In this episode of the Beyond the Bars podcast, Gedilah Folk Rock Rabbi shares a humorous anecdote from a recent visit to Westchester Jail, where his comment about "holy ingredients" in cookies sparked laughter and broke the ice with inmates. He reflects on how playing guitar and singing in prisons gradually lowers guards’ and inmates’ defenses, allowing moments of hope and spiritual connection. Gedilah outlines upcoming outreach plans, including new prison visits in Virginia and a broader national effort, noting the logistical challenges of background checks and paperwork. He introduces a new creative project titled "On the Heels of the Messiah," a song‑writing series that surveys the spiritual climate across different U.S. regions, aiming to spark dialogue about faith and meaning. To support this work, he launches two Patreon pages—one for his spiritual‑growth community (Gedilah Folk Rock Rabbi) and another for his songwriting (A New Song USA)—explaining the need to keep the content streams separate. He closes by invoking his signature song "Waiting for Redemption" and expressing hope that the new project will bring listeners closer to redemption.
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All right, that's a little music to fade in. You know, I'm working on my podcast still. I'm trying to get some recorded tracks, but for now I'm just kind of playing my guitar a little bit once in a while just to add a little bit to the podcast. You know, it's a work in progress. Anyway, I welcome everyone. Thank you so much for coming back to Beyond the Bars: Spiritual Insights from Prisons and Life. And I'm Gedalya Folk Rock Rabbi. So thanks so much for tuning in. We're going to go a little bit deeper into the places where music, meaning, and real life stories all kind of come together. So I have an interesting, a little bit of a funny story. If you may have read it on my blog, I was visiting Westchester Jail in between the high holidays, and I went along with a few other people, and we brought some cookies and cake for the inmates. And I remember, so I started playing, you know, I was doing one of my songs and I noticed that no one was eating any of their cookies. So I said, hey guys, eat some cookies, we, we put some special ingredients in them. And I didn't realize what I said. I meant, you know, like holy spiritual ingredients. But I noticed the security guards, like, their heads whipped around, they were looking at me. And I saw them and I, I realized what how they must have taken it. So I said, no, no, no, I didn't mean those kind of ingredients. I meant like holy ingredients. And, uh, anyway, all the inmates cracked up and they did actually start eating them, but there were really only holy ingredients inside. Anyway, I have a few things, a few new things going on. I'm preparing to visit some prisons in Virginia and reaching out to other prisons around the country. You know, I've mentioned every state is so different and the, uh, the paperwork and the background checks and everything you have to do. But hopefully I have some interesting stories coming up. So if you've been following my work, you know, one of the most challenging things though, you know, it's like every show is so different. I never know what's going to happen. You know, this— I get to places and the faces are tough and the arms are folded and I start to play, and little by little, you know, the walls just drop, you know, and people start to listen and get a kind of a little bit, uh, they ease up a little bit, start to nod along, tap along a little bit sometimes. And it's always a good feeling, you know, to see that it's possible to bring hope to these people even in these hard places. And you know, they've done things that they, they regret. And, uh, you know, like I say, I'm not there to take them out. I'm there to Well, the truth is I really am there to take them out in a spiritual way while I'm there, to elevate them a little bit out of their situation, but hopefully to also plant some seeds with the songs and the messages so that they'll have some things to think about and can help them in their, you know, in their transition to, uh, trying to work on themselves. So I'd like to add something new that I'd like to talk about today. Which is a project I'm working on that I— well, as I'm traveling around to the different prisons in different cities all over the country, I have an idea that I'm calling On the Heels of the Messiah, because I'm curious about the spiritual pulse in America, you know. You know, what's going on out there? People are searching, there's a lot of confusion, there's a lot of questions, a lot of things, you know, so many things with the internet and so many new ideas and new things going on, And people are, I see, turning more and more to spiritual, to spirituality. And I'm curious, you know, what it's like in different parts of the country. So I'm in the process of writing a song. It's kind of gonna be like a little bit of a funny song called "On the Road: The Spiritual Pulse of America," kind of talking about, you know, the East, the West, the South, the North, different places, and, you know, what their how they express spirituality, and also teaching some of my own spiritual ideas and thoughts and opening up some questions and things for people to think about. Um, this idea on the heels of the Messiah is primarily going to be on my new Patreon page. So if you're familiar with Patreon, I'm launching a page right now. I'm hoping to develop a community of people who are interested in spiritual growth And you can look up— I have two pages I'm starting. One is for Gedalya Folk Rock Rabbi, and one is for A New Song USA. I'm trying to keep them a little bit separate, and I may not share everything on my Gedalya page on my new song page because not every song I write is really, you know, appropriate for both pages. You know, I'm trying to keep it a little bit separate and keep my musical— my freedom from my music a little bit for myself and be able to share songs that maybe I wouldn't share in prison sometimes, but I'd like to share them with you on Patreon. So if you're curious, you want to see what it's like, please join me on Patreon and become part of this new community. I hope to see you there. This is Gedalya Folk Rock Rabbi Rabbi Gedalya, beyond the bars. And you all know the song Waiting for Redemption, right? I'm waiting for redemption every day and every night. Yeah, okay, so we're all waiting for redemption, and hopefully it will be soon. On the heels of the Messiah, hopefully will take us right to that point of redemption. Anyway, this is Gedalya Folk Rock Rabbi wishing you all only good things.
