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?

Yehuda Fried, Yerushalayim | “Menucha V’simcha” (Kisufim, 2011)

Some of the Leil Shabbos zemiros were starting to get old, when one Friday night brought us some bochurim, and along with them, a new part of our Shabbos. Mordechai Ben David’s “Menucha V’Simcha,” written by Yitzchak Fuchs, touched a chord and added a new dimension of hartzigkeit to our Shabbos. At first, our singing was a bit fuzzy as we weren’t sure of the tune. After watching a video clip of MBD singing “Menucha V’simcha,” we got the song down pat. Not a Shabbos goes by without this beautiful, timeless melody gracing and uplifting our Shabbos.

MBD'S TAKE

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

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 738)