Like everyone during the past two years of war, Naftali Kempeh spent his days longing for Mashiach and the Geulah

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Waiting to Heal

When Mashiach comes, our mouths will be filled with a song of pure joy. Until then, though, a Yid in galus lives in a perpetual state of mixed emotions. That basically sums up the title track of NAFTALI KEMPEH’s new album, AD SHEYAVO MASHIACH. There’s a chassidish vort on the pasuk from Tehillim, “Hazorim bedimah berinah yiktzoru — those who plant in tears will reap in joy” that we are “hazorim bedimah berinah” — sowing seeds in tears, yet in joy. A Yid who is in galus is sad even when he’s happy, and happy even when he’s sad.

“The painful lack of the Beis HaMikdash is with us even at the peak of our personal joy, and the inner joy of being Yidden is with us even in the depths of our sadness, ad sheyavo Mashiach vesham nashir shir chadash,” says Naftali, whose seventh original album came out this month. It is dedicated to the memory of Shalom ben Yehuda Menachem Hy”d, the son of a close friend and coworker of Naftali, a young man of 21 who was among a group of eight Jewish soldiers killed when terrorists blew up their armed personnel carrier in a tragic attack in Rafah during the first year of the war.

Like everyone during the past two years of war, Naftali Kempeh spent his days longing for Mashiach and the Geulah.

“The songs were composed during very scary times, but also times when nissim were all around us, and our hopes for Mashiach rose,” he says. The words of Yirmiyahu’s prophecy, “Ki nidacha karu lach Tzion — they call you (Tzion) a pariah,” which Kempeh sings on his first track, resonate strongly, as does the adjacent pasuk, “Ki aaleh aruchah lach, umimakosayich erpa’ech, ne’um Hashem — I will bring healing to you, says Hashem.” He says he sang this composition at a time when some small victories over our enemies brought comfort and encouragement.

Then there is the beautiful reassurance of Yeshayah 54:8-10: “Beshetzef ketzef histarti panai… u’vechessed olam richamtich… chasdi me’iteich lo yamush…” Hashem says that hiding His face from us is only momentary, but His mercy and love will be with us forever. It’s a niggun Naftali composed on the day that the surprise attack on Iran began the 12-Day-War, which was filled with open miracles.

Arele Samet joins Naftali for “Cholas Ahavah,” an upbeat dance song, and in “Mevakeish Yoter,” Kempeh departs from the pesukim he usually sings with a step into new territory — original lyrics. “The words ‘Habeit el haratzon, ve’al tabit layetzer,’ were inspired by the refrain of the Yom Kippur piyyut ‘Habeit labris ve’al teifen layetzer — look to the promise and don’t turn to the adversary,’ and so, we ask Hashem to look at the sincerity of our hearts,” Naftali says, “how we all want to become better.”

Mic Drop

Two Worlds, One Voice

When RABBI PINCHAS BICHLER was asked to provide musical content for an event by one of Eretz Yisrael’s large tzedakah organizations, Tova U’vrachah, he was originally nonplussed by the list of music artists they had invited to headline the event: Rav Hillel Paley, Meyer Adler, Chassidimlach Children’s Choir, Benny Laufer’s orchestra, plus his own Malchus Choir featuring Zanvil Weinberger.

“The event was for 1,500 tzedakah representatives from all over the country, and the content needed to suit both chassidim and litvish attendees. But the most difficult thing was how I could connect Rav Hillel Paley and Meyer Adler musically. Aren’t they two opposites?” Bichler says.

He decided to use that contrast as a strength and centerpiece of the show. Since the organization provides food for Shabbos and Yom Tov needs, Bichler devised an “All Around the Year Medley” that would incorporate both chassidish and litvish niggunim.

“So I thought about how we could integrate this,” says Reb Pinchas. “We hear how the chassidim sing ‘Mah Ashiv’ and how the Litvaks sing ‘Mah Ashiv.’ What does a chassidish ‘Chamol’ sound like, and what does a litvish ‘Chamol’ sound like? How is Purim celebrated at a tish, and how is it in the yeshivah world? How do the Volozhiners sing the Gemara’s ‘Amar Abaye,’ and how is ‘Abaye VeRava’ sung in a chassidishe style?”

The medley “From Novardok to Mezhibuzh” is the result, a beautiful musical tour around the year that weaves in and out of two worlds.

THE MOST INTERESTING INSTRUMENT I’VE EVER USED

That would be a tie between bass clarinet and bass bassoon. (Bass clarinet is larger and shaped differently than the common Bb clarinet, and it’s pitched an octave lower, offering a darker timbre. Bass bassoon is the deepest instrument in the woodwind section, playing an octave lower than the bassoon.) I used bass clarinet in “The Band” on the Journeys 4 album, and used both bass clarinet and bass bassoon on a children’s Yiddish album called Yiddish Songs for Children by
Chana-Feigyl Turtletaub. I love the deep, breathy, visceral sounds they convey. They can also evoke an old grandfather vibe and sometimes be used as a funny sound.

—Leib Yaacov Rigler

Whenever Inspiration Strikes

“I recently sang for a chassan who had lost his father just a few months before his wedding,” Rabbi Shloime Taussig relates. “He requested the Dveykus song ‘In a vinkele shtait…,’ as he remembered the tune from his childhood, and although he doesn’t understand Yiddish at all, he’d recently reconnected to the song because of the refrain, ‘Tatte Tatte….’

I explained to him that the lyrics don’t really make sense to be sung at a chuppah — the song is about a father whose son has been drafted into a foreign war — but since he was so moved by the song, I would try to write new lyrics in English. Although I’m not a lyrics writer, I felt I should do whatever it takes for a chassan who is a yasom.

“I’ve been singing for many years, and I don’t recall getting so choked up during singing, or having such an emotional atmosphere, with people wiping their tears. The rosh yeshivah, Rav Yeruchem Olshin was there, and came over to me afterward to tell me he doesn’t remember such a hartzige chuppah.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1088)