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R' Betzion by dollars
This is from an interview with Reb Bentzion Sheiker, a Mozitzer chosid and composer.
At the time (1974) I lived in Crown Heights near Rabbi Yosef Wineberg, who used to deliver radio lectures on the Tanya. One day he came to me and said, “You know, every year on the Rebbe’s birthday - which is the 11th of Nissan - we present a niggun to the Rebbe. But this year, the niggun didn’t seem to catch on. Would it be possible that you compose a niggun for the Rebbe?”
I didn’t know what to say, because I wasn’t even sure how to go about it. So I asked him if it had to be in the style of Chabad, but he said it didn’t have to be. He gave me a free hand to compose anything I wanted.
So I started thinking about it, and I came up with a melody to a verse in Kapitel 73, which is the kapital one says at age 72. When I had the niggun ready, I called him and asked, “What do you want me to do with it now?”
He said, “Come to the next farbrengen and sit behind the Rebbe. And when I give you the signal, start to sing.”
So that’s what happened. At the signal, I started to sing: “ואני קרבת אלקים לי טוב - As for me, the nearness of G‑d is my good.”
At first, everybody was stunned. But then the Rebbe turned around and smiled, so I continued to sing, making the beat a little faster. All of the sudden the Rebbe became very animated, and he started waving his hands. Everybody picked up the melody, and we sang it over and over.
My wife was sitting in the women’s section, and a lady who didn’t know that she was my wife said to her,
"ס'איז אנגענומען! דער רבי האט דאס אנגענומען!"
- "It’s been accepted! The Rebbe has accepted it!”
By the Rebbe
Dovid Horvitz
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