Music for the Soul – How ‘A.’ Put Principles Ahead of Profit

The musician

A moving note arrived this week at the offices of Yad L’Achim’s counter-assimilation department.

A., a Jerusalem youth, owes a huge debt of gratitude to Yad L’Achim for convincing him not to go through with his planned marriage to a non-Jewish woman in Europe, where he had traveled for work.

Since then, he has married a Jewish woman k’da’as Moshe v’Yisrael, and found work as a professional musician, playing the Irish bagpipes.

A. reached out this week to Harav Yoav-Zeev Robinson, head of the counter-assimilation department, with a beautiful story. He had just been approached by a Jew who belonged to a Christian cult, the “Messianic Jews,” and was planning to marry a Christian. This cult member wanted A. to play at his wedding and offered him a very large sum to perform a 10-minute solo.

“I didn’t hesitate for a moment,” A. said. “I knew that I could not participate in such a wedding. And I certainly couldn’t play a beautiful solo that would become a pleasant memory for the wedding party for years to come.

“I turned down the request and explained to the groom that despite the tempting financial offer, I could not have anything to do with this wedding. I am very pleased with my decision and am confident that parnassa comes from Heaven,” he said.

A. also sent the cult member’s contact details to Yad L’Achim so that it could try and bring him back to his people. Harav Robinson, for his part, congratulated A. for this principled decision and for resisting economic temptation.

Yad L’Achim confirmed the details of the story this week and concluded that “this is additional proof that it is forbidden to give up on even a single Jew.”

In gratitude, and as a show of support, Yad L’Achim is calling an all those who would like to invite A. to perform at their simcha to call the hotline at *9234, and leave details.