Sitting in the Gerard Behar Theatre Moran’s rich and lilting soprano crashing over me I knew she was a woman I wanted to meet. The short biographical sketch in the program only increased my curiosity: Moran Sabbah (nee Rotman) had ditched her flourishing career as a rock and pop icon and bought into a new set of dreams. And there she was singing to us.

I introduced myself after the show a single face among a crowd of admiring onlookers and fans. It wasn’t until two years ago when I walked into a woman’s shiur and couldn’t quite place the face beneath the twisting colorful scarves piled high on her head that I had a chance to hear Moran’s story firsthand. And what a story it is.