Back in 1973, a young man named Mordechai Werdyger slipped on to the Jewish music scene with a little-known album called Original Chassidic Melodies. While that early album never took off, listeners sat up when they heard Mordechai Ben David’s next album, Hineni, the following year. The magic of his new-old musical style and the sheer power of his voice soon won a place right at the heart of the frum soundtrack.

For over four decades, we’ve sung and danced, swayed and prayed, to hundreds of iconic MBD songs, the ones he wrote himself and those collaborations he made famous. And now we’ve asked our readers:

Which one of Mordechai Ben David’s songs has touched your life?

“Kah Ribon” (Pray and Sing, 1977)

My favorite MBD song? There are many. I sing his original composition to Kah Ribon every Friday night. Because of his singing prowess, people forget what a talented composer MBD is. But he sings a different sort of song as well.

Rabbi Simcha Mitnick, eighth grade rebbi at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin in Flatbush, once encouraged his talmidim to arrange to learn with a chavrusa each night in a local shul. Most of the boys were able to pair up easily. One particular boy didn’t have it as easy.

“Rebbi,” the boy said, “I don’t have anyone to learn with. No one in the class lives near me.”

“Why? Where do you live?”

“I live in Seagate.”

“Seagate?” the rebbi repeated. “You’re right. None of the boys live near you.”

Rabbi Mitnick tried to think of someone in Seagate. He could only come up with one person. “How about Mordechai Ben David? Maybe you can learn with him,” said Rabbi Mitnick, half in jest.

The next day, the talmid approached his rebbi. “Rebbi, I have a chavrusa to learn with at night.”

“Really? Who?”

“Mordechai Ben David.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No. Mordechai Ben David is my chavrusa. Rebbi told me to ask him, so I went to his house and knocked on his door. When he opened it, I said, ‘My rebbi told me to ask you if you would learn with me,’ and he said, ‘Sure. What do you want to learn?’ I told him that we’re learning Maseches Sanhedrin in yeshivah. ‘Sanhedrin?’ he said, ‘That’s my favorite masechta!’”

It was a partnership that lasted throughout the year, creating a beautiful melody formed by the timeless words of Gemara.

MBD'S TAKE

“Good taste. We too sing this song every week at our Shabbos table.”

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 738)