Atzeret: A Eulogy Song

It was last April when Ruben Prawer (YC ‘25) read the kinnah his madrich Nachum Goldstein wrote and posted on his WhatsApp status for the Oct. 7 massacres; a tune immediately popped into his head. At first, it was the tune of “Eli Tziyon,” a Tisha B’av kinnah. But it soon developed and grew into a tune of its own and now into a released song.

Goldstein was the first person Prawer shared the tune with. With his support and some fine-tuning of the words to fit into song lyrics, Prawer was able to start the process of actually creating the song and releasing it. That was an adventure in itself, since releasing music was entirely new to him.

Prawer began by reaching out to others who have been involved with the music world before. He got in contact with Yoel Weiss, a producer, and worked together to form the musical arrangement of the song. After months of back and forth, where Prawer would describe his vision for the mood and tone of the song and Weiss would send back recordings, it was finally time to get the vocals down. And so, one summer afternoon, while in Israel on the BIU-YU Summer Science Research program, Prawer found himself in a Haredi man’s recording studio in Jerusalem. This left the last stage of production to be completed, recording the instrumentals and perfecting the song overall.

The song is titled “Atzeret,” signifying the deadly day of Shemini Atzeret on which Hamas terrorists massacred around 1200 people. It laments the tragedies of Oct. 7, mourning specific areas such as Ofakim, Sderot and the Nova festival, while alluding to various pieces of Tanach and Gemara.

One of the lines in Goldstein’s kinnah that particularly struck a chord with Prawer is the line he ended up using as the song’s refrain: “atzeret teheye lachem, kasha alay preidatchem,” meaning, “a day of Atzeret it shall be for you, your departure is difficult for me.” The first clause comes from a verse that describes the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot. The second clause, “kasha alay preidatchem,” comes from Rashi’s explanation of what exactly the holiday of Shemini Atzeret is. Rashi explains the word “atzeret” with a parable, comparing it to a king who wishes to spend more time with his children rather than them leaving when the banquet is over. In the same way, Shemini Atzeret is added on to the holiday of Sukkot, not to commemorate any specific event, but to express the relationship and love between God and the Jewish people.

The verses and Rashi’s commentary indicates that these phrases carry a positive connotation. God cannot bear to have His children leave and thus, God invites the Jewish people to stay for an additional day. However, in the kinnah Goldstein authored and through the tune Prawer sings, these words transform drastically, taking on a new and heartbreaking meaning. “It captures a very different meaning this year of both the word ‘atzeret’ and of the phrase ‘kasha alay preidatchem [your departure is difficult for me],’” Prawer shared. “The departure is not just that the chagim are ending, but also the physical departure of all the lives that were cut short and all the hostages that were taken on Shemini Atzeret. It is that departure that is so difficult to bear.”

With each repetition of the song’s refrain it carries more weight, underscoring the intensity and severity of this pain. The song twists again in the last line where instead of repeating “kasha alay preidatchem,” it says “kasha aleinu preidateinu,” “our departure is difficult for us.” It is not just our exit from the chagim season that is difficult for God, and it is not just the lives lost that is difficult for God; it is the lives lost from our community that creates a gaping hole so large and a pain so difficult for us to bear. The song’s messaging rings clear: every soul lost from the Nation of Israel is crushing for all of us. Prawer’s “Atzeret” gives voice to the enormity and incomprehensibility of this collective anguish.

Prawer found inspiration for the song’s melody from elements of three different songs: “Eli Tziyon”, “Shimru Shabtotai” (a song traditionally sung on Shabbat) and “Etzleinu Bagan” (a Yom Hazikaron song). For Prawer, “Atzeret’s” tune being the amalgam of these three songs reflects the nature of Oct. 7: “It was Shabbat and Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, and at the same time one of the greatest tragedies, or arguably the greatest tragedy, in the past 70-80 years for the Jewish people,” Prawer explained.

Before leaving Israel, on the last Shabbat of his summer program, Prawer used “Atzeret” as the tune for the first half of Lecha Dodi while leading Kabbalat Shabbat. Though the tune was new, Prawer’s friends helped out with the singing and the rest soon caught on.

“Atzeret” is an intensely beautiful piece of music laden with meaning. It holds the deep pain, sadness and anger felt due to the horrific events of Oct. 7 and the past 11 months. By expressing these heavy emotions, the song serves as a comfort and outlet to its listeners, while ensuring that the pain and destruction are not forgotten, as Prawer said: “On the one hand it's been so long and yet this is an ongoing reality. It’s important that we don’t forget what happened on Oct.7 and that we continue to pay attention to the reality and not let it slip our minds, and I think this can also be a way for people to retain that mindset.”

The last stanza alternates between two lines, one of them being the song’s refrain, as if to say that although we have come to the end of the song, the pain of those lost has no end. While this repeated lyric captures this ongoing reality of suffering and hurt, the other line it alternates with courageously points to a brighter future, as Prawer sings “hafoch lemachol evleinu uv’Shabbat nasis libeinu,” meaning “transform our mourning into dancing, and on the Sabbath we shall gladden our heart.” Without forgetting or denying the anguish, we are charged to hold on with hope and conviction that we are moving toward a time of celebration and joy.

For Prawer, playing around with music and coming up with tunes is one thing. However, taking a tune from an abstract idea to an actual song you can play on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, etc., is a whole other level. “I have thought about trying to do something like this, but I never had the conviction to see it through,” said Prawer. “But for this, I thought it was definitely worth whatever investment it would take.”

“Atzeret” can be listened to here.

Photo Caption: The cover art for the song “Atzeret”

Photo Credit: Ruben Prawer