The 26,000 Most Popular Songs in the World

Oooooh, he is very tall. He says he is only 6’4”, but I think he is a lot taller than that. Whenever I see him and give him a hug it feels like he is at least 7’8”.

And when you see the video of him dancing in a circle with the little girl, you can’t help but think he is some kind of giant, which he really is, a Mitzvah Giant, and a very gentle giant at that. He’s what you call in the Yiddish my grandmother used to use, a Ziesser Yid, a very sweet Jew.

That’s my friend, John Beltzer, and I am so lucky and happy he is my friend.

Hundreds of other people would say the same, because he makes them happy. He makes them happy with his songs. They are truly Songs of Love. This is what he does: he and a lot of his friends who write, and sing, and play, and record music, make special songs for kids who are very sick — all free of charge.

Each song is for only one person and it is all about that person. The child gets it in the mail or by personal delivery by the songwriter or singer and it’s called “Mark’s Song” or “Debbie’s Song,” and it’s just for them.

You can imagine how bad it must feel to be in and out of the doctor’s office or hospital and getting this treatment or that and how boring it must be sometimes. Hard, it must be very hard — but it isn’t so bad or boring or hard any more, because they all have a song of their own which they can play whenever they want and however many times
they want — even 100 times.

And John and his friends have written over 26,000 of these songs, and they are writing more and more all the time…about 70 a month. And that’s why the Gentle Mitzvah Giant is dancing in the kitchen with the little girl. They are listening to her song and she is very happy.

And so is John, because he can use his talent and caring to make kids happy.