DJ innovation, tech overlap and enhance religious identity at Ulpanit Amit Yeshurun

When, already just after their second DJ class at the new Petach Tikvah campus of the Rimon School of Music, the new DJ students from Ulpanit Amit Yeshurun were asked to prepare a mini mix to present in front of the class, the girls got a bit nervous.

“The first time I presented the mini mix I had produced–a song I really loved–I was very stressed,” recalled Liraz Menagen, one of 20 ninth-grade Ulpanit students participating in the new DJing class as part of the music major this year. 

“I didn’t know what to expect, or what the (other students) would think. But when I saw they liked what I was doing, and they were enjoying it, then it started to feel fun. When people love your creation, it is really great. It really lets me express myself and be Liraz. 

“The first time I presented my minimax, I was afraid, but then I pressed “play,” and I felt so free,” added Tahel Asraf. 

The connection between the prestigious music school, the largest independent professional school known for its advanced study of jazz, R&B, bebop, rock and pop music, and Ulpanit Amit Yeshurun which, under the leadership of its principal, Mevasseret Jacobs, provides a broad curriculum in the arts and sciences along with religious studies, began a year ago after Jacobs visited the Rimon School as a part of an educational tour by the Petach Tivkah Municipality.  

“During the visit of the Ulpanit’s management to Rimon School, we were exposed to the variety of courses offered there and we thought that studying there could complement and enrich our studies,” said Jacobs, noting that the Ulpanit curriculum includes music studies for the students from 7th to the 12th grade. As part of the elective studies and the major, the girls learn singing, playing an instrument, composing and singing in a choir. 

“For us it was a chance to enrich the musical studies at the Ulpanit and introduce the girls to an area of production we don’t have in our studies – to give the girls an opportunity to widen their horizons and develop in their musical studies with high level professional teachers.”

She views the possibility for the girls to experience this different aspect of music as “a gift,” she said. 

Ulpanit offers DJ course in conjunction with prestigious music school

Ulpanit Amit Yeshurun now offers two DJing classes and a class in musical theater with 10 students in cooperation with the Rimon School of Music. 

The Ulpanit has different learning tracks whose goal is to nurture self-confident students who express themselves with self-assurance in all areas of life, Jacobs said. This includes the areas of leadership, academic excellence, social action and also in the expression of their creative and artistic powers – through music.

In building the curriculum together with the Rimon School, they discussed the values and limits of the Ulpanit as a religious educational institution and chose teachers from Rimon who are familiar with religious society and the boundaries within which they operate, said Jacobs.

“For us, cooperation with institutions and organizations outside the Ulpanit is the most natural and necessary thing,” she said. “The Ulpanit operates in a wide world, our students are exposed to it, and any cooperation, done in a responsible and good way, is blessed. Our medical students also come to hospitals and software engineering students visit hi-tech companies. In the case of the Rimon School, we began during a time of division and polarization in Israeli society and precisely saw this as an opportunity for closeness and connection.”

She noted that the students build their identity – religious and otherwise – also through encounters with dilemmas and choices, and face these issues in all the art classes, including in theater, graphic design and art.

“From our experience, their choices actually strengthen their religious identity and gives them new avenues for expression and creation,” she said. “Innovation and technology did not replace the depth of religious identity but added a new garment to it. I trust the girls and the foundation the Ulpanit gives them, as well as the values they learn from their families so that they will make their decisions with strength and knowledge, and not out of fear or hiding.”

“Just because we are religious doesn’t mean we can’t be interested in DJing or something else. It is just another experience we live with,” said Ulpanit student Shira Gilady.

Roni Korel, vice-president of marketing and development and director of the Rimon School’s foreign studies program, noted that the course takes place as part of the Rimon Youth Center at the Culture Hall in a dedicated classroom equipped with innovative DJ equipment that includes turntable stations and production software. The professional content in the courses tailored for the youth is practically identical to the professional study programs for graduate musicians at the Rimon School, she said, preparing them to work as a DJ in the field just like any professional.

“The course…gives the girls of the Ulpanit technical control of the recording platforms, tools for building a playlist and standing in front of an audience so that at the end of the course they will be able to lead the music at school parties, at B’not Mitzvah events, and events of all kinds,” she said. In a profession that until now has been mostly male-dominated, there is a growing trend of more women becoming DJs. “Everyone deserves to mark their important events through music. Therefore, women, men, girls and boys from the religious and ultra-Orthodox sectors are also audiences that Rimon trains today and we will be happy to train more in the future.”

In addition to the technical knowledge they are gaining from the course, Ulpanit student Adi Shaham said she and the other students are also gaining self-confidence and leadership skills as they learn how to manage an audience with their music. 

“I didn’t think I would have to do so many things at once, but with practice we are improving day-by-day,” said Shaham, whose DJ brother encouraged her to register for the class. “Our generation is very technology-oriented so the technological side of the program was less difficult even though the technology is different. I think there is a stigma that as religious people we are very limited in what we can do, but that is not true.

The Ulpanit as religious education really opens us to a lot of possibilities that are outside of our religious context and we give it value that integrates us within Israeli society. I think music is one of the main things in the world that connects between people…music can really be a bridge for many things.”