Rabbi David Ashear
Our Sages tell us in the Midrash Rabbah (2:5), “[Hashem says,] Listen to Me, because no one ever loses by listening to me.” A person is continually faced with decisions to make. He can choose to do what Hashem wants or pursue what appears to yield more satisfaction at the moment. Following Hashem is always a win-win. It may not always seem that way, but at some point, later on, the gain will become apparent. I read a story about a musician named Alex Clare. He was interviewed by the Shabbos Project and the video of his story is easily accessible.
Alex was born in 1985 and grew up in London with a totally secular background. He was passionate about music, and very talented. He played numerous instruments, sang, composed songs, and was determined to make music his career.
In 2007, at the age of 22, he started learning about Judaism and felt very spiritually connected. He began keeping kosher and then committed to observing Shabbat. When he eventually signed a contract with a major record label, Island Records, he told them up front that he would not perform on Shabbat. They were not happy about it, but they agreed because he was so talented.
He recorded his debut album with Island, but needed opportunities to promote it. As it happened, every event or appearance he was offered was scheduled for Friday night, and Alex turned them all down. Then, an excellent opportunity arose. He was offered the chance to do a world tour with a British singer. His producers told him, “This is it, the chance you’ve been waiting for!” But Alex told them, “I’m sorry, it comes out on my holiday of Passover. I’m going to have to turn it down.”
His album was released that summer, but lack of name recognition precluded a positive response.
Several months later, right after Yom Kippur, Alex had a message on his phone from Island Records. “You’re not going to believe this, but BBC Radio told us that they had a cancellation for one of their segments and they want you to play live. This will be in front of a national audience and broadcast throughout Europe. You will receive national coverage and gain thousands of listeners. This is what we need to promote your album. The best part of it is that it’s on a Thursday night, so you can do it.”
Alex couldn’t believe the opportunity he was hearing about. Thursday night, however, was the first night of Succot. With a lot of courage, Alex called his promoters and said he couldn’t do it. This was the last straw. They told him, “If you turn this down, we are voiding your contract. This will result in your being blacklisted and will basically end your very short career.”
At that time, Alex was penniless. He couldn’t even make his next rent payment. But he began to think of the piyut he had read that day, on Yom Kippur, about Rabbi Amnon who gave up his life for Judaism. With tremendous strength, he said to himself, If he could give up his life, I can give up my music. He told his promoters that he would not play on his holiday under any circumstances, and indeed they voided his contract. His dreams were shattered in an instant.
Sorely in need of hizuk, Alex went to his Rabbi, Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft. “Rabbi, I don’t understand,” he said. “All I have ever done since I came to religion is sacrifice for Judaism, and now I lose everything?”
His Rabbi replied, “This reminds me of the story of Avraham Avinu. He invested his whole life toward changing the world and spreading the belief in One G-d, a loving and compassionate G-d Who doesn’t want people sacrificing their children to idolatry. And then he was asked to sacrifice his own son, which would have made his teachings a mockery in the eyes of the world. Avraham would have to give up on his lifelong mission, but he did it and became great as a result. That was one of the greatest moments in Jewish history.”
The Rabbi continued, “Alex, you are being asked to give up your dream for Hashem. It will make you great.”
A few trying months passed, until one day, he received a phone call from Microsoft. They wanted to use one of his tracks to launch their new version of Internet Explorer. Of course, he agreed, and the song was used in an ad in March 2012. Soon the song was playing all over the world. It became the number one hit in Germany, number four on the U.K. singles chart, and number seven in the U.S. His debut album sold over six million copies.
Alex Clare became a multimillionaire; he did not lose by keeping Shabbat. A person never loses from following Hashem, but he doesn’t always see immediate results. We also see from here that Hashem knows how to find a person and bring him success when He wants. Alex didn’t have to go perform in a hundred different venues to gain recognition. It was one advertisement that did it. Our job is to always choose correctly, that is our best accomplishment.