What song do you sing to warm up on a long, cold Friday night?
My zeide’s Bobover “Kol Mekadeish.” My zeide, Yaakov Moshe Hakohein Friedman a”h, was a Bobover chassid and remained so, even as he worked in the administration of the Lubavitcher yeshivos and became close to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Avraham Fried, my uncle, recorded the Zeide’s slow, inspiring, “Kol Mekadeish” about 13 years ago with a choir made up of our family members on an a cappella album called My Father’s Zemiros.
I love to sing the slow Breslov tune for “Me’ein Olam Haba” (“Me’ein Olam Haba-a-a, me’ein Olam Haba-a-a…). You can definitely feel the warmth and connection to a higher frequency. I don’t remember exactly when I heard this tune, but I do remember the feeling I had: I felt that I’d never understood what it means that Shabbos is “me’ein Olam Haba” until I heard the words sung to this niggun.
We sing the Bobover tune for “Kah Ribbon.” It’s perfect for these long winter Friday nights, as it’s a niggun you can’t sing quickly. My early associations with this tune include the many beautiful Shabbos seudos my family shared with our uncle, Rabbi Aaron Levine a”h, and his family. When he’d sing it, both his face and his soft voice seemed to emanate such serenity, passion, and yearning. That comes back to me until today.
Recently, I find myself singing Naftali Kempeh’s “Emes Malkeinu” with my children. It’s a niggun that’s so full of warmth. You can connect to it easily, and the high part can really take you up with it, driving home the point that there is no one but Hashem — efes zulaso.
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