What would you do if you wanted to learn harp — but there was only one teacher in your entire country, and she told you you were too old?

This week on the Strings of Hope Podcast, I’m sharing my conversation with Adina Haroz — one of Israel’s celebrated harpists, and my very first harp teacher.

Adina grew up in Israel at a time when you could count all the harpists in the country on two hands. After losing her father in war, music became her family’s way of keeping his memory alive. When she chose the harp, there were two problems: no teacher would take her — and there wasn’t even a harp to play.

Then something extraordinary happened. Harpo Marx’s wife donated one of Harpo’s harps to a museum in Israel.

For three years, Adina walked every day to that museum — rain ...