48 | DECEMBER 2 • 2021 

ARTS&LIFE
MUSIC

M

ichael HarPaz, raised 
in Huntington 
Woods and relocat-
ed to Israel while attaining 
pop music star limelight, has 
long expressed a public voice 
against antisemitism.
As a student at the 
University of Michigan, 
focused on Jewish studies, he 
wrote a 1993 editorial for the 
“Campus Life” section of the 
Detroit Jewish News, repeating 
his criticism of a Holocaust 
denier’s letter allowed publica-
tion in the school newspaper. 
HarPaz’s latest initiative, 
going on for almost two years, 
has to do with the making of 
a musical video about unity 
among people of different her-
itage. He worked behind the 
scenes and before cameras as 
part of a team bringing togeth-
er Christians and Jews — 
representing Israel, America 
and Africa — to sing out the 
peaceful values they share.
The video, “The Blessing 
Israel,” musicalizes and adds to 
a prayer in the Biblical Book of 
Numbers: “The Lord bless you 
and keep you; the Lord make 
His face shine upon you and 
be gracious to you; the Lord 
turn His face to you and give 
you peace.”

Previously recorded by 
Christian groups, after 
introduction by singer/song-
writer Kari Jobe working 
with Elevation Worship, this 
newest version adds the ele-
ment of Hebrew. The original 
recording received a Grammy 
Award nomination for Best 
Contemporary Christian 
Music Performance/Song in 
2021.
“I hold this project very 
special in my heart because, 
in addition to the beautiful 
music, we’re doing some 
good,” HarPaz said. “We’ve 
topped a million views on our 
video in the first two weeks, 
and the use of American, 
African and Israeli music 
stars — Jews and Gentiles — 
bridged a gap to combat the 
lies of global antisemitism.”

ADDING THE JEWISH 
EXPERIENCE
HarPaz gives credit for the 
video idea and the initial 
efforts bringing it about to 
Daniel Berkove, a longtime 
friend from Michigan also 
relocated to Israel. After hear-
ing an earlier version of the 
prayer set to music, Berkove 
wanted to create a video that 
could be more directly related 

to the Jewish experience.
An observant Jew, Berkove 
speaks the prayer every day 
during morning services and 
every Friday night during his 
family’s Shabbat meal.
“It’s a beautiful song, and I 
realized that it had gone viral 
by its nature,” Berkove said. 
“The original was written by 
Evangelical Christians, and 
after it came out, Christian 
communities around the 
world did versions of it. I 
work a lot in Africa, so I 
was intrigued that a former 
schoolmate posted a [rendi-
tion] from Zimbabwe, which 
was the first version I heard.” 

Some resources for ini-
tiating the Israeli-joined 
project reached back to 
people Berkove knew from 
Southfield, while other con-
tacts involved his relocation 
to Israel and world travels as a 
senior adviser for HIS Markit, 

an information analytics firm. 
StandWithUs, an Israeli advo-
cacy organization, collaborat-
ed on the release.

AN INTERNATIONAL 
EFFORT
As Berkove sought out HarPaz 
to work on the project, they 
met with participation enthu-
siasm from many famed sing-
ers, including Israelis Avraham 
Tal and Gali Atari, Americans 
Ricky Skaggs and Jacky Clark-
Chisholm and Africans Rahel 
Getu and Mynah Rams. 
“Michael introduced me to 
my video partner, Erez Dan, 
a producer and director who 
became responsible for the 
whole project and the day-
to-day part,” Berkove said. 
“Michael arranged the musical 
direction, and my job was to 
raise the funds and oversee the 
project from a strategic stand-
point.”
Funding came from a 
Christian group, Passages, 
which sends Christian 
college students to Israel in 
exploration of their religious 
roots and in efforts to 
connect them with those of 
other religious backgrounds. 
Passages participants provided 
backing vocals for the video 

Interfaith Unity

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“The Blessing Israel” brings a Jewish flavor to a Christian song.

LEFT: Daniel Berkove
RIGHT: Michael HarPaz

