He Saw What I Can Be
| August 17, 2021It was chassidic music expert Yossi Gil who had the vision to see what no one else could
Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Shloimi Cohen, Shia Freuchter, Daniel Nafusi
Silence reigned in the heichal of the Dushinsky chassidus as hundreds of chassidim packed the parenches to watch the Rebbe’s Chanukah hadlakah. And then, all eyes turned to the young boy who stood up to sing. His name was Zanvil Weinberger, and he looked pretty nervous with all those eyes on him. With his heart pounding wildly, he began a soulful rendition of a complex Modzhitz composition for Maoz Tzur. But suddenly, in the middle of the hartzige niggun, something went wrong. The pressure was too much, and the notes trailed off into agonizing silence. He couldn’t go on.
Years later, that incident still haunts him. It would take years before he’d bring his captivating, heartwarming voice back to center stage.
“After that mortifying incident in front of the Rebbe and the entire chassidus, it was clear to me that I would never sing again,” Zanvil reveals. “I was traumatized. I couldn’t even look at a microphone.”
That should have spelled the end of a budding music career for the chassidishe bochur with the golden voice. Indeed, for years his talent languished. How, then, did it happen that today, Zanvil Weinberger’s reputation precedes him as a highly-talented and sought-after authentic chassidic vocalist? It literally happened against his will, thanks to well-known chassidic music personality Yossi Gil, whose instincts are always on target.
“It was at a bar mitzvah for Yossi’s nephew at the Beis Yisrael hall in Jerusalem,” Zanvil recalls as we sit together in a joint conversation together with Yossi Gil, an expert on the music of the chassidic courts and considered one of the original conservators of chassidic music, his achievements all the more remarkable because he’s vision-impaired.
With his acute sense of sound and instincts for untapped talent, Yossi Gil, a family friend, had the vision to see what others couldn’t — he was the first to recognize Zanvil’s skill, even as a young boy. His nephew’s bar mitzvah, he planned, would be the perfect foil to finally “bring Zanvil out” after years of silence.
Zanvil, who was 19 at the time, pushed himself to join the Malchus choir together with one of his older brothers, but on one condition: He would never stand in front of the mic and take a solo.
“We were at the bar mitzvah, and the choir started singing the Moshe Goldman tune for ‘Zochrenu L’Chaim.’ Little did I know that Yossi had been in cahoots with Pinchas Bichler, the choir director. In the middle of the song, Pinchas told me, ‘Take a microphone and sing solo.’ I refused. I had no intention of giving in and bending my condition. But then, he ordered the rest of the choir to stop singing and then signaled me to start the solo, in front of everyone. This was a trick that didn’t leave me many options. In retrospect, I owe my success to that. If not for that prank, it’s safe to assume that we wouldn’t be sitting here discussing my career.”
Gil nods in agreement. “I had the zechus to lay the foundations of Zanvil’s musical career. When the world came to know him through his stirring renditions of the chassidic classics, I knew that my gamble had paid off. Today I believe that he’ll go even further. His ability to render authentic Jewish music while introducing a modern touch to adapt it to current musical taste involves a rare blend of talents, a certain artistic wholeness. In Zanvil, I sensed this quality from the very first time I met him.”
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