Shemoneh Esrei 56 - Choose Life!
Since the purpose of tefilah is to come closer to Hashem through recognizing that we are totally dependent on Him and to appreciate all the goodness He bestows upon us, and since Chazal teach us the primacy of the brachah of Modim and in general the primacy of properly recognizing and appreciating the goodness Hashem gives to us, let us spend the next two or three weeks, both recapping and adding to some of what we have learned in the past few weeks.
We have written about the woman who taught us the life skill of choosing a positive and joyful attitude despite her constant suffering, choosing to recognize and thank Hashem just for granting her life, even if all she was able to do is daven and make a few brachos once a week.
Allow me to share with you a bit about another amazing n’shamah who is choosing not only a joyful uplifting life himself, but choosing to inspire the world, despite being in one of the most difficult life circumstances imaginable.
The following is an excerpt written by Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, who writes weekly inspiration with his eyes (he has ALS and writes through a computer by looking at the letters). In this excerpt, Yitzi gives us the background to an inspirational, uplifting song he wrote, which can be viewed at yitzihurwitz.blogspot.com:
“Music has the ability to move us. Music is the language of the soul. The right music will uplift you and bring you closer to Hashem.
“Several years ago, while going through a rough patch, I wrote a song asking Hashem to shine a little light and brighten what felt like a darkness that I could not overcome. Then I realized that there is no darkness that cannot be overcome. All I needed to do is dig deep inside and find the light inside me, my beautiful n’shamah, and let it shine on myself and others. Writing the song uplifted me.
“Once again, my family and I found ourselves in a dark situation: Hashem gifted me with ALS. Every day seemed worse than the one before, as I was getting weaker each day. Then my daughter Fruma found the song, which I recorded on a cell phone. Once again it was there to lift me up.
“When my friend Chaim Marcus heard the song, he felt that the world should hear it. Gathering some of the greatest talent, he produced this song, and he spared nothing to make sure it is perfect, and it is. We are so thankful to all of those who put their talents and their hearts into this project. Without you it would still be just a little light.
“It lifted me up. I hope the song lifts you up as well.”
One cannot help but notice the achdus of so many singers with such diverse backgrounds. Mi k’amcha Yisrael!