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    THE POWER OF MUSIC LIVING A JEWISH AND JOYFUL LIFE WITH YAAKOV SHWEKEY

    Aryeh: Music has the power to uplift, to
    inspire, to elevate, and to transform a
    person. In the times of the Holy Temple,
    in the Beis Hamikdash, the Leviim were
    engrossed in music. They used to always
    play and connect to Hashem Beshira
    u’vezimra, with joyous songs. With music,
    you’ll be able to reach the most loftiest
    levels, spiritual levels. That’s the power
    and the greatness of music. But like other
    things, if used in the wrong way, it could be
    detrimental to a person. It could be terrible
    for a person. It could ruin the person.
    An idea I heard from my father is that
    medicine if used correctly, could be greatly
    beneficial to the person. Medicine, if used
    the right way, could greatly benefit a
    person. But if medicine is used in the wrong
    way, it could kill a person. We can compare
    it to music. Music, if done and used the
    right way, could spiritually uplift someone.
    It could give someone the power to move
    on. There are so many countless stories
    of people who got inspired by music and
    how they got a new outlook on life. Or how
    music brought people back to Yiddishkeit.

    Similarly, Shir, the Hebrew word for music,
    has the same letters as yashar, which
    means upright. This is teaching us that if
    you want to listen to music, if you want
    to connect to music, you have to do it
    upright. Because if you don’t, it could be
    terrible for you. It could be terrible for
    your neshamah. It could destroy a person.
    It could destroy a soul. We have to realize
    the power of music and how great music
    is. And since it’s so great, we have to be so
    careful.
    With Hashem’s help very, very soon we
    should merit to see Moshiach, in our
    days. And we’ll all sing together with the
    Leviyim, beshira u’vzimrah, in the holy
    Beis Hamikdash.
    Welcome Yaakov, please tell us a bit about
    yourself and your background.
    Yaakov: Thank you for having me on! I
    have a pretty diverse background. The
    Sephardic side is my father. My mother’s
    the Ashkenaz side. My mother was born
    in the DP camps in Germany, so, I have
    opposite backgrounds from both sides. I

    use it in music. the Sephardic side of music,
    the Israeli side of music, and also Hasidic,
    and also regular music.
    Aryeh: We are talking about being Jewish
    and joyful. From a music perspective, what
    would you say is the connection between
    happiness and music, and growing
    through music?
    Yaakov: The tool of music and the gift of
    music to the world is so incredible. The
    Vilna Gaon writes that if there wasn’t
    Torah, he would be dealing with music all
    day long. The Beis Hamikdash was full of
    music. David HaMelech, King David, who
    wrote the Tehillim that we say till today, is
    filled with songs.
    The Gemara says that Dovid used to get up
    on Chatzois and sing. The Chasam Sofer
    said that he was willing to give one-third
    of his olam haba to know how to sing.
    Why? Because singing and music is an
    expression of the soul. The Lubavitcher
    Rebbe said it’s the pen of the soul, and you
    want to express that. Baruch Hashem, we
    recently came out with a brand-new song,
    Guf Uneshama. It’s the Guf Uneshama, it’s
    your Neshama that wants to express and
    connect. Of course, you have to take care
    of your guf (soul) in this world, but the
    main song within is from the Neshama,
    and the Neshama wants to sing.
    Singing is an expression of spirituality. Our
    natural thirst is to connect to the Creator,

    and of course, Torah is the way, but the gift
    of music is there as a conduit for us to get
    a lot closer.
    Aryeh: Unfortunately, a lot of people use
    music to disconnect. What advice would

    you give to someone listening to non-
    Jewish music and could you explain how

    bad it is for the Neshama? A lot of people
    don’t realize the negative effects of it right
    away.
    Yaakov: Well, I can tell you I that I have
    countless stories of people who have come
    over to me over the years and said, thank
    you for your music… You should know that
    they told me the one thing that changed
    their life is once they heard and connected
    to the music, they wanted to stop listening
    to non-Jewish music, and the music that
    has steered them the wrong way. That’s
    how much music makes an impression on
    the soul. People don’t realize this. It says
    it all over in seforim, whatever you hear,
    whatever you see, makes a huge impression
    on you, even though you may not realize it.
    They say a beautiful thing, they ask, why
    don’t you make a bracha on music? You
    make a bracha on b’samim, you should
    make a bracha on music. So, they answer,
    music bypasses all the Guf and goes right
    to the neshama. Music goes straight to
    the soul. You don’t make a bracha on
    something that bypasses the physical, and
    it goes straight, straight through, and it hits
    the soul.

    The non-jews out there have billions of
    people. They aren’t worried about that.
    They don’t care about the effects of music.
    For them it’s a business, and they want
    you to hear what’s a hook song. You know,
    in our industry a lot of times people say,
    let’s make a hit song, and I always say
    it’s not about a hit song, it’s about your
    inspiration, and you speaking it to the
    world. If it becomes popular, it becomes
    popular, that’s great.
    Our goals should be how to express what
    inspires us. Everybody has a different song
    to say, you know, there’s so many beautiful
    neshamas out there that know how to sing,
    and everybody has their taste, and their
    way, and Hashem wants a world where we
    all sing in unison different types of songs.

    I’ll never forget, I was in Manhattan years
    ago, I think it was a Hasc concert, and I
    stayed overnight there because it was very
    late. In the morning, I went to the Safra
    Synagogue in Manhattan, and someone
    came over to me, right after davening
    with his tefillin on. He says, you know, I’m
    so happy that I see you, I never thought I
    was going to meet you, He said I’m from,
    Paris, and the reason I’m wearing tefillin
    is because of your music. He said that he
    grew up in a non-religious house, and
    somebody got him my music, and he was
    able to connect through the music, and it
    made me change everything. I told him,
    that I was so happy that I was able to stay
    overnight and come to hear that.
    It doesn’t get old, it’s not only me, I’m
    sure Carlbach and many others had so
    many beautiful stories, because of Jewish
    music. If you do it for the right reason, and
    you’re singing the right messages, when
    you explain to them what V’hi Sha’amda
    means, and when you explain to them, you
    know, what, what, what, you know, Shema
    Yisrael means, and now Guf Uneshama,
    and now everything that you’re doing, it,
    and then you put it into music, the gift of
    music is something that is so great. I see it
    with special children, special children are
    known to be very, very high in Neshamas,
    my wife has the special children center.
    When I sing there each one of them lights

    up. As soon as you start a niggun, they
    start going wild, because it’s all Neshama,
    they are all Neshama, and you can see
    it that no matter what challenges they
    have, everything goes out the window
    when a song starts. It’s a very big gift, it’s
    a great gift. Obviously it’s there to enhance
    Yiddishkeit, and it’s there too uplift us.
    Especially in our generation, where we
    have a lot of things going on. We have a
    lot of sadness now because of the war and
    the general challenging things in our lives.
    The journey of life takes you on a road
    sometimes, where the niggun you sing is,
    is an expression of hope, an expression of
    sadness for things that are happening, and
    people that are being lost at a young age,
    but at the end of the day, Hashem wants
    us to be b’simcha. Hashem wants us to be
    happy.
    B’simcha is the same letters as Machshova.

    Machshova and b’simcha are the same
    letters, because to have joy, and to have
    happiness, it all starts in the mind, and
    if you think happy, and if you listen to a
    song, and get into the song it can change
    you.
    I’ll tell you what to do – somebody sent
    out a text before Shabbos to me, that if
    you explain to people the words of the
    niggun, if you explain to people the, the
    meaning of the song, and then you sing it,
    the neshama has a much higher reach to
    where it’s going to reach.

    Aryeh: Rav Pam said that the city of
    happiness is in the state of mind.
    Yaakov: That’s exactly what it is. As we said
    it’s proven in the letters. It’s great that you
    have this podcast, because people can
    listen, and people could connect through
    here and understand that joy is everything,
    everything about Judaism is joy.

    They asked the holy Arizal how he got to
    where he is in life and how he got to such
    a high level in Judaism. He said one word,
    joy. Through his simcha he reached such a
    high level.
    Yes, there are many challenges, but if we
    look at what we call the small things in
    life, the fact that we wake up. We won’t
    stop thanking Hashem. A little while ago,
    my wife brought the mother of a hostage
    taken in Gaza, and she invited her to my
    house. And we took her around to schools.
    She’s going through tremendous sorrow
    with her son, you know, not coming out.
    However, at the end of the day, she said, I
    wake up and the fact that I woke up in the
    morning is incredible. I thank Hashem that
    I’m able to get up and express to Him how
    much I owe Him.
    The sefarim asks, in Modeh Ani why do
    you say emunoshecha? What’s that extra
    word? You say, you could just say, thank
    you Hashem. Thank you. Why do you say
    emunoshecha? They say emunoshecha is
    your Emunah in Me. Hashem returns our
    soul because he believes in us. That’s why
    when asked what the hardest mitzvah was,
    the Vilna Gaon said, the hardest mitzvah
    is to be happy all seven days of Sukkos
    because there is a mitzvah every second to
    be happy. It’s a tremendous avodah to be
    connected through joy. Now, is it always
    easy? No, but it’s extremely important.
    It’s probably the greatest ingredient in
    Judaism – joy and simcha. You put on your
    tefillin, do it with simcha. Do everything
    with simcha. It’s probably the greatest
    ingredient we have. No question about it.
    A great way to inspire yourself on this topic
    is to get books and seforim on simcha.
    Get Gateway to Happiness by Rabbi Zelig
    Pliskin. It’s phenomenal. One of the things
    he says there is that he took a group of
    students in Israel, and he asked them to
    write something they were grateful for.
    One man wrote down coffee. He says, now
    think about coffee for 10 minutes and how
    it got to your table. The guy had to grind
    it. He had to work on the field. He had to
    make the beans. They had to ship it with

    and so forth. There was a whole list. The
    student thought it’s going to take him 10
    minutes. It took him an hour and he could
    have spent another five hours on how that
    coffee came to his table. And when you
    think, when you use your mind, when you
    use your mind to appreciate even a coffee.
    Whenever I have a cup, a cup of coffee, I
    don’t think for an hour. But we can take a
    few seconds. If we take some time to think
    about these things, how a shirt is made,
    how I got this jacket, how many hours did
    they spend making this jacket for me?
    You could go on and on and on thinking
    about how things are made and how
    Hashem gave us, especially in our
    generation where we so much. The poorest
    guy today is richer than any Prince or King
    of a hundred years ago.
    But again, physicality doesn’t always
    equal joy just because you have a lot. You
    can have a lot of physical things, but you
    must use your mind to appreciate it, to
    appreciate those things. And if you use
    your mind, to appreciate and understand
    what we have and how it got there. And
    then you listen to a song and you’re able to
    express through, through a song, what it is
    that you’re feeling. That’s, Hashem wants
    that.

    Aryeh: Who is the happiest person that
    you know?
    Yaakov: That’s a good question because
    happiness at times is not external, you
    can’t tell externally if somebody’s happy
    because we said it’s in the mind. It’s very
    hard to go into someone’s mind. However,
    I’ll say it’s the people in the Kollel that I see
    every day here in Deal.
    I see guys that don’t miss a seder and they
    come and learn, and they pour their hearts
    out into the Torah because Torah has a way
    of satiating the soul and also giving it that
    joy. There’s no better joy than to connect
    to the infinity, to connect to the Torah. So,
    I will say the people that I see daily in my
    Kollel are the happiest people I know. I do
    see a lot of happiness and joy there.

    Aryeh: Thank you for coming!

    Yaakov: Thank you for having me! Keep it
    up for Klal Israel. They need it more than
    ever now with this war and everything
    that’s happening now. We’ve got to work
    on it. It’s reading books on Simcha and
    Chizuk, that helps tremendously. We have
    some special music that was just released
    so that should hopefully inspire many
    people. With Hashem’s help very soon, we
    should dance in the Beis Hamikdash.
    Aryeh: I hope you all enjoyed this interview
    with Yaakov Shwekey. I hope you got more
    of an understanding of the power of music
    and how careful you have to be with what
    you enter into your Neshama. It’s hard for

    everyone, but this is not just with hearing,
    it’s also with seeing. We have to be careful
    with what we watch, and what we look at.
    We all have challenges, we all have trials
    and tribulations, and at times we do fall,
    but we have to remember to get back
    up. Hashem made us human. We’re not
    sticks and stones. We have challenges, we
    have temptations. And if we do fall, if we
    realize it’s not what defines us. There are
    going to be some incredible guests and
    content coming soon on our podcast. We
    are available on all main platforms. For
    feedback or to join our email list, please
    email us at jewishnjoyful@gmail.com.