Last Thursday night, perhaps the first Thursday night of the week that the entire United States fully realized what a difficult and dangerous battle we all face, a bit after midnight I, felt one of many moments of restlessness from being cooped up at home all week. I decided to stop procrastinating, and instead to actually follow through on one of the fleeting ideas that had crossed my mind as events unfolded through the week.
First a brief introduction. The song “Minyan Man” was composed and written by Victor Shine in 1982 and recorded on a Schlock Rock album by Lenny Solomon and Gershon Veroba over 30 years ago. I had been first introduced to the song in 1987 by Lenny Solomon when we traveled together to Melbourne, Australia, as members of the Counterpoint team under the auspices of Yeshiva University. The mission of Counterpoint in those years, was to run week-long seminars about Torah Judaism for tenth and eleventh grade students of Mt. Scopus College in Melbourne, Australia. Mt. Scopus at the time (and perhaps even currently) was the largest Jewish school in the world. It was a non-denominational school which infused the students with a strong sense of Jewish identity but not much of knowledge about or a connection to tradition, Torah study, mitzvot and observance.
A big part of the week- long seminars was the music and songs that were taught and sung just about every day. Along with some formal teaching and many informal discussion groups, songs like “Just One Shabbos” and “Someday We Will All Be Together” were used to help participants feel the beauty and passion of Torah Judaism. Although there were many songs that touched their hearts, the one that generated the most excitement was “Minyan Man.” It was always sung as the last song of the session and the energy in the room was bursting when Lenny would play even the first few notes. It was amazing to see the magic of this song as hundreds of non-observant kids who barely kept Shabbos and never went to minyan, sang as powerfully as they could, about the beauty of a single Jew connecting to his people through his ability to help complete a minyan on Shabbos. The power of the song was startling, and the song became a part of my heart and one that I shared with students and campers whenever the opportunity availed itself.
Fast forward to 2020 and the COVID-19 reality, and like many others, I was almost in disbelief as synagogues around the world closed down and minyanim stopped. Instinctively my mind was drawn to the “Minyan Man” song and how for the first time in my life and in the life of most of us, this powerful connector, that has united the Jewish people through the centuries was no longer around. I felt that I wanted to rewrite the words of this special song that so magically depicts the beauty and connection of minyanim, to reflect the sadness that has caused us to lose this gift even temporarily.
The COVID-19 words for the song were written late Thursday night and Friday afternoon by Mr. Marc Infield, the musician who worked with me in Frisch in the 1990s and helped make the real “Minyan Man” song so special to to hundreds of Frisch students, sat with me to record the revised COVID-19 “Minyan Man” (Minyanim) song.
A few hours before Shabbos the song was sent out to a number of people and the reactions began to come in that made it evident that the COVID-19 version of “Minyan Man” had touched a chord. People started calling to say that they heard the song and immediately played it for their families and asked permission to send it out on their family chat. Others called to say thank you for writing something that sang about exactly what they were feeling and wanted to express at that time, while many said that they started crying when they heard the song.
The song was written and recorded rather hastily and this past Monday, after consulting with a few Teaneck, New Jersey, residents and some musicians, I changed one of the lines to reflect the shock and sadness that even avelim cannot say Kaddish. I have never written a song before and have learned from this experience that every once in a while, when we follow up on an idea or a whim that passes through our mind and heart, we can actually touch lives and make a difference. Perhaps we all can learn to take some of our passing emotions or ideas more seriously as one never knows what they have inside to share.
Last Monday something pretty special happened that shows some of the unique and special connections that I am sure many of us have experiences during these unique and challenging times. I received a Facebook message from Victor Shine. I had never met or heard from Victor Shine before in my life. He was just an almost legendary person to me who had been granted the inspiration by Hashem to compose a song that had touched and even transformed so many people’s lives. And it had of course such a profound effect on my life. I had no idea. who he was, where he was or even if he was still alive!..He wrote the following short message to me on Facebook. “Hi Benzion? Are you the one who wrote the new words to Minyan Man?..GREAT JOB.” The message firstly made me smile and brought such joy to my hear. It was special knowing that the original composer had approved and that I had a contributed a small piece to the trajectory of this special song. I wrote back to him thanking him for the first time for all the beauty and inspiration he had brought to my life through his song.
To listen to my brother Hillel Scheinfeld singing the song on YouTube, search ‘Minyan Man Hillel Scheinfeld.’
I hope that very soon this version of “Minyan Man” will become obsolete and mostly forgotten and perhaps only recalled occasionally to remember a, strange and sad part of twenty firstt century Jewish and world history.
By BenZion Scheinfeld
