T

he rarefied atmosphere of the Yamim Noraim, a blend of awe and longing and intense prayer, is closely tied to the solemn tunes and the stirring words. The power of a niggun to awaken our hearts is a blessing which comes into its own at this auspicious time of year.

Which song or niggun creates that special Yamim Noraim feeling for you?

Lecturer/Educator Rabbi YY Rubinstein

That question is easy: The niggun is “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen.” It wasn’t written by a frum Jew, but the melody of this lullaby immediately touched Jewish hearts when it was composed around 1880. The Yiddish lyrics were understood as a metaphor to Klal Yisrael in this bitter galus.
I am very fond of my father-in-law, who is now in his nineties. That decade tends to diminish a person’s memory somewhat, but once I played him this famous niggun and tears rolled down his cheeks as he sang along. It transported him back to his own childhood.
It’s written in the sefer Tomer Devorah that Hashem looks at all of us on Rosh Hashanah as the little children we used to be — His little children, like the child in this song. Hashem focuses on that and is willing to forgive the mistakes we made later on.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 726)