October is breast cancer awareness month. Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, and individuals and organizations commemorate the month in different ways to increase attention and support for its early detection and treatment.
As a musician, Rabbi David Schlusselberg is doing it in a way that comes from his heart: by creating a music video featuring a song he wrote to express his feelings about the loss of his mother, who died in 1996 from the disease.
According to the World Health Organization, there are about 1.38 million new cases and 458,000 deaths from breast cancer each year, with Ashkenazi Jews ten times more likely to have the genetic mutations than the general population.
Schlusselberg, who grew up in Teaneck and teaches high school, wrote the song “I Miss Her” in the summer of 2004, eight years after the loss of his mother, Marion. “It wasn’t the only song I wrote about my mother’s passing, but it was the one I connected to the most,” he said. “One of the reasons I wanted to record it was because I don’t believe there are many songs out there about death and losing a loved one, and certainly no songs that I’m aware of about losing a parent to breast cancer. I wanted people to connect to it, and for the lyrics to express what someone feels when they go through a challenge like this.”
Marion Schlusselberg was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in 1991. After going into remission for a few years, it reappeared in 1995 at stage four. His mother passed away on October 17, 1996 after battling the disease for a year. David and his twin sister Lisa were 9 years old (there are two other siblings). “I don’t have too many memories of her. Of course, I vividly remember the day she passed away, being taken out of school in the middle of the day, and my father’s face as he told me.”
Schlusselberg, who was always interested in music, began playing guitar when he was 12 years old. He always preferred the sounds of secular music and was inspired by Dave Matthews. Then he discovered such musicians within the Jewish world as Eitan Katz, Omek HaDavar, and Shlomo Katz, and was re-inspired, setting him on the course that would result in the release of his first album (last March) of Jewish music: Mizmor L’Dovid, a blend of acoustic rock and alternative styles. Schlusselberg plays four instruments–guitar, piano, violin, and cello–and also sings.
Secular musicians like Paula Abdul, Martina McBride, Amy Grant, and Jewel, among others, have recorded videos to promote breast cancer awareness month, but Schlusselberg’s video is distinctive in coming from a specifically Jewish perspective, and unique in coming from this high school teacher’s heart. In order for the song to be inclusive and universally relatable, he deliberately omitted any religious references, but it is clearly presented with a Jewish sensibility.
“The video depicts the emotion of the song as I am performing the song with interspersed home videos of my mother and me,” he described. “I did this so anyone who went through this type of experience will be able to relate.”
Schlusselberg recently received smicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and is part of the Judaic studies faculty at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston.
“It wasn’t for another 10 years after I wrote ‘I Miss Her’ that I would attempt to actualize this vision I had. I continue to write songs, with the dream of one day getting a record deal where I can share more of my music with the world.”
The video was produced by Uri Westrich, videographer for the Maccabeats. Profits from the song, now available on iTunes, will go to support breast cancer research. He will donate 75% of the proceeds of digital sales (50% to Sharsheret, and 25% to the National Breast Cancer Foundation). It can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uektSrPfK4k&feature=youtu.be
You can also follow Rabbi Schlusselberg on Facebook at facebook.com/davidschlusselbergmusic.
By Lisa Matkowsky
