"Somehow my songs touched her heart, and she began to consider Judaism and reflect about G-d"

Like ripples in a still lake, music travels in ever-widening circles today, and the effects are endless. I once got a message from an Israeli soldier who wasn’t Jewish, but she had a Jewish father. She said she had felt no connection to religious Judaism because the “dati’im” always looked so strange, so far away. But somehow my songs touched her heart, and she began to consider Judaism and reflect about G-d. Eventually, she embarked on the process of conversion. The heichal haneginah has its doors wide open.

—Ishay Ribo

The Performance I’ll Never Forget

One of my favorite performances was a section called “Songs We Grew Up With,” from last year’s benefit Soul II Soul concert in Brooklyn. We were performing with our superstar cousin, Benny Friedman, and we wanted to do a medley of songs we loved while growing up. It was a selection of vintage Fried, Megama, Tz’lil V’zemer boys’ choir, and Yitzchak Bitton songs, among others. After we had it all arranged, I had the idea to have our younger brother, the incredible Eli Marcus, surprise guest star on it. When Eli was just two or three years old, he would stand up at our Shabbos table and sing for our family and guests. So it was a lot of fun to recreate that on stage.

—Bentzi Marcus, 8th day

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 813)