraus. 
“One of the three videos is 
a theme song of the album,
” 
Smolash said. “The second is a 
new counting song that teaches 
the numbers 1-10 in Hebrew. 
The third is about the book that 
we created. Our music produc-
tion director, Maya Grinboim, 
grew up with that song and 
knows it like we know ‘Row 
Your Boat.
’
“Temple Israel was very 
active during the pandemic, and 
this project was a way of mak-
ing sure that when we hit the 
warm weather, our kids would 
have something beautiful to 
celebrate. 
“The Early Childhood Center 
kids helped launch this album. 
We did it at a concert. Our kids 
sang with the musicians who 

played on the album, and it was 
very exciting for them to know 
they were going to help launch 
the album. Their voices are fea-
tured on the album so, through 
COVID, they were there with 
their masks on safely recording 
these songs.
”
When the book was pub-
lished, Smolash sat down with 
a class and read it to them. He 
said they were excited to know 
they were part of it as were 
Rabbi Jen Lader and Emma 
Trivax, congregational soloist.
The three videos — Temple 
Kidsrael, Counting Song and 
Eretz Yisrael Sheli — have repre-
sentatives from the components 

of the other parts of the package 
and feature performances new 
to each video. 
“We’
d love to share this music 
with the whole Jewish commu-

nity,
” Smolash said. “We want 
to bring the Early Childhood 
Center up to the level where 
kids can learn to love and enjoy 
Jewish music.
” 

ARTS&LIFE
MUSIC

ABOVE: A behind-the-scenes shot from a recording session. 
LEFT: Sarah Gottlieb and Cantor Michael Smolish.

continued from page 92

“THIS PROJECT WAS A WAY OF 
MAKING SURE THAT WHEN WE 
HIT THE WARM WEATHER, OUR 
KIDS WOULD HAVE SOMETHING 

BEAUTIFUL TO CELEBRATE.”

— CANTOR MICHAEL SMOLASH

Behind the scenes 
recorrding vocals with 
Temple Israel EEC kids.