Rachel Moshel: Creating a space for Jewish art and joy
After hosting private salons for Jewish creatives, musician Rachel Moshel is taking the idea public with a new monthly event showcasing both emerging and established artists
Gideon Cohen
Rachel Moshel will be launching a monthly evening for Jewish art and music at Classic Southside in October
Published: 1 September 2026
Last updated: 1 September 2026
To start off, tell us about yourself – what do you do?
I am a trumpet player, composer, and band leader originally from Sydney, but I live in Melbourne now. I run a band called Fifth of Nissan, which is a seven-piece Klezmer jazz group made up of some of the best musicians in Melbourne. We play jazz that is richly infused with Klezmer as well as lots of other styles of music, and a Jewish voice.
All of the songs that we play are originals, and they're very much inspired by different Jewish experiences and stories. So, one song can be about Jewish folklore, like Shedim, whereas another one can be a response to October 7, while another is Eliyahu Anavi, which is an arrangement of the song that we sing at Havdalah.
What was your connection to Judaism growing up?
I grew up in a pretty secular household, but being Jewish was something very much to be proud of, and definitely still a part of my identity. Even though I was sent to a non-Jewish school, I would have bat mitzvah classes, and I had my bat mitzvah.
And then after that, I really loved Jewish learning so much. I would meet one-on-one with the rebbetzin from the shul, and we learned from one of the rebbe’s teaching books. I was always trying to dip back into Jewish learning in some way.
I have Russian Jewish parents. They're technically Ukrainian Jewish, but they speak Russian, and up until the conflict, they were calling themselves Russian. They were very proud, but we did not do many of the Jewish customs. I brought a lot of it into the house. We would light Shabbat candles because I wanted to, I would go to shul and make my mum come with me, that sort of thing. So, I was definitely driving a lot of it.
I always felt like a bit of a black sheep at the very Anglican private girls’ school that I went to. But it was sort of good. I think it strengthened a lot of that identity for me.
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What does your Jewish identity look like today, and how also does it intersect with your art?
It’s not so dissimilar to when I was younger, in that it's really driven by an eagerness to learn in all directions. I'm actually about to start learning how to daven properly, which is new for me. I can sort of very slowly read Hebrew, but I’m organising now to meet with a lady who teaches to prep kids. She’s going to teach me how to do it, which is so funny. I'm sort of playing catch-up for the Jewish education that I never got.
I’m just trying to learn. I go to the Beit Midrash Oz for classes or events when I can. It definitely feeds into my music because I think it’s a very core part that feels like it burns a fire I can’t really explain. When I'm learning about things, or when I'm trying to connect with God, or trying to connect with that part of my identity, it’s very much a similar energy to how I feel when I'm writing or performing music.
It’s all connected. When you’re doing things that make your soul feel fired up, it makes sense that they would be married together. Recently, I’ve been trying to work on writing music that’s set in nature with the intention of connecting to the divine, and writing very stream-of-consciousness, and then putting jazz chords to it.
We have had a really rough couple years, and there’s been a lot of stories told about us. I think it can feel like we don’t have a space where we can just pretty candidly say how we’re feeling, or talk, or share the joy that we're feeling, or share creativity
You’ve recently been hosting private salons for Jewish artists, performers and musicians, why did you want to produce these events?
I was in Germany in 2024, and I went to an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and there was a section on Jewish women. And there I was reading about a Jewish woman who, in the 19th century, opened up her living room as a salon. Different literary people, artists, all kinds would come inside, drink wine, share their art with each other, perform little concerts, or just mingle.
I think really amazing organisations do exist in the Jewish community, with artists coming together and meeting each other. But I really wanted something that was like a show-and-tell, where artists could come, and there would be a really intimate concert in a living room, like a salon, and artists were not just trying to network.
We’ve done three so far, they’re seasonal. They're specifically for Jewish artists to come and show their work. I curate the night, there’s a house band, and we have people submit through a Google form what they’d like to present. The theme is always based on something in the Jewish calendar. The last one was around the theme of Tu B’Av, so the theme was making love.
Usually, the night goes way too long because I’m really bad at saying no to people, and I get very excited, and it’s great. It’s been even better than I expected, because I had no idea how much talent was in our community. I’d say probably 80 per cent of the people who come up – I did not even really know are artists. So many people are really talented. They work on their crafts, and they just do not have a space to show it.
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You’re now organising a public, monthly Jewish performance night. It’s set to launch at Classic Southside in October, what can you tell us about it?
Basically, it’s going to be a monthly night to showcase Jewish arts and music. It’s sort of a combination of the salon and the Southside residencies that Fifth of Nissan did last year. The name of it is still in the works. I'm thinking of calling it something like, “In the Shtetl”.
The way it will work is similar to the salon. There will be a house band, and the first half of the evening will be a spotlight on emerging artists. We’ll have three artists, and it can be anything: comedy, visual artists, poetry, writing, dance, music. The three emerging artists will only have eight to 10 minutes to show off what they've been working on. Then we'll have a break, and then we’ll have a more seasoned artist perform, and that'll be someone who's been performing for years, who’s the headliner of the night.
It’s going to be a bit of a monster to put together and curate each one. But I'm just so excited. I feel like this is a culmination of a lot of work in the community, and it’s going to be good. I'm hoping it’s going to be a staple evening for our community and something really exciting. The part of the salon that I really want to take, other than having emerging artists, is the feeling of “you don't know what you’re going to get”. You can leave it feeling so uplifted and inspired.
It really feels like we're in a time where people are thirsty for the grey area. We’re more eager to hear real stories and different experiences. I'm excited to create a space like that
Why do you think it’s important to make a space for Jewish artists, and how has the community responded?
There are all the obvious reasons of Jews being pushed out of spaces, but also, I think we just have a lot of stories to tell each other. I think, especially after the last few years, it’s not just one experience, and it’s not a space to just share about antisemitism. If anything, it’s kind of the opposite. I think so much in media tells us that we need to be having a conversation about antisemitism every second.
I'm not saying that it’s not valid and people are really experiencing it, of course. But I think it’s just nice to have a space that’s for us, by us, where we can talk about anything and we can show Jewish joy without being embarrassed. We have had a really rough couple years, and there’s been a lot of stories told about us. I think it can feel like we don’t have a space where we can just pretty candidly say how we’re feeling, or talk, or share the joy that we're feeling, or share creativity.
I’ve been reconsidering in the last few years the kind of artist I’d like to be, and I think I have had the realisation that I’m not an advocating Jew. It’s just not my strength. I love being Jewish. I love Israel. I'm very, very, very proud, and I’m not against having a personal one-to-one conversation with someone. But I'm not interested in my art being some kind of political vehicle.
So, I’ve realised that the way I’d like to be an artist, or the way I’d like to tell my stories, is as a shtetl Jew. I want to give to my community, and then I want my community to give back to me. So that's also kind of the reason for the salon. I just love the community and I want it to be healthy and well fed.
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We like to end with the same question – what does social impact mean to you?
Being face to face in a room and sharing art and stories. That’s why I'm doing this monthly night. It’s creating a space where we can all come together and connect with each other and tell each other stories.
Especially right now, when the media portrays everything through one lens, it really feels like we're in a time where people are thirsty for the grey area. We’re more eager to hear real stories and different experiences. I'm excited to create a space like that, even if it’s kind of hard sometimes.
Some people who come to the salon are differently politically minded, and that’s great. We need spaces where Jews can argue. That’s what we do best.
About the author
Gideon Cohen is a Melbourne-based journalist and a content creator and editorial assistant at TJI. He holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Melbourne and his work has appeared in various publications including Broadsheet and The Jewish Chronicle.
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