| The Holy Hunchback? Performed and Composed by: Aaron Razel? Based on a true story as told by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach? ? • • • ? ? Some years ago I was walking down a street in Tel Aviv. I saw an old man, he was sweeping the streets. His eyes were filled with grace, his body was all broken, a special light was shining from his face. I approached him and said: “Shalom Aleichem”. He replied as in the shtet’l: “Aleichem Shulem!” I continued in Yiddish: “Mein zisseh Yid”, sweet brother Jew, “would you tell me where are you from?”? ? When he said: “I’m from Piaseczno”, it was like a bomb went off inside me: never had I met a survivor from that town.? “As a child, did you ever see Rebbe Klonimus Kalman?” I asked. “Of course”, he said, “one doesn’t forget his childhood Rebbe.? When I was 11 I got to Auschwitz. They thought I was 17 and sent me to the labor camps. Now I’ve got no one. I am alone in this world.” He went on sweeping the streets.? ? “Kinderlach, tayereh zisseh kinderlach.? Promise me you will remember this forever:? The greatest thing in the whole wide world is to do someone else a favor.” ? ? I told him: “My friend, I heard so much of Rebbe Kalman, can you tell me some Torah wisdom you learned from him?”? He looked at me and said: “Do you really think after Auschwitz, there is something that we still can remember? And how can I ever describe how beautifully we welcomed the Shabbat. We danced and danced all the children around the Rebbe.? Oh yes, there is one thing I do remember he used to tell us again and again.? I will remember this for the rest of my life! He said:”? ? “Kinderlach, tayereh zisseh kinderlach. ? Promise me you will remember this forever:? The greatest thing in the whole wide world is to do someone else a favor.”? ? “In the camps, when I realized my whole family was gone in flames, it was a dark night, I thought to put my life to an end. ? Then I heard the Rebbe’s voice echoing in my ears: ‘Remember, do a favor for someone else’.? Do you know how many favors you can do at night in Auschwitz? Broken people all around. Then more arrive. I sat all night listening, giving them empathy and love. I guess that’s how I survived.” ? ? “Kinderlach, children oh sweet precious kinderlach.? Promise me you will remember this forever:? The greatest thing in the whole wide world is to do someone else a favor.”? ? “Even to this day, sometimes I feel my life has no purpose, I go into the sea, his voice comes in my ears:? “Kinderlach, remember the greatest thing in the world!? You know how much good the world needs today!”? ? • • • ? ? Written and composed by Aaron Razel? Illustrations by Josh Baum? Based on a true story as told by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach? ? ? Original story by: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach? Lyrics written & adapted by: Aaron Razel ? Music composed by: Aaron Razel ? ? Musical production by: Eyal Mazig? Musical arrangement by: Eyal Mazig & Aaron Razel? String arrangement by: Aaron Razel ? Piano: Aaron Razel ? Bass & computing: Eyal Mazig |
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