Minyan Workshop: Is Yuval Rafael's "New Day Will Rise" a Prayer?

by Jake Siegel, SSLI '28

On Wednesday, junior and new Vice President of Student Government Shir Levenson and Judaic Studies teacher Ms. Rebecca Friedman-Charry held an optional workshop during Minyan to talk about Israel’s second-place winning entry for Eurovision, which is a European music contest.

The goal of the discussion was to analyze the song “New Day Will Rise” by Yuval Raphael and decide whether or not it can be regarded as prayer. According to Friedman-Charry, it was an opportunity for students “to think more deeply about prayer, [as well as] the many ways that the ideas in the siddur touch our hearts and come through in popular culture.”

First, the high school students talked about the song itself as well as the singer. Yuval Raphael was a survivor of the Nova Music Festival Massacre on October 7, 2023, so the discussion was focused on how the song reflected her life as someone who had lived through the horrors that happened there. Sophomore Sam Levenson explained that they “talked about how the song says, ‘and even if you say goodbye, you’ll always be around, to lift me up and take me high, keep my feet close to the ground.’” He said that they thought this line was connected to the Nova Festival because it was a spiritual message to the friends that she lost that day.

Shir Levenson explained that “[Raphael] wants there to be peace and stability and comfort, and she wants to remember the people who've been killed and [to] honor them [as] she continues to live.” She added that “it's amazing, her story… she was with people who got killed, but she [managed] to survive, and she really made it into something beautiful.”

This flyer displayed the workshop's details as well as the main question that was discussed: "Is it prayer?" (Shir Levenson)

The students also discussed what components a prayer needs in order to be considered a prayer. These included hope, God, the Jewish people, praise, and gratitude. Shir Levenson said that everyone “had a lot of different opinions on [prayer], which was really interesting to hear.”

By the end of the workshop, no definitive conclusion was made on whether it was a prayer, but individual people left with their own opinions, which had been influenced by one another’s insights. Sam Levenson said that he thought “it was a mix of prayer, asking for renewal after this hard time and wishes for a better time.” Additionally, he said that “it was also a message of recognition to those that we, and Raphael, have lost.”

Some students who hadn’t previously thought much about the song said they learned a lot from the workshop. Freshman Susie Berger shared that she “learned that some songs can have a prayer hidden beneath them, whether it is obvious or not.” Sam Levenson added, “I feel much more connected to the song and to the Israeli culture because of this meaningful discussion.”

Friedman-Charry noticed that “the next day, [students] returned to their regular minyanim with renewed energy and interest in creating an environment where kavvanah,” spiritual intention and fulfillment, “could be achieved.”

Jake Siegel is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since January 2025. Jake is currently a freshman at Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: jsiegel28@schechterli.org