A recent medical procedure led Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, Head Shliach to Oregon, to compose a new song in gratitude to Hashem, which has since been developed and produced for performance at the International Klezmer Festival in Tzfas.

While reciting Tehillim for the procedure’s success, Rabbi Wilhelm was struck by the words, “אֲהַלְלָה שֵׁם אֱלֹקִים בְּשִׁיר, וַאֲגַדְּלֶנּוּ בְתוֹדָה,” “I will praise the name of Hashem with song, and I will make Him great with thanksgiving.” He began singing them, and the tune led him to other pesukim carrying the same theme of praise and thanks.

Rabbi Wilhelm is no stranger to the importance of thanking Hashem for every breath. After significant kidney failure, he was in an urgent need of a kidney transplant. When he received a kidney from an altruistic donor, a woman who did not know him and donated her kidney through Renewal without knowing who would receive it, he was filled with gratitude to Hashem.

The transplant gave him renewed strength to continue the shlichus he and his wife, Devorah, have led in Oregon since being sent there by the Rebbe in 5744. It reinforced the feeling that every breath a person breathes is a gift from Hashem, and that there is always a reason to thank Hashem for every moment.

Rabbi Wilhelm turned to a student of his in Tzfas, along with musicians from the Kabbalah Dream Orchestra, to help develop the arrangement. The song was recorded by the Nachman Tzvi Project and is set to be featured at Tzfas’ International Klezmer Festival.

Rabbi Wilhelm later sent the recording to the kidney donor, along with his thanks and a bracha that her daughter find her bashert.

“I hope this niggun will become a niggun simcha sung at joyous ocassions, reminding us that every breath is a reason to sing and give thanks to Hashem,” Rabbi Wilhelm said.

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