Moishe House London - Joel - November

Yesterday I lost my voice. I've had a sore throat for a few days and I guess all the singing I did at our open mic night on Thursday and our big Shabbes gatherings on the weekend wasn't the best way to nurse it back to health. Only being able to whisper has been an interesting experience. I was at Act for Darfur, 11 hours of programming on the atrocities (still) taking place in that part of Sudan, and so there were a lot of people around who I knew. When you can't speak normally, eye contact, facial expressions and body language become more important. I actually found I was making good connections with people in the attempt to make myself understood and also spend more time listening to them. Some people notice the connection but others are less comfortable with the communication - they think it's too much effort for me and that we should speak some other time. Which is a shame.

I'm pleased to say my voice is returning today - back to the huskiness of the weekend, but I'll take greater care not to overdo it this time. This morning I went to the Time Out offices in central London for a photo-shoot. They want me to feature in an article about fashionable people of faith i.e. religious types with an interesting look! The photographer told me he had a rockabilly Christian coming in after me, followed by a young Sikh couple. All quite fun really.

All said and done, this last week has really topped off November for me. 40 people for our performance evening, including my dad coming by to read his poetry. Lovely gatherings in The House on Shabbat with a lot of people staying over. These rooms filled with light and warmth and joy. It's our Chanukah party on Wednesday and we're expecting a big one...