""I Missed You" • Cantor Naftali Hershtik surprised at the concert with a moving monologue

July 21, 2014   

Despite the wave of alarms that hit the state of Tel Aviv this week, and due to which various events were canceled, the Tel Aviv Institute for Cantorship decided to hold the festive concert last Monday, marking the end of the year at the institute's headquarters - in the Brodt Center Auditorium.

As a cantor, I was eager to attend the concert. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the walls of the institute in Tel Aviv always bring with them something new and refreshing. This can be seen in the different and diverse repertoire, in contrast to what happens on the stages in the world of standard concerts, most of which are usually occupied with the same recycled materials.

The institute's concert was attended by many cantor enthusiasts, and of course the students' families and the teaching and administrative staff: Haim Peipel, Yotam Segal, Meir Briskman, Shraga Hershtik, Haim Nir, Shmuel Berald, and pianist Raymond Goldstein, who, in addition to serving as the evening's host, also accompanied all the works with his wonderful piano playing.

On stage appeared the institute's students, the cantors: the brothers Benjamin and Dan Yakubovitz, Israel Schwartz, Avraham Kraus, Meir Letzer, Benzi Hillman. Mendy Shem Tov, Yehuda Erlich, Nathan Gitler, Shmaya Reichman, Yigal Hahn, Eitan Arazi, Eliyahu Segal, and Ido Steinmitz.

Cantorial excerpts performed: Ana Abda - Shlomo Zalman Rivlin, Av Harachamim - Barla Hagai, Isha Eini - Rapoport, HaShem Melech - Kachko, Melech al koll olam - Yaakov Rapoport, Shemaa ve Tishmach - Eisenstadt, ve rahum - Yosla Rosenblatt, Shema Yisrael - David Werdiger, Memkomach - Shlomo Ravitz, Ne'amot Ki Achiy - a new work by Chaim Peipel, And because of our sins - Zevulun Quartin, The white of our sins - Harshman, Be't Yisrael's departure - Rapoport and Gentshoff, and Birkat Rosh - David Kosowitzky.

The festive and exciting evening was overshadowed by the absence of the institute's director, Cantor Naftali Hershtik, who was forced to minimize his presence and activity at the institute for about six months, due to a prolonged stay in the hospital due to a medical problem. He recently underwent a kidney transplant, and the students are already looking forward to his return.

If for the cantor world, Cantor Hershtik is a 'king', then for the students of the Tel Aviv Institute of Cantorship he is also a father, in the full sense of the word. And his absence from the end-of-year concert is no small matter.

The audience, the professional staff, and the families knew that Cantor Hershtik would not be attending the event, but you could feel the anticipation in the air, the looks at the door, as if waiting for a loved one to arrive from afar.

And suddenly, right at the end of the concert, just before the audience was about to disperse, each one to his own home. It happened! With complete surprise, without informing anyone, Cantor Naftali Hershtik entered the hall.

There are no words to describe how exciting it was to see the captain return to the ship he built with his ten fingers, after a long time in which he only saw the walls of the hospital.

To the sound of endless applause, Hershtik took to the stage of the auditorium, where he spoke from the heart to his students – his sons, sketching step by step during his absence.

""I missed you, and I decided I was coming""

""Friends, first of all, as you can see, after a long time in the heavenly realm, I am standing straight and upright," Hershtik began his remarks.

""Although I still have to be under scrutiny, and under medical supervision that still doesn't allow me to 'come in the crowd,' despite everything, I missed it and couldn't help myself, and I decided that I would come here today.".

""I am very happy to see you, at least as happy as you are to see me, and that is precisely what the verse says to me: 'For this let those who love praise and exalt God, and let them give psalms and praises to the living and enduring King,' for I am among loved ones and friends, and I assume that you have already performed 'psalms and praises' today.

""I would like to say two things. First of all, at least forty percent of the reason I came here today is to see Haim (Haim Paypel - Y.G.) on his birthday. Although he was not well and did not invite me to his bar mitzvah at the time, now I have been invited to his 'second bar mitzvah.'.

""You may or may not know, but Haim is my soulmate, both as a person, as a teacher, and as a man who knows how to challenge your opinion... and make you think differently and sometimes outside the box.

Maybe it's because he travels a lot by train and has time, he always comes up with new ideas. And so, with God's help, he will continue until he is one hundred and twenty.

""I am also grateful to all those who worked nights and days this past year, Marom, Haim Nir, Haim Peipel, Shraga, Meir Briskman, Yotam Segal, and the entire teaching staff, and of course to Raymond Goldstein.

""What I mainly wanted to tell you is that it wasn't an easy year, and I'm sure it wasn't for you either, because even before the year started, I was already informed that I was in bad shape, and that I had to start dialysis on-site, and of course it was very difficult.

""Ask Raymond, who went through this experience. He was with me twice when I lost consciousness during dialysis. He probably knows how unsympathetic it was, even though I looked strong.".

""You know, sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, brings trials upon us, in which you learn things you never thought you would experience. And by the grace of God, the Holy One, blessed be He, showed us very great miracles," said Cantor Hershtik, and the excitement was evident on his face.

Angels in human form

""I was in a ward where there were people who only wore human form, but really, they were angels for all intents and purposes. Angels with special empathy, it's hard for me to define them, but somehow there's a special grace about them, as if the Divine Presence is always present on them. It's hard for me to explain, but it really is," he continued with rare openness in telling his story.

""What brought us all down is volunteerism among the people. This is not volunteerism where someone takes out their wallet, presses their credit card, or writes a check. People come, altruistically and anonymously, without any obligation whatsoever, without even knowing the person, and simply donate a kidney, a part of their body (!).

The Gemara already says that the best tzedakah is that the recipient does not know the giver, and the giver does not know the recipient. This is extraordinary selflessness.

""And even if they quote me, I would say that eighty to ninety percent, or even more, of the donors come from the religious and ultra-Orthodox sector. It's simply exciting to see how, before the surgery, they feel the joy of Rabbi Akiva, who said, 'I would pray all my days when this would come to me.'".

""It's simply incomprehensible how many people take the courage, spirit, and mental strength to stand up and give a part of their body.".

""Do you remember me? My wife is donating a kidney here""

""I must tell you about an exciting encounter I had with one of those human angels. One morning I was sitting with my wife Elka in the Aroma cafe at the hospital. It was after a series of tests I had done, and the doctors recommended that I go eat something before taking the medication.

""Suddenly, a man I knew approached me. He was one of those who would come to hear me a lot at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. Later, it turned out that he had come especially on Shabbat on foot from Beit Vegan. He approached me and said, 'Do you remember me? My wife is in the ward upstairs, she is donating a kidney today.'".

''Do you mind if I tell your wife to go say a few words to her to encourage her?''

 ""Of course, we immediately blessed the food blessing and ran to her upstairs in the ward. We entered the room, and we saw a young woman, an ultra-Orthodox woman, about thirty-eight years old. I don't know how many children she has, but I assume at least six. And this woman decided on a clear day to donate a kidney for the sake of a mitzvah. Yes, you wouldn't believe it, a woman in the prime of her life, she lacks nothing, healthy and whole, grace and kindness and a light-hearted face.

""And in a rare way, you ask yourself, am I supposed to cheer her up? This woman, full of joy, minutes before they take her down to the operating room?!

""We left there crying and emotional. Where do those angels get the strength for these things, and you see them every day there in the hospital on their way to another kidney donation.".

""These things simply give you a different dimension of thinking about life. What is called self-sacrifice, what is called charity, what is called kindness, what is called saving lives, without noise and without bells and whistles. So much so that it turns out that even her neighbors or her parents don't know that in these moments she is in an operating room donating her kidney.".

 

From such a place you come out and say to yourself: The Lord of the worlds must be worthy to see such a thing.

""Although the surgery is suffering, it's not exactly a picnic, but thank God we've passed this stage, and what's left now is to wait for everything to fall completely into place, and for me to be in a position to be able to 'come in the crowd' again, and with God's help it will be soon," he said, to the delight of his students and fans.

""I didn't know how much I could miss you.""

""You can inform relatives, acquaintances, and friends who wanted to start studying cantorship that in six weeks we will begin holding entrance exams for the institute, and with God's help I plan to return with vigor and strength, to rise and lead and teach and educate generations, together with all of you here.".

""I had a lot of time to think and come to the clear conclusion that, while there are certainly difficulties, what we do here at the institute, from the day it was founded in the basement of Heikh Solomon until today, nearly thirty years later, is truly sacred work.".

""For this thing, I sacrificed quite a bit of my personal career, certainly quite a bit of my business career, I sat at the top of a not-so-small pyramid, and I decided that I was dedicating my life to this thing, to teaching a generation of cantors and prayer leaders, and now, after I had time to think, I have come to the conclusion that God has helped, will help and will help because this goal is sacred.".

""I hope that you too will renew your strength in the summer, and return in March, because sometimes it is precisely the absence that makes you want to meet, and with God's help we will meet again soon.".

""Friends, I love you, I didn't know how much I could miss you, you don't even have any idea how much, and with God's help we will do it and succeed," Hershtik concluded with excitement.

There is no doubt that during the evening there were many moving moments in the high-quality performances and cantor pieces, but the 'encore' given by Cantor Hershtik will not be forgotten by any of those present.

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