Onstage or in shiur, Beri Weber helps his bochurim shine

Photos: Naftoli Goldgrab

He’s busy working on his tenth album, and nights see him singing at upscale weddings around the world. But there’s another side to Beri Weber: The construction worker-turned-vocalist is also a rosh yeshivah, filling a void for bochurim who have nowhere else to go. Because for Beri, all those notes blend into one harmonious chorus

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he quaint depiction of a small group of students gathered around a plain wooden table listening intently to their rebbi has been a staple of Pirchei stories for decades. It’s the world of the poor innkeeper facing off against the wicked poritz and jail guards who get bribed with a bottle of vodka. That world has long grown antiquated but, for a few hours each day, several batei medrash in Monsey, New York, seem to have been frozen in time. The students, the table, the rebbi; it could all easily pass for Mezhibuzh circa 1800.

But one obvious feature gives this scene away as patently 21st century. The rebbi. His face is well-known, and thousands are familiar with the melodious vocals that have catapulted him to the highest levels in the world of Jewish entertainment. His place is on the stage, shimmering in the spotlight’s brilliance, scaling past standing ovations as his hit songs reach their crescendo.

This is no rebbi after all.

Or is it?

Those who know the real Beri Weber are confident the day will come when Pirchei leaders will regale their charges with the tale of a superstar singer who cared, taught, cried, and humbled himself, as any rebbi would.

The poritz and the innkeeper are long gone, but in Beri Weber, a glimmer of the old-time rebbi lives on.