February 2, 2013 | 7:55 pm

Talented Redemption

Posted by Beit T'shuvah

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One of my favorite things at Beit T’Shuvah is happening tonight: the Beit T’Shuvah talent show. 

In keeping with the theme of addiction, I want to explain to you why this talent show (which happens every couple of months) is so important.  Residents are allowed to perform whatever they want to, with a full band backing them up, for their entire community.  They get to experience rehearsals, an opportunity to suit up and show up, what a commitment feels like, and then tonight they get the great payoff of performance.  It is so wonderful and rewarding to see how thoroughly people enjoy themselves through this process.  From my perspective, I get to see people who had once been facing life sentences now turning their lives around and singing country with a smile.  People who had attempted to end their lives several times now jamming on guitar, enveloped in music.  To say that being a spectator for an event like this is amazing is quite an understatement. 

It is things like the talent show that REALLY makes Beit T’Shuvah a redemptive community.  It doesn’t matter what your past is…so long as you can figure out what you have to offer the world (and in our philosophy, EVERYONE has something to offer the world), you can really find enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose.  People smile. 

They make other people smile.  People who had previously caused so much damage in their lives that all they did was make people frown.
…and isn’t that the epitome of redemption?

Shameless plug: keep your eyes peeled for a YouTube recap of tonight’s talent show, if you didn’t get to make it out for the actual event.

Shavua Tov.