Notes of Faith and Hope

When Jews in Eretz Yisrael are dealing with unthinkable tragedy and still burying their dead, can one even talk about music at such a time? Or perhaps, on the other hand, it’s more relevant than ever in the face of so much pain.
And, how does living in Eretz Yisrael under the threat of war affect your work these days?

Totally There With Us

Yitzy Berry

“I sat on the couch with my kids and could hardly play”

For the first week after Simchas Torah, everything seemed to have stopped. Like everyone else, we were in a state of shock — it just didn’t seem to be a time for music. I couldn’t work. Everyone I know stopped what they were doing. The artists who were in Eretz Yisrael for Succos and were planning to do some studio work afterward cancelled their slots and flew back home, and Rabbi Shloime Taussig, who was scheduled to fly in and work on his next album with us, wasn’t able to come. The studio was silent, and at home, the kids were indoors, their schools closed. I sat on the couch with them, but I could hardly even play my guitar, until my fingers found the profound song of hope, “Ve’afilu behastarah, shebetoch hahastarah, bevadai gam sham nimtza Hashem Yisbarach…” Even in the deepest concealed darkness, Hashem is totally there with us.

The other song I found myself playing was from Eichah — “Shifchi kamayim libeich…” because it really was a week of Eichah times.

That Thursday, Rabbi Baruch Chait called both me and Naftali Kempeh, asking us to join a Zoom meeting with his yeshivah bochurim. They were cooped up at home, and gatherings of over 50 people weren’t allowed, but he wanted to hold a Zoom of chizuk and singing, like the mishmar he runs in his yeshivah every Thursday night.  We joined Rabbi Chait in his home in Har Nof — he offered the boys chizuk, and we sang and played “Av harachamim, Hu yifkod berachamim… shemasru nafsham al kedushas haSheim…” It was very powerful, leaving me personally feeling strengthened and grateful.

It was only on the next Thursday, almost two weeks after the massacre, that I was able to compose something. I wrote a melody for “Gam ki eilech… Although I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, because You are with me.” And I also composed some Hebrew lyrics, about the deafening silence, the babies silenced from crying in their cribs, with a chorus about the mother who is not silenced but still crying for us after all these years — Rachel Imeinu.