This melody has always felt like home.

The Baal Shem Tov Niggun is attributed to the founder of the Chassidic movement—a spiritual pioneer whose teachings and melodies have carried generations through darkness into light. I’ve always felt a deep connection to the Baal Shem Tov, not least because I carry his name. This niggun has accompanied me in countless moments of quiet return, inner stillness, and spiritual searching.

There’s something deeply poetic to me about these melodies, composed in Eastern Europe during times of great challenge for our people, now making a literal aliyah—redeemed and ready to be sung again. It felt only right to include this niggun in a project centered around yearning, redemption, and rebuilding.

This release is part of a broader collaborative album project with Thank You Hashem—music born from longing, faith, and the hope of a rebuilt Beit HaMikdash. These are songs where prayer and melody become one. Songs that call us back—to Hashem, to each other, and to the sacred.

TYH Nation Presents

1: House of Prayer

2: Baal Shem Tov Niggun

Israel Portnoy

TYH Music/Mendy Portnoy/Farbrengable Studios

CREDITS:

Composed and Written by The Baal Shem Tov

Produced & Arranged by Mendy Portnoy

Executive Production: The Blumstein Brothers

Piano/Keys: Mendy Portnoy

Guitars: Noam “Hargol” Burg & Israel Portnoy

French Horns: Dani Flam

Nay: Eitam Ben Ya’acov

Backing Vocals: Israel Portnoy & Mendy Portnoy

Kids Choir: Shir Vashevach

Mixed & Mastered by Ronen Hillel

Album Artwork: Yehuda Raice

Video: Shai Barak