Shir Meira Feit

{{short description|American liturgist, singer-songwriter, composer}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Shir Meira Feit | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Sam Benjamin Feinstein-Feit | alias = Shir Yaakov | birth_place = Manhattan, New York | origin = Hudson Valley, New York | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = Jewish music, folk, electronic, hip hop | occupation = Rabbi, composer, liturgist, singer, educator, prayer leader, graphic designer | instrument = Vocals, guitar | years_active = 2005–present | label = | website = {{URL|shirmeira.com}} }}

'''Shir Meira Feit''' ({{nee|''Sam Benjamin Feinstein-Feit''}} and formerly known as Shir Yaakov)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Neuroqueering: a Torah-Dharma Talk |url=https://www.shirmeira.com/blog/neuroqueering-a-torah-dharma-talk |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=shir meira feit |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hearing Meira |url=https://www.shirmeira.com/blog/hearing-meira |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=shir meira feit |language=en-US}}</ref> is an American rabbi, composer, liturgist, singer-songwriter, spiritual counselor, and graphic designer. Feit is genderqueer.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last1=Farkas |first1=Susan |title=At the edge between ‘being and becoming,’ a rabbi transitions |url=https://www.timesunion.com/faith/article/rabbi-shir-feit-nonbinary-autism-kol-hai-18129887.php |access-date=29 September 2024 |agency=Albany Times-Union |date=9 June 2023}}</ref> As a musician, they have recorded several albums both solo and with the groups Darshan and The Epichorus. In their spiritual career, Feit has been a figure in the Jewish Renewal movement, having served the congregations Kol Hai, Kol Zimrah, and Romemu and served as ritual consultant at Eden Village Camp and visiting faculty at the Academy for Jewish Religion and the Jewish Theological Seminary.<ref name="Staff-2016">{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=Feb 4, 2016 |title=Buddhist, Jew to explore Auschwitz trips in talk at Tucson J |url=https://azjewishpost.com/2016/buddhist-jew-to-explore-auschwitz-trips-in-talk-at-tucson-j/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Arizona Jewish Post |language=en-US}}</ref> They are also a member of the Zen Peacemaker order.<ref name="Staff-2016" />

==Early life== Feit was raised in Manhattan by a secular Jewish family. They attended the Abraham Joshua Heschel School beginning in third grade when their mother got a job there. Their family were members of the B'nai Jeshurun synagogue. As a child, Feit took piano and guitar lessons and taught themselves music, including transcription and composition. In high school, they were influenced musically by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.<ref name="New Paltz">{{cite web|first1=Frances Marion|last1=Platt|title=Kol Hai presents "inclusive" services for Jewish High Holy Days|url=http://www.newpaltzx.com/2015/09/11/kol-hai-presents-inclusive-services-for-jewish-high-holy-days/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912061524/http://www.newpaltzx.com/2015/09/11/kol-hai-presents-inclusive-services-for-jewish-high-holy-days/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 12, 2015|website=The New Paltz Times|publisher=Ulster Publishing|accessdate=6 January 2016|date=Sep 11, 2015}}</ref>

After graduating high school, Feit worked in photography, graphic and web design. They started becoming more religious in their early 20s, influenced by ''Sefer Yetzirah'' and the works of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of the Jewish Renewal movement.<ref name="New Paltz" />

Feit moved to Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood in 2005 to study in yeshiva. There, Feit and their friends created an informal band called Lev Yerushalayim, with whom they would beatbox and freestyle rap at late-night concerts outside Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo.<ref name="a7">{{cite web |last1=Bresky |first1=Ben |date=June 6, 2010 |title=Audio: Shir Yaakov's Folk Electronic / Strum -n- Bass |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2271 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208000000/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2271 |archive-date=Dec 8, 2010 |accessdate=16 December 2015 |website=Arutz Sheva |format=audio interview}} [https://archive.org/details/IsraelBeat-RabbiShirYaakovsJewishFolkElectronicStrum-n-Bass Alt URL]</ref>

==Music career== ===Solo albums=== Feit began their music career with the EP ''Shir'' (2008), followed by their debut album ''Zeh'' (2009). They have since released two more solo albums, ''Az'' (2010) and ''Lah'' (2015). Their song "Broken Hearted" won ''The Forward'''s 2016 Soundtrack of Our Spirit competition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-16 |title=Shir Yaakov Feit, "Broken Hearted" |url=https://forward.com/news/350153/shir-yaakov-feit-broken-hearted/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref>

===Darshan=== {{main|Darshan (band)}} In 2008, while working at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Feit met the Jewish rapper Eprhyme (Eden Pearlstein). After playing their respective music for each other, Eprhyme invited Feit to sing on their debut album ''Waywordwonderwill'', and the two later formed the duo Darshan.<ref name=a7 /> Their debut EP ''Lishmah'' was released in 2010, followed by a full-length album, ''Deeper and Higher'', in 2015.

===Other=== Feit has collaborated with the multifaith world music band The Epichorus, singing on their 2012 debut album ''One Bead''.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Aimee|last1=Rubensteen|title=The Epichorus Blend Faiths and Sounds in Powerful Debut|url=http://newvoices.org/2012/11/26/the-epichorus-blend-faiths-and-sounds-in-powerful-debut/|website=New Voices |accessdate=7 January 2016|date=Nov 26, 2012}}</ref>

==Other activities== Feit is one of the founding members of Kol Zimrah, an independent ''minyan'' and ''chavurah'' on the Upper West Side.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Michaelson|first1=Jay|authorlink1=Jay Michaelson|title=A Prayer Group of Their Own|url=http://forward.com/articles/7093/a-prayer-group-of-their-own/|website=The Forward|accessdate=16 December 2015|date=Nov 14, 2003}}</ref> They have also founded and worked with the Jewish Renewal congregations Kol Hai<ref name="New Paltz" /> and Romemu, and has served as a ritual consultant at Eden Village Camp and visiting faculty at the Academy for Jewish Religion. They were a participant and later a facilitator of Rōshi Bernie Glassman's "Bearing Witness" retreat at Auschwitz.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Michaelson |first=Jay |date=2018-11-05 |title=Remembering Bernie Glassman — A Zen Mensch |url=https://forward.com/culture/413597/remembering-bernie-glassman-a-zen-mensch/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref> In April 2016, Feit was one of around 100 Jewish leaders, including Rabbis Rachel Barenblat, Saul Berman, and Shefa Gold, to sign a petition of denouncement against spiritual guru Marc Gafni, in light of allegations of sexual misconduct against Gafni.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oswald |first=John A. |date=2016-04-06 |title=Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Leaves Marc Gafni's Think Tank |url=https://forward.com/news/337904/whole-foods-ceo-john-mackey-leaves-marc-gafnis-think-tank/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life== As of 2023, Feit "describe[d] themself as genderqueer or gender-fluid"<ref name=":1" /> and uses ''they/them'' pronouns.<ref name=":0" /> They live in the Hudson Valley with their partner and three children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.shirmeira.com/about |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=shir meira feit |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

==Discography==

=== Solo recordings === *''Shir'' EP ("Song") (2008) *''Zeh'' ("This") (2009) *''Az'' ("Then") (2010) *''Lah'' ("To Her") (2015)

=== With Darshan === *''Lishmah'' EP (2010; Shemspeed) *''Deeper and Higher'' (2015)

=== With The Epichorus ===

* ''One Bead'' (2012) * ''Precession'' (2016)

===Other=== * Blanket Statementstein, ''Blanket Statementstein'' (2008) – vocals ("Never Stress") * Eprhyme, ''Waywordwonderwill'' (2009) – vocals ("Tikkun Adam" and "Fixing Midnight") * Eprhyme, ''Dopestylevsky'' (2011) – vocals <small>(with Darshan)</small> ("Better in the Dark")

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feit, Shir Meira}} Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:Jewish American rappers Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:Jewish Renewal rabbis Category:Jewish hip-hop record producers Category:Jewish folk singers Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters Category:Non-binary Jews Category:Non-binary singer-songwriters Category:LGBTQ rabbis