Some Things Never Get Old 

During these days of war and terror in Eretz Yisrael, what songs are you turning to for chizuk?

The traditional Holocaust “Ani Maamin” composed by Azriel Duvid Fastag on the train to Treblinka, that eventually reached the Modzhitzer Rebbe in America. I find many of the traditional songs, with their sincerity coupled with a certain simplicity, take me to a place of warmth and closeness. “Im kol zeh achakeh lo” — Even though Mashiach is so overdue, I still believe he is coming and wait for him every day.

—LEVY FALKOWITZ

Songs That Give Me Chizuk

When I was working on my last Yiddish Nachas album with Yossi Green, we had major issues with the duplication, and I was getting very upset. “Calm down,” Yossi told me. “I’ve tried many times to have things my own way, but whenever I tried, He showed me that He is going to have it His way.”

I have found that to be so true. If I have a challenging day that doesn’t go my way, I’ve been turning to Hershel Rosenberg’s song “Ich Gleib,” on his last album, Tischadesh. I know Hershel well, and this composition is full of humility and trust. I find a lot of chizuk in it.

—MOSHY KRAUS

Some Things Never Get Old

There is the old and the new, and then there is the old which will always be there alongside the new. One genre of music that will always be with us is the body of cantorial music — chazzanus — which so many still flock to hear, whether in shul or at concerts.