What happens when a Rock Star meets a Hasidic Mega-star?

A Song by Aviv Gefen & Avraham Fried: Drought

Tomorrow begins “The Three Weeks,” an annual period of mourning when we lament the destruction of the Holy Temple, which Jewish tradition teaches was caused by baseless hatred among Jews.

It is a time we are instructed to “lessen” our joy, and I have to say it almost feels like a relief. Like finally I have permission to release the dissonance of “normal life” as a parent (that thankfully does exist for many)-with trips to natural springs and fun kid things- and the reality of war being waged on so many fronts and all those directly affected and pained by loss.

During this weeks there’s a handful of things we traditionally don’t do, one of which is listen to music. So although my overall goal with Translating Israel is to release a new music video each Tuesday (& forgive me if sometimes I miss!), I am releasing this early this week so that you’ll have a chance to hear it before Tuesday, when we begin this mourning period. After this, I won’t release another music clip until the Three Weeks pass. (I will continue to post other kinds of content.)

I mentioned above the teaching that the Temple’s destruction was caused by baseless hatred. This is something we go back to every year, for so many years now, and try to recommit to baseless love. This year, in a time when the pain of the tensions between different “kinds” of Jews is especially excruciating, I share this song that I love not only for it’s beautiful melody and poignant lyrics.

I love it because it was written by Aviv Gefen, one of Israel’s mega-rock stars. In his younger years he was kind of a mix of Ozzy Osbourne (as far as his look- Google him and you’ll see what I mean) and Bob Dylan (as far as his incredible lyrics but not-so-great-voice). He was “anti” a whole lot of things, and was quite vocal about it.

But even rock stars grow up, and Aviv did. He married, became an aba (dad), and with time, mellowed. He’s still outspoken, but in a much sweeter way, and often with much more understanding of the other. During the COVID lockdowns, he played a livestream concert to an empty hall and dedicated a song to the (overwhelmingly Haredi) residents of Bnei Brak who were under an especially tight lockdown. After the concert he looked at his phone and saw hundreds of messages from residents of the city thanking him. It was reported that he sat in the concert hall and read each and every message, crying, and the staff had to tell him to go home at 4 a.m.

Jewish and Hasidic music giant Avraham Fried got wind of this story, and although also a mega-star in Israel, his audience is largely (but not totally) different than Aviv’s. Though the two had never met, Avraham reached out to Aviv, they connected, and Aviv asked Avraham to sing this song he had written with him.

The song truly speaks for itself.

Here is a link to a live performance the two did. Around the song’s release each of the starts were guests at the other’s concerts - singing before audiences neither were previously accustomed to performing for.

And here is an article I came across from that time- with a clear message around baseless love.

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