Tracey was born to a father who worked with radio stations, RCA, Motown, Elvis, and Diana Ross… and to a mother who was well-known in Yiddish theatre as part of The Burton Sisters. She spoke with me about some of her very diverse projects, and why she loves living in Nachlaot.
After I turned off the recording, Tracey talked about two other projects that didn’t make it into the interview. She has been involved with the Ethiopian community, organizing festivals and fund-raisers with Emunah, and in fact that’s how I first met her. She has also been active in peacework, including Seeds of Peace, which she brought to Florida. You can reach out to her for addictions or family counseling, and whenever you are in Jerusalem, Tracey invites you to message her on facebook and ask about her next show.
Tracey went from a yeshiva (school for Torah study) in Israel to a Catholic school in Cleveland to learn art therapy, traveling between her birth country of the United States and Israel for much of her life. When she got her first job as an addictions counselor, she knew nothing about addictions, and may have been the first addictions counselor in the United States who wasn’t in recovery, according to her. In Florida, she worked with youth who came from skinhead backgrounds and they wanted to convert to Judaism by the end of their time working with her.
20 years ago, on one of her returns to living in Israel, she discovered an annual Woodstock Festival in Kraft Stadium with 1200 attendees. When that iteration of the festival discontinued, Tracey picked up the torch, and for the past 8 years has been hosting summer, and then year-round monthly, Woodstock-tribute events with 150-300 attendees. She now also hosts events at Kfar Shaul, a multicultural mental health hospital associated with the term “Jerusalem Syndrome.”
Tracey has also been focusing on youth, opening a live music bar in Jerusalem with no alcohol, smoking, or drugs, to give them somewhere to go other than the streets. It is called Sobar. After closing Sobar, Tracey worked in a Soteria House for women with psychosis. She shared with me her observations from that short period.
She then created the Jerusalem School of Rock, an opportunity for young people to create rock bands, rehearse, and perform. She also blogs at The Times of Israel and writes a parenting column for The Jerusalem Post.
Tracey mentioned the artist Yaacov Agam, the volunteer organization HandsOn Network, the recently-opened women-run Break Bar, and her husband’s membership in Bikers Against Child Abuse.
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