Waterbury Mesivta - What I Need Most (feat. Aryeh Barnett)

Credits: Concept & Lyrics: Temima Schiller Vocals & Co-Writer: Aryeh Barnett Produced By Hillel Kapnick (www.HillelKaps.com) Recorded @UptopStudios (Monsey, NY) Cover Design: Huda Krupka Special Thanks to: Moshe Pifko for your expert insight and assistance throughout this project Aharon Maslin for your indefatigable help and incredible patience in making this song possible. Shout-out to AY, YMS, & the Halpert family! Couldn't have done this without you. -Song Background - There is a stirring piyyut written by Rav Shimon Ibn Levi in honor of the famed Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the 2nd-century tannaitic sage. In his eloquent tribute, Rav Shimon Ibn Levi writes: במערות צורים שעמדת, שם קנית הודך והדרך. This translates to mean "In the rock caves where you stood- there you acquired your splendor and your strength". The literal reference is to the twelve years that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son, Elazar spent in a cave hiding from the Romans. During those years, they ate only carob fruit and dedicated their time to furthering their growth in Torah knowledge. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, in his stone cave, acquired glory through his learning. Until today, this great Taanah and author of the Zohar is celebrated. Every year tens of thousands of people visit his grave on Mount Meron on the day that his holy soul returned to heaven. Rabbi Kalish shlita often speaks of a practical way these words can be applied to our lives. In the course of our lives, each of us experience moments, events or periods that are extremely difficult. To us, those may feel like rock caves. We may feel confined, or in the dark. Left alone or surrounded by rigidity. It is there, exactly in that place of strain, where we have the capacity to reach our own beauty and the maximized level of the strength inherent within. By pushing through and revealing this inner power, the words of this piyyut come alive in our own worlds. Rabbi Kalish shlita goes on to explain yet a deeper understanding of how these words can apply to our everyday lives. In this explanation, the caves of stone refer to the places in our lives that we are afraid of. Each heart knows what makes it constrict and want to withdraw. It may be a phobia, an unresolved argument, a broken relationship or even a dishonesty with oneself. The things that you are most afraid of, the things that you fear most, those are your flags. Those rock caves, home to the greatest fears we own, they hold the key to our true grandeur. To the brightest, most honest and most potent versions of ourselves. Lyrics: Verse: Been living on the defense Thrown across an ocean from my goals Life is making no sense Riding in between the highs and lows I’m so used to falling, Why What else can I try? Chorus Maybe what I need most Is hidden deep in caves of stone The places that I fear most That seem so dark and so alone Let down the walls, walk through the pain Make friends with the demons that I locked away Maybe what I need most Is where I fear to go. Verse Looking out the window Im jealous of the way the eagle flies Unburdened by the errors Nothing in the past can keep him up at night Lie awake in the moonlight, I Can’t quiet my mind Chorus Bridge: I remember being younger Full of hope and full of wonder You close your eyes once And when you wake up You’ve lost it all. But I’ve been feeling Finding meaning And it slowly starts the healing I’ve been searching Finding Pieces Of everything I’ve left behind Chorus Maybe what I need most Is hidden deep in caves of stone The places that I fear most That seem so dark and so alone Let down the walls walk through the pain Let it build me and break me till I find my way Maybe what I fear most That’s where I need to go. And that’s where I gotta go And that’s where I gotta go That’s where I gotta go