Shalom my friends: I wish you all the covering of our Creator during this coming year. May He bring sweetness, shalom and all the desires of your heart into your lives as we honor and are obedient to His call on our lives. Let us shine the light of Torah in a world that seems to be going mad once again. May our names be sealed in His Sefer ha Chaim.
There is something that connects people to each other from all cultures and all walks of life no matter how rich or poor. I have met a lot of people in my life and there are always those who stand out in the crowd.
One such a person is Faigie who I met at Maimonides and from the first moment, we clicked. Another is Wanda and and another Rosa. All these ladies are in their 90s and they all survived the Holocaust. Each has their story about survival at the greatest of odds and they all believe in miracles.
I have to admit I was nervous about coming before 140 people for the Sunday Concert yesterday. What could I do that was new since I have been singing at Maimonides now for over 15 years? All I could think of was to sit down and as Tevye from Fiddler always did, I looked up and asked God to help me. I knew that this week we will have Holocaust Remembrance Day and next week is coming Yom Atzmaut, the Israel Day Rally. I took out my music and little by little an idea began to formulate in my mind. As we get older we become more interested in where we came from than when we were young. Perhaps that is why our Creator tells us to repeat His principles and stories from generation to generation. Eventually we are going to get it. I thought about the Holocaust and what I read from one or two rabbis and from the teachings of my own rabbi.
Several years ago my rabbi traveled back from a conference in California and brought me a CD and a book of music by Debbie Friedman. I listened to it and was not really moved by it. I put the CD in a drawer with the rest of my older CD’s and forgot about it. A couple of years later I was looking for some new music to increase my repertoire and came across Debbie’s CD. I had completely forgotten about it. I played it while I was doing some housework and it grabbed me. I left what I was doing and started to type out the words of four of the songs that really impressed me.
I have always loved how life happens. Sometimes things come our way and we step in and sometimes we choose to walk away. On this particular day, I chose to step in. One day, a friend from Toronto and Israel told me that his mother was being admitted into Maimonides. I could see his concern because he wouldn’t be here to see her much. Thank God for his sister. I asked him if he would like me to go and visit her from time to time.
Yom Atzmaut Sameach 5775
Listen to Peggy
Peggy's first CD, Tikvah, is now available.
