Batya Yehudit Shrager – Musician – Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel
Batya Yehudit Shrager has a BA in Music Performance from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Upon graduating, she spent a year at Neve Yerushalayim seminary in Har Nof. That year, she joined the Ron Shulamit Conservatory Orchestra and helped form their Woodwind Quintet. Seeing all the musical opportunities for religious women and having fallen in love with Israel, she decided to make Aliyah. Over the next few years, Yehudit performed and taught clarinet in Aviv Music School, Bais Yaakov Beit Margalit, Bais Yaakov Bnos Elisheva and the Maale Adummim conservatory. She also performed and recorded with the musical group, “Jewish Family Ensemble.” After five years in Israel, she left on a three-year kiruv mission to Boca Raton, FL, where she taught general music for kindergarten through 2nd grade at a Jewish Day School. She and her family returned to Israel in 2015 and settled in Ramat Beit Shemesh where she teaches for, ‘Studio Musikef,’ a local music studio started by fellow olah, Judy Clark. Nowadays, Yehudit enjoys teaching clarinet as well as flute, piano, voice, guitar and ukulele. In her spare time, she likes to organize local “Open Mic” nights to create performance opportunities for women like her who yearn for the spotlight, but have to be up early for gan drop-off the next morning.