"For a long time, I've dreamed of creating a new song," singer Yonatan Razel said. "I wanted it to be a happy song, a simple song....something new and fresh.
"To me, the word 'hallelujah' has happy associations. It reminds me of spring, of many Shabbat (Sabbath) morning prayers with my father in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood. It reminds me of children dancing with tambourines, and of the voice of all of creation. As the psalm says, 'Every soul will praise God, hallelujah.'
"I sometimes think about the early mornings in New York, when I would walk in the cold rain....I would see a pauper sitting on the street corner, singing there as if he was not impoverished, as if there was no rain....hallelujah, hallelujah.
"The orchestration of this song was similar... Gilad Efrat drummed on his instrument, I pulled out my keys and 'played' on them, I tapped on cups and joined him. And we sang together, 'Hallelujah. Praise Him with clanging cymbals, praise Him with resonant trumpets.' (a verse from Psalms, ed.)
"Every night, I come home. I pick up my children and I dance. 'Every soul will praise God.'
"The winter is at its end, spring is near, the holidays of Purim and Pesach (Passover) are coming. I give the world this song.
"Thank you, God, for giving me this song as a gift."