
Yossi Fraenkel has championed the cause of bringing joy to
children with special needs and their families for many
years. His regular appearances at concerts like The
Friendship Circle, and for organizations like
Camp
HASC
, Ohel and
Camp
Simcha
has proven how
music makes a big difference in their lives and our
own.
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Over the span of his
career Yossi Fraenkel has performed before audiences of people
with special needs innumerable times. He also makes hundreds
of personal appearances each year by special request. Whether
it is at the Bar Mitzvah of someone with Down syndrome; at
the bedside of a cancer patient; or the wedding of someone
recovering from a coma, Yossi has been there. In his own words
he says, “People think I give them chizuk, but the truth is
I get chizuk from them. The simcha, pure joy, exhibited by
children with developmental disabilities is unbelievable!”
It is easy to understand why. As Yossi explains, “Music is
the language of the soul. While someone with a developmental
disability may have a body that is limited, his or her soul
comes shining through. The person’s neshama is intact and
delights in the joy he experiences. To witness this kind of
simcha is inspiring.”
According to Yossi Fraenkel, music can be used as a tool to
help people elevate themselves to a higher spiritual level.
Music leaves its mark. He tells a story about a time he was called into a hospital to sing for the patients, when he walked into one room there was a boy of four and a half years old who had been in a comma for almost three months. after seeing the boy in the coma Yossi said a tefillah then he asked the father of the boy what his best song is. to which the father answered " I don't know" so Yossi then asked the chaplain, who answered " sing the chabad song "Keili Atah" so Yossi then started to sing and half way through the song the young boy opened his eyes stared at him and started crying. He also tells another story of a time when
he was in
Israel
and a family asked
him to visit the bedside of a man in his forties who had been
in a coma for twelve days. The doctors had given up hope and
had said that he would never recover. Standing at his bedside,
Yossi beheld this man who could not respond to touch or the
spoken word and wondered how to reach him. The man’s wife
mentioned that he loved the song Tanya made popular by Avraham Fried and asked him to sing it. So he did. A few
weeks later, the man’s wife called to say that her husband
had recovered and the next time Yossi was in
Israel
she asked him to
visit. When they met, the man said that the entire time he
was in the coma he knew nothing of what was going on around
him, but he does remember that when he was “up there” he heard
the beautiful melody of Tanya being sung by Yossi Fraenkel.
It was after that experience that he slowly started to recover
and awaken. As an aside, Yossi says that he had the z’chus
to be in
Israel
one year later and
was able to participate in the simchah of the birth of this
man’s daughter. Their connection touched him deeply and he
shares the following message to people everywhere, “Experiences
like these make us realize that we are all players in Hashem’s
world and we must do all we can to reach out to another person
in need.”
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Photo: Yossi Fraenkel
and young fan
at a Private concert for special needs kids
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Several years ago,
Yossi sang at a camp concert for special needs children. After
hours of singing and dancing, one child, seated in his wheelchair
and who could not speak came up to him and wrote on his communication
device, “I never had a day like this in my entire life. Thank
you.”
Yossi tells of the time that he visited an eleven-year-old
boy. He was shocked by the boy’s condition. He could not communicate
or move; he was in a comatose state. As he wondered what to
do, a thought came into his mind. It occurred to him that
he could bless the boy with the Birchas Kohanim and as he
started the word, “Y’vorechacho” the boy became agitated and
his hand started to grope around for something. The boy’s
father noticed that his son’s yarmulke had fallen to the side
and once they put the yarmulke back on his head he became
calm.
Episodes like the ones shared here left Yossi convinced of
the importance of doing all he can for people in need. He
carries this responsibility to such an extent that in his
tefillin bag, he carries a list of the names of the people
he has met (many of them children) to pray for them as he
says his daily Tehillim. Not long ago, as he was catching
a flight at
Chicago
’s O’Hare airport,
a man approached him and handed him a package. He asked Yossi
to look at it on the airplane. Enclosed was a “before” picture
from when he had visited the man’s child at a local hospital
and this was accompanied by an “after” picture with the child
back home. B”H he had fully recovered. A note was attached
thanking him that said that no words could express their gratitude
for his visit to their child. And yes, this boy is on Yossi’s
Tehillim list.
Yossi quotes the Kotzker Rebbe as saying that when two people
speak in unison you cannot hear either and the message gets
distorted. With song however, as more people join in, the
harmony that is created becomes more beautiful. When everyone
joins together in song, it enhances the enjoyment had by all.
As Yossi says, “Singing with these kids is the ultimate z’chus,
the rest is gravy.”
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