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elieve it or not, Baruch Levine almost didn’t make the decision that launched his musical career. Before releasing his first album, Levine had sold his compositions to other artists, but in 2006, it was time to sing his own material. He had a long list of song possibilities for the album, and “Vezakeini” was his last choice.

“It sounds like I’m making this up, but I still have that paper with crossing-offs and question marks on it,” he says. “ ‘Vezakeini’ is not a musically brilliant song, and it took only ten minutes to write, so we weren’t sure it deserved a spot.” But “Vezakeini” spoke to the generation, voicing the universal prayer of Jewish parents facing today’s challenges, and its meteoric rise made Baruch Levine famous. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 711)