Stage a Comeback  

These songs each have their own journey. One such song is “Yifrach,” from Tehillim 72, which we all associate with Chabad Lubavitch. It was first sung in honor of the Rebbe’s 71st birthday on 11 Nissan 1973. A year later, it was recorded by the group Shema Koleinu (featuring Zale Neuman, Motty Kornfeld, Marty Ritholtz, and a few other bochurim who subsequently rose to communal prominence), and became a popular hit. What most people don’t know was that the song was originally an old Vizhnitzer niggun, often sung for Lecha Dodi close to 200 years ago.

But even though it has endured as a popular Chabad tune, before it fell off the map for the general public, Moshe Storch and the Thank You Hashem movement created the song, “It’s Geshmak to be a Yid” with the tune to “Yifrach.” According to Storch, the words were actually written by a high school boy in DRS by the name of Yos Kenenetsky around the beginning of Covid, and Storch decided it would be a great addition to his Happy Clappy album — and once again, the tune is back on the wedding circuit.

When Yigal Calek a”h composed “Mareh Kohein” back in 1971, it was a slow song, featured on one of the early London Pirchei records and sung in shuls as part of Yom Kippur davening. In the late ’80s, Suki and I brought it back on Avraham Fried’s Around the Year Volume 2 album, cranking up the tempo a bit but still not too fast. After it had its second run, it quietly faded away. But then, about 15 years ago, this oldie somehow sprouted wings and became a popular fast-paced dance song, played at weddings until today

One song that’s had quite a journey is the classic “Hashem is Here.” It was originally a Chabad “niggun rikud,” composed over 100 years ago. In 1970, Rabbi Yossi Goldstein put words to it and recorded it on his first Uncle Yossi album. After that, we had the honor of using the song on our own Uncle Moishy Volume 1, released in 1979. But the song didn’t stop there. In the 1980s, when the Lubavitch Tzivos Hashem was formed, this song became the unofficial song of Hashem’s Army, with the words, “Am Yisrael, have no fear, Mashiach will be here this year. We want Mashiach now and we don’t want to wait!” We’re hoping the wait will soon finally be over.