Every artist wants his album to be as perfect as can be, but sometimes he has to take a gamble. Is the song he’s deliberating over going to soar or flop? Is that last-minute replacement going to be dynamic or a sleeper?

How do you know you've made the right choice?

Ishay Ribo

I was 23, and we were preparing to record my first album. I began with a list of 20 songs, but we went through a process to choose 12 of them. Then, at the last minute, I wrote a new song. I brought it along to the studio, saying to my producer, “I wrote this yesterday. Do you think it’s suitable?” That song was “Tocho Ratzuf Ahava.” It was the first song to be released, and a lot happened because of it.

I see such a mussar in that story. Hashem was guiding me through a process. I didn’t really have the experience and connections, but He sent me that song at the last minute, and things might have looked different if the album had come out without the song — including the name of the album (Tocho Ratzuf Ahava)!

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 745)