To Know Your Love

Fresh off the plane, the chevra were on their way to Tzfas, where they planned to spend an elevated Shabbos kicking off their visit to the Holy Land. As they cruised toward their sacred destination, they took a wrong turn and suddenly realized that they were lost in an Arab village. Trying to stay positive in what had quickly become a very stressful situation, they opened a care package sent along by one of the families. As they began to remove some snacks, one of the chevra noticed a neon orange sticky note at the bottom of the bag. It was a short letter written by his six-year-old daughter, Esther. In scrawled Hebrew script, she had written: "Abba yakar, my dear father, I want so much to know 'mah ani l'daatcha' — what I mean to you." Glancing out the car window at their fearsome surroundings and then looking toward the heavens above, the brothers saw these words as an expression of their deepest tefillah — "Abba Yakar, dearest Father in heaven, please show us how much You love us. Let us see in ourselves what You see in us!" It wasn’t long before a powerful melody entered their hearts. For hours, they sang these words again and again until they arrived in Tzfas, safe and sound and with the gift of Abba Yakar illuminating their hearts and souls.

אבא יקר, אבא שלי, אבא אהובי
אני כל כך רוצה לדעת, מה אני לדעתך באמת

Artist Ishay Lapidot
Composed by The Blumstein Brothers
Produced by Sruli Broncher
Lyrics by Esther Blumstein

לע”נ ר׳ משה בן יחיאל מאיר  לע״נ אברהם
ביינוש בן יחיאל יהודה הכהן ז"ל

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 873)