Singer and songwriter Yossi Baylis, 53, is launching a new and exciting single ahead of the High Holy Days - "And You Adherents.".
The song, which was born from deep reflection on the text of the blessing of the month and on a verse from Devarim, offers a message of connection to the roots of faith in these complex times.
""It all started in reverse from the hymn," says Baylis. "When they recite the blessing of the month, 'And grant us a long life, a life of peace,' I thought of the essence of all this life that is presented in the verse in Devarim in one sentence that includes everything: 'And you who cling to your God, all of you live today...""
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Baylis explains that the verse expresses the central idea: "He who clings to God renounces everything that is not connected, and then we become connected to the source of life. This includes everything - even everyday life, even materialism is seen in a different light. Work, livelihood, success, education - everything comes from the love of Torah, the fear of God, the love of God.""
Baylis' personal background is certainly related: he grew up in the old Bnei Brak among orchards and goats roaming the grounds and studied in a yeshiva in London with Rabbi Elyakim Schlesinger. "I grew up in a world of tremendous Torah with all the great men of Israel in that area. Growing up among nature and the great men of Torah was a wonder of wonders that I will never forget.".
The song was created and arranged in collaboration with musical arranger Yoeli Diekman, with whom Baylis has a special creative connection. "When I come to an arranger with a guitar and sing the song to him, I say to him - 'Do you hear all the noises I make with my right hand on the strings? That's what I hear in the arrangement'...", he describes the joint creative process.
The timing of the song's release was carefully chosen: "It's important to me that this song comes out now, when thousands of young men are starting a new year of study," emphasizes Baylis. "After all, study is the holy of holies and outside pressures should not be introduced to it. The main thing in the end is the study of Torah and they are the keepers of the Torah tradition. There are also young men from yeshiva, scholars of Torah, wonderful people with the strength of lions in the belief that they are both students and warriors. This is a different level, a level of kingship and power - they are the true warriors of Israel.""
Yossi Baylis, a prolific composer who has been writing music since the age of 12, has accumulated hundreds of tunes in all styles. After a successful career spanning decades in the world of Jewish weddings in Europe and the US, he decided during the Corona period to focus on original work and set up a recording studio in his home.
