From Tel Aviv Clubs to Holy Songs: Yaala’s Story

From a young age, Yaala Elisheva was someone who asked deep questions. Although she grew up in a religious home, she reached a point in life where she began to question everything including her own faith.

Her turning point began when a friend invited her to a Kabbalah class. “I came to his lectures and argued with the rabbi,” she recalls with a smile. “Every time I asked something, the rabbi would say, ‘You’re asking this because you don’t have emunah.’ And I told him, ‘Faith isn’t something you can buy at the grocery store!’”

The rabbi replied gently, “Then ask for it. Speak to Hashem even if you don’t believe in Him yet. Just talk. Ask for signs. Ask to be guided toward faith.”

That idea sparked something inside her. She began talking to Hashem in her own words. Slowly, the lectures started to touch her heart. Books opened to just the right page, and moments in life suddenly felt like personal messages. Bit by bit, she began to develop a kind of faith she had never felt before.

But one challenge was especially hard for her: singing.

In Jewish law, known as halacha, women are not permitted to sing in front of men who are not family members. It’s a boundary meant to protect modesty. For someone like Yaala, who had lived for music and performed in Tel Aviv nightclubs, this felt like an impossible test.

“All my life, I just wanted to sing,” she says. “I performed in clubs, and once even as a wedding singer. I thought if I became religious, I’d have to give that up. In my ignorance, I thought what’s the point of singing only for women?”

It took her a year and a half of soul-searching. But eventually, she realized something powerful. “Singing for half the world is more than enough. I stopped falling for that illusion the yetzer hara (evil inclination) was feeding me. I started keeping Shabbat, growing spiritually, and began singing only for women.”

That shift happened after a trip to the resting places of the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, both great spiritual leaders in Jewish history. “I stood there and cried,” she says. “I asked the Baal Shem Tov to help me use my voice for Hashem’s sake, to bring the Jewish people closer to Him.”

In Judaism, there is a concept that everything should be elevated to its spiritual root. “If you were given a talent,” she says, “it’s not for fame or ego, it’s to bring light into the world.”

Today, Yaala Elisheva performs exclusively for women. She also works as a jewelry artist on Nachalat Binyamin Street in Tel Aviv, where she creates handmade pieces with Jewish themes. “I realized I needed to create things with meaning not just jewelry without a soul.”

Back in Israel, melodies began flowing to her. “I’d sit at the piano, and they would just come. On Shabbat, when I couldn’t write them down, I’d try to memorize them until Shabbat ended.”

She dreamed of making an album but didn’t know how. “I didn’t have the right people to work with. I reached out to other women and nothing came of it. Finally, I spoke to one of my rabbi’s students, who had released music himself. He told me, ‘What are you afraid of? Ask Hashem and the arrangements will come.’ That’s exactly what I did. This entire album came to life through tefillah (prayer) and heartfelt pleas.”

About three and a half years ago, her first album Heichal HaNigun, The Palace of Melody was released, but only for women. It couldn’t be sold in stores or played on the radio, which was hard for her.

“I always knew it would be limited, but it still hurt. I had these melodies, these songs full of holiness and beauty and I wanted all of Am Yisrael (the Jewish people) to hear them.”

Then, about a year and a half ago, a new idea came to her, one that felt like a gift from Hashem.

She would re-release the album but this time, with male vocalists. That way, men could also hear and be uplifted by the music. Since she didn’t have the budget to record all new music, the male singers would sing over the original background tracks, which required incredible vocal precision and sensitivity.

Yaala chose carefully. The new version features some of the most beloved names in Jewish music: Aharon Razel, Gad Elbaz, Ilan Damari, Ishay Lapidot, Netanel Malayev, and Avichai Paz Greenwald.

To Yaala, this new version is not about pushing women aside, it’s about reaching more souls. “There’s so much misunderstanding out there,” she says. “People talk about exclusion, but what they don’t understand is the beauty of modesty, the power of inner dignity.”

Quoting from Jewish tradition, she says, “It’s written, ‘Strength and dignity are her clothing.’ That’s not just about physical clothes, it’s about what a woman is inside. Modesty is our strength. That’s the real beauty of a Jewish woman.”

She reflects with pain on what secular society expects from women. “It’s so sad. Women are told to sell their bodies instead of revealing their souls. They’re taught that to succeed, even in simple jobs, they have to dress and act in ways that go against their inner dignity. I used to think that way too. But now I understand how backwards it all is.”

She adds, “There are talented female singers today who are pressured to perform in a way that triggers something else, not connection, not holiness. And a Torah-observant young man, who’s trying to guard his eyes and uplift his soul, can’t listen to that kind of music. And those women, they’re pressured too. They feel they have to sing like that to be accepted.”

“I stopped playing that game. When I was still secular, I was pressured to do things I didn’t want to do. I won’t go into detail. But Hashem protected me. I didn’t give in.”

Now, with her new version of Heichal HaNigun, her goal is clear.

“I named the album after the title track, which describes the creative process. I felt like I had entered a magical palace of music. Like Alice in Wonderland only holier. I want this album to reach all of Am Yisrael, especially those men who want to elevate their souls.”

She shares a deep teaching from the Baal Shem Tov: that music is something incredibly pure and so close to the Divine that it stands just before the Heavenly Throne. “In the higher spiritual worlds, there are many levels. One of them is the Palace of Teshuvah (repentance). But above even that is the Palace of Melody. That’s how high music can reach.”

“We may not fully understand what melody really is,” she continues. “But if we long for it, if we aspire toward it, then that’s where we are, spiritually. After 120 years, we won’t be asked what we achieved, but what we truly desired. My desire is to purify myself. I don’t know how much I’ve succeeded, but that’s where my heart is. That’s the truth.”