Shalom my friends, Eliana Light here. Welcome to the Light Lab Podcast! This is our place to play with prayer and hold the gems of our liturgy to the light and see what shines out. And today we're bringing a really great interview with a partner in that work. Musician, educator, playful pray-er extraordinaire, Billy Jonas. I brought in Billy to co-lead Sunday morning T'fillah prayer and liturgy experience for our Light Lab T'fillah Teacher Fellows. We had our retreat in June this summer, and Billy and I, we, I've learned from him in so many different contexts. And you'll hear how much of an impact Billy and Billy's music has had on me in my life, and I'm so grateful. But we'd never worked on building a prayer service or prayer gathering, like we did. And it was so incredible to work with him. Such an intentional prayer leader, we talked a lot about transitions, and we also got to experiment. There were some curtains involved. You'll get a little bit of that backstory in this interview, but that's really what we've been up to this summer has been the first ever Light Lab T'fillah Teachers Fellowship, I also was able to teach about T'fillah at Ramah Darom for their staff week, at the New CAJE Jewish education conference, and coming up later this summer at Let My People Sing, which is super exciting. And there will be more, more traveling, more tefillah-sophizing, so much more. But for now, I want to tell you about our amazing guest, Billy Jonas. Billy Jonas is bridging divides through rhythm and song to heal rifts within ourselves, our families, our communities and the world. Billy has captivated audiences worldwide since 1987, using voice, guitar and industrial repercussion instruments made from found objects. My favorite is this big I don't know if it's an oil drum. This big blue canister that rolls on wheels. We'll share some videos of course where you can see Billy in action. He tours with the Billy Jonas band and solo and works with the Muslim Christian Jewish super trio Abraham Kam. When home Billy is a member of the sacred music team at Congregation Beth HaTephila in Asheville, North Carolina. From the White House to the Middle East and beyond, each concert is a soul spelunking, heart healing, joy filled journey and it is my joy and honor to bring you my interview slash conversation with the one and only Billy Jonas.