by Miriam Karp

Gershon Wachtel knows prayer and music up close and personal. Both helped him connect with life’s beauty, pain, and solace after the tragic drowning of his 4-year-old son.

A classical pianist, Gershon weaves his journey of twists and turns into a one-man show, “Overcoming Difficulties with Faith and Humor.” Combining masterful musical interludes with a poignant narrative filled with humor, Gershon shares memories of difficult times in the 50’s in upstate New York’s Niagara Falls.

Gary’s mother gave him piano lessons at age 10, and he took off, flying into the world of music. “No matter what swirled around me, music took me to this magical world. I was off to places no one’s ever been to before. I still go to those places.”

Gershon poured out his soul through his music, as small miracles and funny anecdotes shaped his growth. At 21, “I suddenly wanted to be Jewish. Something fell into my Jewish soul.” About to leave to study at the Mozarteum University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Salzburg, he overheard casual Hebrew talk while at a Burger King. “Hebrew! I should be going to Israel!” Nixing his Austria plans, Gary spent six weeks on a kibbutz. The Hebrew he picked up there and a brief brush with tefillin whetted his appetite for more.

After reading the epic novel The Source, “I got these great Jewish feelings, but didn’t know what to do with them. I’d buy wine and challah for Friday night without knowing about Kiddush.” He happened to meet Rabbi Nosson Gurary of Buffalo’s Chabad, and quoted to him from The Source. “If you know Torah, you know everything, because everything is in the Torah. Teach me Torah!”

Gershon met his wife Chaya in Buffalo. They moved to Toronto’s larger Jewish community, where their family grew, raising 12 children, and dealing with the bumps and bruises of life. One summer day in 1994, while visiting a child at summer camp, four-year old Pinchas wandered away and drowned in the lake.

“I cried rivers of tears.” Gershon thought he’d never play again. “I told my wife, ‘I can’t live.’ I really meant it. But, guess what? I am alive!”

Gershon is not looking for sympathy. He shares his personal tragedy to introduce a message of hope and healing.

“I’ve learned two secrets how to deal with tragedy and failure. First, don’t dwell on your problem. When the problems come to haunt you, push them away, again and again. Yell at them, ‘Get away! I’m not going to think about you!’

The second, more positive secret, is prayer. Pray from your heart, like you really mean it. Call out, ‘Tata-helf mir! Daddy - help me!’ G-d heals, and allows us to connect with Him.”

Gershon was a pianist, but his daily life revolved around his occupation as a kosher restaurant manager, and later as head of an insurance agency. Five years ago, “I came to a standstill. I needed more than carpool, dinner, and homework week-by-week, year-by-year. After intense introspection, I decided to go back and get a Masters in piano.

“I found a very special Russian teacher. I was good, but this woman took me to a whole new level. She taught me techniques how to hold my fingers and wrists. Most important, she helped me understand what music really is. I used to play with bravado and passion. Now I have a new sensitivity.

“My son Pinchy had a smile that would light up the world. Years after his death, I was obsessed with the question, ‘Where does love go? Where do all those smiles go after leaving this world?” but I never got a satisfactory answer. On Pinchy’s 13th birthday, it would have been his Bar Mitzvah, we dedicated a Torah scroll in his memory and turned a difficult day into celebration. At the celebratory meal I asked the audience my question. A Hell’s Angel biker friend with a spiritual soul got up.

“‘Up in heaven,’ he said, ‘there’s a pool of smiles, love and kindness. A person who’s especially good at these things has the key to access that pool and draw it down into this world. The smiles and love don’t disappear; they return to the pool, from which they still can be accessed!’ I knew in my gut, he was right; this was the answer.

“Music is universal and touches us in a deep place. A musician has that key, and can channel that flow. It comes into the world through him, and comes out through the other side of his soul.
“Music is a huge palette. I’m privileged to be able to connect to G-d this way. I often play for an hour before I pray. When I play I can really feel my soul and know I am connecting. When something really bothers me, I play, and I pray.

“At my show, people hear through the music talk of the neshama, soul. What I can’t say in words, I say in music.”

His audiences agree. “Going to a concert and hearing a performer’s technique as a spectator from the outside, is one matter. This was different; I never heard any recital (and I’ve attended many great orchestras and soloist musicians) that achieved the level of emotional cry directly from the heart.”

Gershon feels his calling in life is to share his message of healing and inspiration by accessing that heavenly pool of soul music. “It’s not about fame or about money. I booked a theatre in Toronto for weekly shows this March. The small initial audience will grow once the word gets out that this a real, deep and life-changing experience.”

Meet the gentle grey bearded guy in a tux with deep soul music at gershon@gershonpiano.com