The event took place in the "Torah B'Tzion" yeshiva in the Katamon neighborhood on Saturday night, Jan. 16. Rand, a popular musician/actor who became religiously observant and adapted his compositions and performances accordingly, sang songs and answered questions from the young students. Rabbis of the yeshiva, which has made the concept and practice of Torah outreach into one of its flagship issues, also contributed to the discussion.
Interspersed with Rand’s nationally popular songs, especially from his latest album “Nekudah Tovah” (Good Point), he sprinkled anecdotes and poignant thoughts about his own return to observant Judaism. For instance, as the background to his song “Segulah,” in which the Jewish Nation is compared to a girl who forgets her natural and inner beauty and lowers herself to ignominious levels, he discussed his motivation to write it. He said he once met with an American Jew who discussed the rampant assimilation overtaking the Jews in the U.S. While the man was presenting the data, he began crying “real, pure, heartfelt tears of pain at the plight of the Jewish People,” Rand recalled. He said that the man’s sincere pain, as well as the statistics of Jewish assimilation, “did not leave me apathetic,” and helped guide his own return to Judaism.
Among the questions Rand was asked by the young students was, “You can affect others because you were once ‘there,’ and now you’re ‘here.’ But how can I, someone who was religious all his life, truly understand and bring closer one who is not religious?” With softness and depth, Rand answered that there is no substitute for sincerity: “The most dangerous thing is self-righteousness and arrogance, or when one thinks that he is better than others. In such a case, there is no chance that he will be able to bring others closer.”
“Don’t think that one who is a baal-teshuvah, a returnee to Judaism, has an easy life and his children are perfect, etc.,” Rand said. “Life is always full of struggle; it means always being in the process of teshuvah [return].”
“Why did you choose a Breslover way of life?” one student asked, and Rand smiled, “Because that’s what spoke to me! I don’t say that Breslov has the entire truth, but the teachings of Rabbe Nachman of Breslov helped me very much and I am true to them. Everyone must take from the richness of Torah that which speaks to him.”
Another question: “You were once like us, a religious boy with a knitted kippah studying in a religious high school. Why did you leave this life?”
“It wasn’t because I had questions or there was something I didn’t understand,” Rand answered candidly. “It was something emotional. I didn’t even truly understand what I was leaving… Thank G-d, in His great mercy He returned me to Him.”
In conclusion, Rabbi Yitzchak Neriah, head of the Torah in Zion yeshiva high school, asked Rand what message he can give the religious-Zionist youth of today. “My message for you is very clear,” the singer said. “As soon as the religious-Zionist public learns this issue of outreach and begins getting into it, they will be the best at it! Look how, thank G-d, you are integrated into the army and the other aspects of our society. I am convinced that you will lead in this field as well, as soon as you study it deeply and get into it seriously.”
“I envy you,” he told the young students. “You can choose your future – clean, pure, close to holiness. But I already made my choices, and I’m still paying the price today; voices from the past keep calling on me to stop… I hope that G-d will help and you will succeed.”