{"id":34927,"date":"2020-05-29T03:49:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T10:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34927"},"modified":"2020-05-28T20:39:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T03:39:04","slug":"song-of-healing-is-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/05\/29\/song-of-healing-is-a-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Song of healing is a hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli artists Yair Levi and Shai Sol sing Moses\u2019s prayer to heal his sister Miriam of leprosy. The song, \u201cRefa Na,\u201d has resonated with people during the pandemic.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The song \u201cRefa Na<\/em>\u201d (\u201cHeal Her Now\u2019\u201d) by Israeli composer Yair Levi, together with vocalist Shai Sol, has become a global hit during the current COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Based on Moses\u2019s prayer to heal his sister Miriam after she contracted leprosy, the song was released on Levi\u2019s Facebook page April 6. The lyrics include the words, \u201cO Lord, heal her now. O Lord, I beseech thee. Then we will be strengthened and healed\u201d (Numbers 12:13) and Levi\u2019s original is in multiple languages: Hebrew, as well as English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Hindi and Swahili. The song has been picked up in dozens of covers, from Lebanon to Argentina.<\/p>\n

When Levi\u2019s grandmother fell ill, he composed a tune incorporating Moses\u2019s prayer for his sister\u2019s wellbeing. The song has resonated throughout the world during the current pandemic, garnering hundreds of thousands of views and shares.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandmother had an illness unrelated to coronavirus, but the pandemic obviously affected everyone, myself included,\u201d Levi, 31, told Ynet news portal. \u201cDue to the epidemic, I received the names of people in need of prayer and a list of about 20 names accumulated on my fridge. Every day, I would say a prayer for the sick, and I searched for words and a tune related to medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Levi remembered the \u201cAl na refa la\u201d prayer in Numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took my guitar and composed the music for it on the spot and, since I have a recording studio in my home, I recorded the song within a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levi then approached Sol, a vocalist with Miqedem, a band that composes and sings Psalms all around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn quarantine and with no way to actually meet, she recorded herself,\u201d Levi said.<\/p>\n

After posting the song on social media, he said, \u201cIt was amazing. We received many responses and translations. Immediately after we released the song, it was shared online by evangelist Christians, Jewish communities, and even the Friends of the IDF organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not only the obvious audiences were enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have received cover versions from all over the world, including from a Lebanese singer, and, on Saturday evening, I received three new covers from Namibia \u2026 India and a Brazilian singer, Fortunee Joyce Safdie, who performed the song live on her Instagram page,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting so many messages from people all around the world is incredible,\u201d he added. \u201cIf I have the privilege to spread prayer around the world, to me, it\u2019s just crazy. When people from all over the world translate and sing a prayer for health, it feels like it is literally the End of Times.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his three-year service in the Israel Defence Forces, Levi \u2013 who grew up in Israel\u2019s secular mainstream \u2013 became intrigued by traditional Judaism. A turning point in his life came on May 31, 2010. Serving as a naval commando, his elite unit stormed the MV Mavi Marmara, one of six ships in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla attempting to breach Israel\u2019s blockade of the coastal enclave. Nine Turkish activists were killed in the incident, while 10 IDF soldiers from Levi\u2019s unit were wounded. After the sea battle, Levi was determined to join an IDF officer course. But, at the age of 26, he decided to pursue a musical rather than military career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke with my commander, who told me people often regret what they had not done,\u201d Levi said. \u201cIt opened my eyes and I realized that the flotilla incident pushed me in the direction of the course, but my real dream was to make music and become a singer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levi has released two albums, Breathing Again<\/em> (2016) and Let Go<\/em> (2017).<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople see me as a religious person but I don\u2019t like labels,\u201d he said of his oeuvre.<\/p>\n

To hear more of Levi\u2019s music, visit yairlevi.bandcamp.com\/releases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gil Zohar<\/strong> is a writer and tour guide in Jerusalem.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli artists Yair Levi and Shai Sol sing Moses\u2019s prayer to heal his sister Miriam of leprosy. The song, \u201cRefa Na,\u201d has resonated with people during the pandemic. The song \u201cRefa Na\u201d (\u201cHeal Her Now\u2019\u201d) by Israeli composer Yair Levi, together with vocalist Shai Sol, has become a global hit during the current COVID-19 pandemic. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[5780,6315,4330,218,9927,9925,2172,9926],"class_list":["post-34927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-culture","tag-healing","tag-israel","tag-judaism","tag-refa-na","tag-shai-sol","tag-torah","tag-yair-levi"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}