MUSIC TO HIS EARS For Greenberger glitter and glitz are anathema — he’s happiest in the beis medrash where the holy sources provide the most eloquent expression of his own soul’s yearnings (Photos: Shlomi Cohen)

M eshulam Greenberger is not your typical publicity-savvy chassidic music professional and chances are you’ve never even heard of him. He doesn’t do weddings or promotional videos will only sing at Torah events and he has no internet access so he can’t even watch himself in clips others have made and posted. But even if the name isn’t familiar certainly his music is. He’s written hundreds of niggunim and who doesn’t know the new “Kad Yasvun ” the fast-beat “Nodeh Lecha ” the Purim classic “Im Al Hamelech Tov ” Avraham Fried’s “Ein Kelokeinu ” and the hartzig ode to King David’s chesed “Dovid Hamelech Alav Hashalom”?

Greenberger a 35-year-old Yerushalmi avreich and chassid of the Dushinsky court says that being disengaged from the industry hype is actually an advantage for him — it keeps him focused on what’s really important and protects him from the entrapments of ego and self-aggrandizement. “I was once approached by a wealthy chassid who ordered some music for a private affair. He told me that I was advancing much too slowly in terms of technology upgrade. I told him halevai that I could advance even slower. True it’s hard to survive in the music world without being in the ‘mix.’ Nevertheless I prefer to stay where I am now. The last thing I want is to become a ‘star.’ ”

It’s not surprising that few have heard of Meshulam Greenberger. He’s soft-spoken and self-effacing shunning fame and publicity. Obviously uncomfortable with a reporter’s prying questions and the ongoing click of the camera which seemed to make him shrink into himself it wasn’t easy to convince him to agree to an interview — his first in mainstream Jewish media.

We met on the heels of the release of his new album Oischa Avakesh sitting together in the small studio near his home in Jerusalem’s Beis Yisrael neighborhood which abuts Meah Shearim. The new album is a masterful production reflecting Greenberger’s many-faceted skills and showcasing him not only as a prolific composer but as a vocalist as well. It’s not the first album in which he actually sings his own compositions although he’s passed many of his songs to other artists over the years. He released Besifarto in 2006 and proved himself as a voice of authentic chassidic niggun with the albums Hisoreri (niggunei Koson) and Niggunei Yamim Noraim (of the Baal Shem Tov).

“To be able to touch the soul is a great privilege ” Reb Meshulam muses. “But it’s also a mission and entails tremendous responsibility. I’ve never thought of myself as an artist. I compose because I want to give the ancient words of Torah and Chazal a context and a way of connectability for this generation and it makes me happy to know that my music touches peoples’ hearts. Why would I want to become a famous celebrity?”

How then does he navigate the seeming contradiction — shying away from the limelight when music in fact is his life? “He’s different ” says well-known Israeli radio music host Yossi Gil an encyclopedic expert on both old and new Jewish music who’s joined us in Greenberger’s studio. “I’ve never seen such a thing. A master composer who absolutely refuses to let the glitz get into his head.”

“What’s so strange?” asks Reb Meshulam. “I have no desire for fame and I don’t like all this show business.”

Giving Thanks Forever

Greenberger whose father Rav Yaakov Meir Greenberger is a rosh kollel in the Shomrei Hachomos network and a respected rav within the Dushinsky chassidus says he was drawn to music from the time he was a child. Considered a “yeled peleh ” he began singing at weddings when he was just nine years old but the real thrill was a year later when he was accepted into the choir of the chassidus.