Chasidic Musicians Yoeli Klein and Shaya Gross Tell How They Got to the Words of

CHASIDIC MUSICIANS YOELI KLEIN AND SHAYA GROSS REVEALED IN AN INTERVIEW ON RADIO KOL CHAI WHERE THE WORDS FOR THE MASSIVE HIT SONG “VEAFILU BEHASTARA” [“EVEN IN A CONCEALMENT”] CAME FROM.

Yoeli Klein relates: “In short, Shaya [Gross, his musical partner] finishes the song ‘Even in a concealment’…Here the song ends, so what do we do here?

“We have a friend by the name of Yechezkel Glick, a good friend shared by both of us, who said to us that he saw the words, ‘Also behind the harsh things which happen to you, I stand’ – he saw this in some Torah pamphlet.’

Shaya interrupts the conversation and asks: “Which pamphlet?”

Yoeli Klein answers: ‘Of Rabbanit [Tehilah] Berland?  Really?”

Shaya answers: “Yes.”

Yoeli: “To this day he [Yechezkel Glick] didn’t tell me.”

Shaya: “Yes, the pamphlet of the Rabbanit of Berland!  The words are from the pamphlet of the Rabbanit of Rav Berland!"

Yoeli Klein returns to the creative process which brought them in the end to the unforgettable words of ‘Veafilu Behastara’: “Yes, then Shaya composed the words and it came out, ‘Also behind the harsh things which happen to, I stand.’  And I say to myself, ‘What’s happening here?  There is something good happening here!  There is something good here!”

Shaya: “We didn’t understand to what extent!”

The interviewer asks: “You didn’t understand?”

Yoeli: “Mamash, no.”

INTERVIEW: “I THINK IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND TO WHAT EXTENT.  EVEN NOW, THERE’S NO SECULAR, OR RELIGIOUS, ANY PERSON THAT THE SONG DIDN’T TOUCH HIM AND STRENGTHEN HIM SOMEWHERE IN LIFE.”