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?
T.D., Baltimore, MD | “Mah Ashiv” (Hallel, 1987; and Kumzitz, 2003)
When I was diagnosed with a rare disease, although it was not life-threatening, it was definitely life-alerting. Driving back from the hospital that day, I said, “Ma, I need to go home. Don’t drive me to work.” My mind was racing faster than the blowing snow on that winter day. At home, I turned on music. “Ma Ashiv” filled my room, and I cried and sang Hallel — it was Rosh Chodesh. The song’s words were soothing, but the depth and meaning of the tune gave it even more power. “Ana Hashem ki ani avdecha,” I sang. “Please, Hashem, answer me, be here with me through this, because I am Your servant.” For years since that day, through medical appointments, flying around the world in a quest for answers to this medical challenge, through the hard days of my younger siblings’ weddings, and through the emotional turmoil of this journey, I learned to connect to Hashem, deeply, in a real way, as I ask Him to answer me, because I am His servant. And I also learned to be grateful — as the song finishes so beautifully — “Halleluka.”
MBD'S TAKE
“This song, composed by Rabbi Aviezer Wolfson, became a Rosh Chodesh anthem in many communities worldwide, especially in Eretz Yisrael. Ma ashiv l’Hashem? How can I repay Hashem for the bountiful kindness he has bestowed upon me? Even when we go through trials and tribulations in life we can always find things to be grateful and thankful for. And that’s what Dovid Hamelech expressed and taught us in this beautiful tefillah.”
(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 738)
