Singer using her voice to give back to WIZO UK
WEEKS AFTER budding musician Lara Pines made aliyah from Argentina, Israel experienced the worst terrorist attack in its history.
“Have you ever had to prepare your school backpack with clothes instead of supplies, just in case you have to run to a bunker?” she asks.
In an interview with the JC, the teenager, said that her school in WIZO’s Hadassim Youth Village near Netanya, supported by WIZO UK, had helped nurture her passion for music while dealing with the shock and trauma experienced by Israelis, post October 7.
“The support helps me and my friends to be able to live a childhood that is as normal as possible,” she said.
The family left South America due to concerns around the country’s safety and stability – an irony that isn’t lost on either Lara or her mother, Lorena.
Nonetheless, Lara says she feels “safer in Israel despite October 7 than I did living in Argentina”.
Pointing to her Magen David necklace, she says: “I can wear this in Israel. I’m not sure I could have done that before.”
At the recent WIZO UK Commitment Dinner in London, you could hear a pin drop as the gifted teen performed some of her own music.
She discovered her love of singing while on long car journeys with her dad and finds that “playing music, singing and composing songs calms me and gives me serenity”.
One of the songs she performed in the UK was about the abuse and sexual violence experienced by women on October 7.
“I feel like you can spread messages with music. I would love to be a musician when I grow up, but for now, I like being able to practise my talent, and the school encourages me to do that.”
I feel like you can spread messages with music