Just Out: Rising to Painful Challenges   

“Having a song go viral is like winning the lottery,” BERI WEBER says, “but I’m not talking about money. What it means to me is that I’ve reached people’s hearts. We all go through different emotional experiences, which often remain private, and music can reflect those emotional experiences and create a musical encounter or even a spiritual encounter that can give comfort. Sometimes, people reach out and tell me that they felt I was there for them at a difficult time, which is a great privilege and stroke of Hashgachah.”

Beri has had many hits over the years, and he’s hoping his latest effort, a 12-track album called KORBAN, will connect in the same way.

The title track, “Korban,” was composed by Hershy Weinberger some years ago. Beri knew about the song, but somehow it didn’t touch him, and he passed it by. Weber is also the rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas Kochvei Ohr, a place for bochurim who don’t fit into the regular yeshivah system. One day, a bochur came to discuss a very painful and negative experience he had gone through.

“The amount of struggle in some people’s lives broke my heart,” Beri says, “but there was so little I could do for him and what he had to cope with. That evening, I was with Hershy, and when I told him what was going on, he played me this song again. It actually brought me to tears. It suddenly seemed to represent all that Yidden go through, the misfortune and tragedy, and yet how much they try to do for Hashem. When my friend Reb Shragee Gestetner lost his life in Meron, the ultimate korban, we decided to dedicate the song to him.”