Last winter, I went on a ski trip with Reb Aryeh Weiss and the boys from Waterbury. While we were farbrengening in the mountains of Utah, Reb Aryeh shared a vort that mamish resonated with me deeply. He mentioned the inyan of saying "Elaka D’Meir Aneini" to have our tefilos answered. But why invoke Rebbi Meir specifically, rather than any other tzadik?
Reb Aryeh explained that in the Gemara Kiddushin, there's a machlokes involving Rebbi Meir. R’ Yehuda holds that the Yidden are only considered children of Hashem when they are behaving like His children, keeping His Torah and fulfilling His mitzvos. However, Rebbi Meir argues that whether a Yid is performing well in their spiritual avoida or not, they are - and always will be - a child of Hashem. L’maisa, the halacha is like Rebbi Meir.
Reb Aryeh pointed out that often, people come before Hashem with a tefilah, but they might not be in the best place in their ruchniyusdik’e journey and feel unworthy of having their tefilos answered. By mentioning Rebbi Meir, who teaches that we are always Hashem's children regardless of our current state, we affirm that a child will always receive a response from his Father, no matter how far he’s strayed.
I had my guitar with me and immediately started playing, inspired by this idea. Within a few minutes, we had a song worked out. Later, when I was in Eretz Yisroel, I shared this song with the boys at Yeshivas Beis Dovid (R’ Avi Wiesenfeld’s yeshiva) during a farbrengen. We sang it for a good ten minutes straight, and R’ Wiesenfeld remarked that this song truly encapsulates the essence of his yeshiva.
I asked the boys if they would help me film a music video for the song at Rebbi Meir's kever in Teveria, and Thank You Hashem they agreed.
I hope you enjoy the song, as it represents the special Father-son relationship we’re all zoche to have with Hashem.
Elaka D’Meir Aneini
רבי מאיר אומר בין כך ובין כך אתם קרוים בנים
( קידושין לו.)
Streaming Everywhere: song.link/BonimLamakom
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CREDITS
Song Composed, written & Performed by: Joey Newcomb
Song Produced by: Doni Gross
Video Produced by: Yisroel Tesser
Joey PR: I & Me Media
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Connect with Joey:
Instagram - yosefjoeynewcomb
TH-cam - @joeynewcomb