“The words refer not only to Shemini Atzeres, but to the relationship between Hashem and the Jewish People throughout the entire year”

The inspiring English-infused song “Kasheh Alai,” from BARUCH LEVINE’s 2018 Peduscha/Redemption album, almost wasn’t. “When Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz first suggested that we create a song with the famous words of the midrash that Rashi quotes regarding Shemini Atzeres, ‘Kasheh alai preidaschem — Your departure is difficult for Me,’ I thought the words were perhaps too specific to the particular Yom Tov, when Hashem asks Klal Yisrael to ‘remain with Him,’ just one more day after Succos,” says Levine. “But when I looked into it more, I saw that the words refer not only to Shemini Atzeres, but to the relationship between Hashem and the Jewish People throughout the entire year. It is always ‘hard’ for the Ribbono shel Olam when we leave Him and get on with our mundane business.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 933)