I merited to visit Radin on a Dirshu trip that took place on the 82nd yahrtzeit of the Choftetz Chaim. It was an absolutely incredible journey from beginning to end - closing the circle that had opened up at the yeshiva of the Rebbe so many decades ago and culminating with a journey of the gedolim to his kever - in today's day and age.
There were incredible speeches that drew everyone's hearts closer to Hashem, and the davening at the Zeide's kever was out of this world. When we entered the Beis Hachaim in Radin it was raining and it was almost as if the heavens themselves were crying along with the gedolim as they davened for the long list of names they had brought with them. Through it all the rain continued unabated......
And then - when the davening was over and we were leaving - the rain stopped and sun broke through the clouds - as if to say, "You were successful in your mission!!"
Following that trip I composed a song and wrote the lyrics about that journey.
"In Radin" is a personal musical testimony to the spiritual magic that happened on that day when we visited the Chofetz Chaim in Radin.
Rabbi Nachman Seltzer
Credits -
Song composed, lyrics written, and vocals sung by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer
Arranged by Eli Klein & Yitzy Berry
Guitar and base - Nachman Helbitz
Strings - The Israeli Orchestra
Piano - Eli Klein & Yitzy Berry
Drums - Avi Avidani
Violin - Ayal Shiloach
Low - Our plane soon out of sight, as we traveled through the night, a promise of what lay ahead, there in Radin,
A few hundred on the way, to a most auspicious day, it's the yahrtzeit of the Rebbe, there in Radin
Low - When we landed it was late, taking buses through the gate, destination up ahead, there in Radin,
Then the darkness dissipates, morning sunshine in its place, we arrive and disembark, there in Radin
High - The gedolim file in, donning tallis and tefillin, what hargasha in our hearts, there in Radin
Together, reunited at last, hearing voices from the past, as the walls themselves seemed to shake, there in Radin, there in Radin
Low - There's a mist in the air, droplets of rain everywhere, as we enter the Beis Hachaim, there in Radin,
Words of chizuk, we're inspired, the gedolim are on fire, as we open our tehillims, there in Radin
High - Our tears mix with the rain, screaming "Rebbe, you're nation's in pain, crying out to shomayim, there in Radin
Reciting thousands of names, "oy vey Tatte mir kumen aheim," and the heavens themselves seem to weep, there in Radin, there in Radin
Low - It is time for us to part, yet we leave behind our hearts, at the kever of the rebbe, there in Radin,
Now we're walking across sodden fields, as the thunder and rain start to yield, and the sun's shining bright through the clouds, there in Radin
High - How we davened, how we cried, reaching deeper than ever inside, for our nation, on that day, there in Radin
It is clear that we found the key, on the day of Jewish Unity, our tefilos ascending on high, there in Radin, there in Radin
