Eitan Freilich’s second album, Yavo Shalom, released last week, is the fruit of two years’ preparation and collaboration with contemporary composers. The title track is signature Freilich, an inviting, clap-your-hands-and-sing–along original Hebrew composition on the theme of peace, with strong background vocals and an easy-listening feel.

Track 2, “Hashken Na” is a contemplative prayer, touching on every couple’s deepest hopes for their marriage (“Rest Your presence between us and enlighten our eyes to Your Countenance…”)

“I brought a huge file crammed with ideas and lyrics to Elie Shwab, the composer of ‘Tefillat Kallah’ and ‘Schar Mitzvah.’ After we scrolled through the material without success, I pulled out the small pocket booklet my wife had used to daven from before our chuppah, and we wound up composing this beautiful wedding song. Working on the melody together truly made this album a part of me — it’s filled with the concepts and values that guide me and my family through life,” Freilich says. “Another song I wrote with Elie that same night, called ‘Slow it Down,’ became a personal statement. I’m pretty young, but not so many years ago, before smartphones and social media, or even before e-mail and ATM machines, life was simpler. People knew their neighbors, families spent more time together. Something in me wanted to express this unfolding social and cultural shift.”

Eitan says one of his more interesting moments in making the album was creating the album cover photo. “I stood in a three-piece suit, splashing buckets of water off a marching drum again and again, hoping that nobody would complain about the noise. After taking about 600 shots I was finally happy — and so were the neighbors.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 731)