Jon during the final Rimon performance.

At the height of my globetrotting musical parade this summer was a trip to Israel. In this special instance, though, music wasn’t always my main focus. As I mentioned last month, I had so much catching up to do with my family. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, aunt and two cousins. We went to an “ashram” in the Negev for a few days. For those of you who may not be familiar with an ashram, I'll give you my definition based on this experience, which is, of course, not the definition for all ashrams: It’s basically a place where hippies get together, chill, do yoga and rain dances and stuff and sleep all day. It’s really chill and is a great place to get over jet lag! We also went to the beach and rocked out with Outkast, the Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu and Stevie Wonder. Every minute I spent with my extended family was special and filled with joy and laughter, as it always is with them.

This trip, unlike my numerous other trips to the Holy Land, had a side plot as well. I attended a music program run for teens at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, Israel’s largest independent professional music school (it was actually pretty small!). It was a completely new experience for me with a lot of new people and, in this case, words I didn’t recognize. I soon found out that people were extremely fascinated with me! Many kids made an effort to speak English with me, even though I’m fluent in Hebrew. I was even asked if Americans eat McDonald’s for every meal, to which I responded, “No.” (You’re welcome!)

But when it got down to the music, all of a sudden there were no barriers at all. I’ve been to many music programs and studied with many different people, and all of them stress that music is a language in itself and that expressing yourself through your music is the most important thing you can do. I always listened very carefully and tried to follow their advice. But I don’t think I fully understood what they were talking about until this experience at Rimon.

I was completely clueless about musical terminology in Hebrew, and I thought I would be lost in the banter and frantic organization of songs. But once we started playing, everything flowed. Nothing needed to be said because the music did all the talking. There was an understanding throughout the band that occurred only through the music—it couldn’t have happened any other way. It was a very special feeling to me, and it explained better than any other way why I love music so much.

I had so much fun on my trip to Israel and came back with great memories. But this time I also came back with a better understanding of what it means to be a musician, and that’s priceless.

Jonathan Cohen is 15 years old and lives in Providence, R.I. He goes to the Wheeler School and enjoys playing music. He’s also a member of the JVibe Teen Advisory Board.