Oh HaShem

My journey into doing an hour-long hitbodedut began during a trip to Israel. My friend and I went out one night and did a full hour. It was not easy to stand alone in the forest and have a “seemingly” one-way conversation.   

A few days later, I was back in LA. I picked up my guitar and played an A minor chord and said, “Oh Hashem, I wanna talk to You, I wanna get close to You, Oh Hashem, I wanna talk to You, I wanna get close to You.” As I said these words, I kept the simplicity and switched to the D minor, and then to an E major. And just like that, the song, “Oh Hashem” was created.  

I started on the A minor and sang “Oh Hashem I wanna” and then switched to the D minor to say “Talk to You” and the second time around as I got to the words “Close to You” I switched to the E major chord.  

The second verse came from the idea that if we really understood that we are one with Hashem, we’d want to talk to Him even if we feel distant. He’s waiting for us to talk to Him! 

The third verse came after a discussion about Hashem’s role in our life and hitbodedut (personal prayer). “Why do we go to the woods to pray to Hashem?” Because the trees, grasses, and birds are singing praise to Him.  

LYRICS 

Master of the World, enable me to spend a lot of time in personal prayer (hitbodedut). 

May I merit to be used to going to the field daily and to be among the conversations of the trees and the grass. 

May I merit to be alone and to converse with You a lot, a prayer between me and my Creator to speak with You there everything that is within my heart.