TYH Nation Presents: House of Prayer/Baal Shem Tov Niggun – Israel Portnoy

June 15, 2025 • Albums • No Comments

TYH Nation Presents

1: House of Prayer

2: Baal Shem Tov Niggun

Israel Portnoy

This song began at a Jerusalem bus stop.

I was sitting on a graffiti-covered bench on Agripas Street nearly half my lifetime ago, fiddling around with a baseline and a pasuk, when the melody for “House of Prayer” started to form. At the time, either I wasn’t ready – or maybe dare I say, the world wasn’t – for these words to feel like they truly belonged. But something about now feels right. As if the vision they carry is no longer a dream, but rather a necessity and a reality we are inching towards.

The lyrics are from Isaiah/Yeshayahu.

We recite them at every tefilla during every chag— a vision of unity, yearning, and healing that resonates more than ever.

As a Levi, I’ve always felt a deep connection toward the role of music in our relationship with Hashem and his sacred service. This song, in particular, lets me lean into that ancestral calling – to sing and serve in the Beit HaMikdash, alongside my fellow Levite brothers – especially my biological brother Mendy, whose production poured equal parts of heart and talent into every note.

This double release marks the beginning of a collaborative album project between myself and Thank You Hashem. Much of this body of work is rooted in our yearning for redemption. It carries the same vision: music that feels like prayer, and prayer that sounds like music. Songs that reconnect us – with each other, with Hashem, and with the dream of a rebuilt Beit HaMikdash, where music, prayer, the people, and the Divine are once again fully united.

Alongside House of Prayer, we’re also releasing Baal Shem Tov Niggun, a melody attributed to the founder of the Chassidic movement. I’ve always felt a special connection to the Baal Shem Tov, not least because I carry his name. This niggun is one I’ve come back to time and again, often in quiet moments of return. There’s something deeply poetic to me about these melodies, composed in Europe during difficult times for our people, now making a literal aliyah – redeemed and ready to be sung again, soon, in the rebuilt Beit HaMikdash. It felt like this niggun belonged here, in this moment.