You don’t have to be musical for music to have a special place in your heart. Even the tone-deaf will associate an event with the song that was playing at the time. There’s the album that played in the car during the rainy ride home from Shimon’s wedding and the song that everyone danced to at Chaim’s bar mitzvah during the blizzard. Sometimes music becomes associated with a tragedy or serves as a glimmer of hope to those who have fallen on hard times. Singer Yisroel Werdyger says he speaks for other singers as well when he notes how appreciative he is over people who share what the music means to them.

“One particular example stands out in my mind. I once got a letter from the mother of a very sick child who wrote that she used to listen to my song ‘Zara Chayah Vekayamah’ while traveling back and forth to and from the hospital and daven along to have healthy children. It gave her tremendous chizuk and hope. Of course I saved the letter.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 682)