Kineret Sarah Cohen (born 1970) is an Israeli-American

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

singer, songwriter, producer,

rebbetzin Rebbetzin ( yi, רביצין) or Rabbanit ( he, רַבָּנִית) is the title used for the wife of a rabbi—typically among Orthodox, Haredi, and Hasidic Jews—or for a female Torah scholar or teacher. Etymology The Yiddish word has a ...

, and lecturer. She has released nine musical albums since 1998 and has been noted as an established performer of Jewish music for women only alongside artists like Ruthi Navon and Julia Blum. She is also known for her Torah lectures, motivational speeches, and weekly newsletters.

Biography

Early life

Kineret was born in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Her parents, both professional musicians, met in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and played in a band together. Due to their constant touring, she lived primarily with her maternal grandmother, Sarah, a religious Jew of Moroccan and Iraqi heritage who traced her lineage to the famous Sephardic rabbi

Ben Ish Hai Yosef Hayim (1 September 1835 – 30 August 1909) ( Iraqi Hebrew: Yoseph Ḥayyim; he, יוסף חיים מבגדאד) was a leading Baghdadi ''hakham'' (Sephardi rabbi), authority on ''halakha'' (Jewish law), and Master Kabbalist. He is best ...

. While Kineret's mother was strictly

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

, her grandmother exposed her to practices such as

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

and

kashrut (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

. When she was six, she and her parents moved to

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She attended P.S. 13, where she performed in school productions and was in the school band. She applied to Louis Armstrong Middle School but was disqualified after she was caught skipping class, and instead attended Yeshiva Academy of South Queens under Rabbi Zalman Deutscher. She also spent a summer at Camp Sternberg; both locations deepened her commitment to Judaism. When her parents moved again to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, she remained in New York, boarding with the family of noted

posek In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities a ...

Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum and attending Shevach High School.

Career

She was encouraged by Rabbi Nuta Waidenbaum of Milk and Honey Productions to make a career in Jewish music and gave her first women-only performance during a

Chanukkah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...

production at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

when she was 18. She released her first album, ''The Inspiration'', in 1998, and has since released six more albums and two concert DVDS. Her third album, ''How Come, How Long?'', was dedicated to victims of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

and includes covers of songs by Yehuda!, Mendy Wald, and

Shloime Dachs Shloime Dachs is an American Orthodox pop vocalist. He is also the founder of the eponymous Shloime Dachs Orchestra, which plays at weddings, concerts, and benefits. Biography Dachs was born in New York. He has one brother and one sister. His par ...

. Her most recent album is ''Reach Out'' released in 2007. In the summer of 2011, she performed at a

Shas Shas ( he, ש״ס) is a Haredi religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily ...

-sponsored women's conference in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. She has received vocal training from Dr. William Riley, coach of

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

and

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

. In addition to her music career, Kineret is a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

and

life coach Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

. She is the founder of the

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

organization Ohel Sara, which provides Jewish learning opportunities to women and girls new to Judaism. The organization is named after Kineret's grandmother and was encouraged early on by Rebbetzin Rachel Baraness and the late Rav

Ovadia Yosef Ovadia Yosef ( he, , Ovadya Yosef, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodo ...

Discography

Albums

*''The Inspiration'' (1998) *''One Voice'' (2000) *''How Come, How Long?'' (2001) *''In Motion: The Dance Album'' (2002) *''Come Home: Kum Aheim'' (2003) *''The English Album'' (2004) *''Reach Out'' (2007)

Concert DVDS

*''Kineret in Concert – Brooklyn College'' (2008) *''Kineret in Concert 2: In Celebration of Chanukah'' (2009)

References

External links

About Kineret
at OhelSara.com
Rabbanit Kineret Sarah Cohen
at TorahAnytime.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kineret Jewish women singers Israeli emigrants to the United States Israeli Orthodox Jews Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Jewish American musicians Jewish Israeli musicians Singers from Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish women musicians Israeli women singer-songwriters Israeli singer-songwriters 1970 births Living people 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American Sephardic Jews 21st-century American Sephardic Jews