Anyone who has tasted the spiritual vitality of life in Eretz Yisrael and been compelled to leave also leaves a piece of his heart behind. How much more so for a Yerushalmi like Reb Yitzchak Fuchs.
His song “Bo Le’Boro Park” expresses an intense longing for Eretz Yisrael but is also an ode to the conundrum of our attachment to the Diaspora communities which feel like home. The depth of sentiment and pathos in the deceptively simple chords and lyrics of this song is a mirror of Reb Yitzchak’s soul.
“There is no sea there no Kinneret no Eilat no Tzfat; there is no Yerushalayim ” Reb Yitzchak sings drawing out the last word as his gravelly voice softens in yearning “but there are brothers here waiting waiting for Mashiach to come and call them/ Come come to Boro Park/ There is no Chevron no Meron no Sharon and there is no Yerushalayim; but there are Moshe Chaim Ari Yoeli Naftuli Ozer and Anschi and Hillel… Come come to Boro Park. No date palms no blue sky but there are brothers waiting for Mashiach… in Lakewood Monsey Skver Flatbush…
Reb Yitzchak wrote the song during his own personal “exile.” “I lived in Boro Park for six years. How could I not sing a song about it?” he asks. “I came to Boro Park during a rough time in my own life and I found so many brothers there so much Jewish warmth. They say that galus unites Jews — how true. I was amazed when I heard so much Yiddish rolling glibly off the tongues of youngsters not just old men. I sang about Boro Park as I viewed it — and as an Israeli filled with longing for Eretz Yisrael.
“At the beginning of the song a listener might think I’m encouraging other Jews to leave Eretz Yisrael for America chas v’shalom ” Fuchs continues. “But later you can hear that the call ‘Come to Boro Park’ is to Mashiach to come redeem all those waiting. Because really Boro Park could be anywhere: London Lakewood or even Yerushalayim or Bnei Brak. It’s just another place where our Jewish brothers are waiting. If only Hashem would send Mashiach already…”
(Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 683)
