H aving grown up in a chassidic enclave Rabbi Yosef Moshe Kahane of L’chayim Tish fame didn’t have that much exposure to the world of Sephardic song. But when a business trip took him to Guangzhou in China a few years ago and he spent Shabbos at the city’s Sephardic shul a new world of niggun opened up.

“At one table there was a large group of Sephardic Jews. On Friday night and then again at the daytime seudah they sat and sang for several hours — and I was spellbound. Could it be that this reservoir of songs so full of emotion and longing and attachment to HaKadosh Baruch Hu should remain outside the realm of the chassidic public? Initially I wasn’t sure if these songs could be incorporated into my music projects but the minute the name ‘Mizrach Tish’ hit me I knew it was something we could put together.”

Back in Eretz Yisrael Kahane amassed a collection of suitable songs — many of them well-known in Ashkenazic circles as well — and consulted with experts on Sephardic piyutim to ensure accuracy. Kahane’s idea was to take these classic Sephardic songs and record them in the chassidic-inflected dialect most familiar to his audiences. But once he was in the studio together with singers Isaac Honig Zanvil Weinberger Yanky Daskal and Levy Falkowitz he faced another challenge. The singers were used to hearing these famous Sephardic songs sung with a classic Eastern pronunciation. Could they really sing songs like “Ashor Ashirah” with a chassidic accent? “They broke their teeth a little at first but soon got the hang of it and went full steam ahead ” says Rabbi Kahane.

He says that both communities have responded positively to his venture. “And of course sharing our wealth brings us together and isn’t that the goal after all?”

As Chanukah evening descends on Jerusalem the chilly streets fill with the sounds of song and prayer as the glass-boxed menorahs outside many homes and yeshivos are lit. Baruch Levine remembers going outside to light the menorah at shkiah during his years at Yeshivas Toras Moshe then located on Shmuel Hanavi Street.

“That was the first time I realized that while the first four stanzas of Maoz Tzur depict the exile the last one is different — it’s a plea for Hashem to remove us from the final galus. That realization made me think. After lighting our menorahs outside we would go back into yeshivah to finish second seder and then there was mussar seder before supper. On one of those nights with the Mesillas Yesharim in front of me I composed ‘Chasof.’ I guess the Rosh Yeshivah assumed I was learning mussar….”

A year later when Levine was learning in Yeshivas Mir someone sent “Chasof” to producer Yochi Briskman.

“When Yochi got back to me that he wanted to buy the song I asked ‘Who do you have in mind for it?’ He said ‘A new guy by the name of Yaakov Shwekey.’ I was a little upset. ‘Can’t you sell it to someone a little more well-known?’ But Yochi was absolutely confident in his new artist. ‘Don’t worry he’s going to be good. The song will be famous.’ ” The song was featured on Yaakov Shwekey’s 2001 debut album Shomati.

“Chasof” took its place as a favorite Chanukah and kumzitz song and Levine has never looked back.

The Story Behind the Song: Hakol Letovah

Mona Rosenblum’s energetic and upbeat album Mona 7 was the sound of Succos for Mishpacha readers who received the complimentary disc in their Yom Tov package. Although it was released with a bang Mona says that these songs were actually composed and recorded over a ten-year period. “To bring out my own album I had to have complete yishuv hadaat — and I’m so busy with other projects that my own album was pushed to the back burner every time. Now that this material finally crystallized into Mona 7 I see I have almost enough for another full album.

The opening song “Hakol Letovah” sung by MBD was inspired more than a decade ago by a special neighbor.

“A rav who was also a chazzan moved into our neighborhood and we davened in the same shul ” Mona explains. “He used to sing at chuppahs and over time we became friendly and discussed music as well as many other common interests. One day as I walked home from Maariv together with this neighbor he told me about a very difficult experience he had just been through. His wife had just endured life-threatening complications that had resulted in a stillbirth. The words ‘Chayav adam lizkor shekol mah she’oseh Hashem hakol letovah — a person must always remember that whatever Hashem does is for the good’ were his and he began to sing them in this niggun as we walked along together. The fact that these words and tune were his reaction to such a distressing event gives the song extra depth. And then my neighbor added another thought: ‘You know the very fact that we’re walking along uneventfully is also part of Hashem’s never-ending goodness.’ ”

For the past decade Mona says he himself has been singing the song at various difficult venues such as a sheva brachos held in a hospital where the chassan’s younger sister was wheelchair-bound after a terror attack. “The chochmah is to recognize that Hashem is always good to his creations even when to us things look black ” he says. “And even during a moment of ‘nothing’ — hakol letovah.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 688)

W ith Motty Steinmetz’s debut album Haneshama Bekirbi flying off the shelves among the heartwarming songs his fans are enjoying is a long Yiddish ballad entitled “Brivele” which brings home the power of reciting Tehillim. The composer badchan Motti Ilowitz explains his parable: “A king has a beloved servant a writer who writes him eloquent letters of loyalty and longing. When the writer dies the courtiers comfort and revive the king’s spirit by reading the beautiful letters. They know that with those letters in hand they can always approach and win the king’s favor by drawing on the memory of this most favored subject. To say a kapitel of Tehillim is to approach the Ribbono shel Olam with the letters of his beloved servant Dovid Hamelech.”

Ilowitz says that when he heard this concept it changed his attitude toward Tehillim forever and inspired him to write and compose “Brivele.” And he’s humbled that he’s been able to pass on that profound and comforting idea. “A man of 90 told me that he looks at his regular recitation of Tehillim differently now. If only we would realize what a treasure we hold in our hands.”

Mic Drop: What is that instrument?

“I arranged the Carlebach set for Yaakov Shwekey’s recent nostalgic release Those Were the Days says musician and arranger Avrumi Berko. “We used something a little different in that medley a middle Eastern instrument called the baglama. That’s a string-plucked instrument used mainly in Turkey and I think it added beautiful flavor to those arrangements.”

Stay Glued to a Maestro

Arranger conductor and musical director Yuval Stupel studied music for years but conceded that his formal musical education is dwarfed by what he learned on the job when he played under Mona Rosenblum in the IDF Rabbinical Choir. “For three years I was practically glued to Mona and I learned what no music school could have taught me about concerts and recording. I owe Mona a lot and truthfully he was the musical genius who touched everyone in my generation. All of us gained from his incredible skill knowledge and experience.”

SINGING WITH TATTY

When the show’s over the curtain comes down and the lights and mics are off you return home to the most important audience of all — your nearest and dearest.

When it comes to family time what do you sing at home with your kids (and eineklach)?

Benny Friedman: "They love to sing the songs from our new children’s DVD The Rebbe’s Niggunim [with Benny Friedman 8th Day Eli Marcus and more —Ed.]: songs like “Hey Hey Asader Leseudasa” “Darkecha Elokeinu ” and other songs the Lubavitcher Rebbe taught which are brought to life so children can connect."

Yonatan Razel: "I like to play guitar with my children and compose with them while putting them to sleep. I’ll sing some of the slower Shlomo Carlebach songs like “Besheim Hashem Elokei Yisrael” and “Kechu Imachem Devarim” and also some of my brother Aharon’s sweet songs. Sometimes I also do special compositions just for them"

Yitzy Waldner: "On Shabbos it’s usually just zemiros. When I’m putting my children to bed I sometimes make up songs and stories for them as we go"

Rabbi Eliezer Kalish: "In addition to zemiros we sing well-known chassidish songs. On Friday night it’s “Zechor Ahavas Kedumim” and “Oy Yoy Yoy Shabbos ” and Shabbos day we sing my own “Kesser ” “Kevodo ” and “Bircas Kohanim.” We get creative too. In fact many of my songs were composed together with my children around the Shabbos table"

Ari Goldwag: "My personal taste leans toward the music of Aharon Razel and Yonatan Razel. I love their musicality their lyrics and their musical chiddushim. My kids and I often sing their songs together"

Naftali Schnitzler: "Usually the latest hit songs out there. Right now it’s “Neshamah Vi Bist Di ” “Ve’ahavta ” and “Yoimum ” and of course “Emes V’emuna” [which Schnitzler composed for Shmueli Ungar —Ed.]. Sometimes I may teach them a new song I’m working on… I really like to see whether they grab on to it so I know if it will be a good fit for others to catch on to. But honestly I see the kids grabbing on to almost anything; they learn fast. It’s the 25-plus folks that always yearn for the older songs they grew up on."

Chaim Banet: "When the family gets together we like to sing old-time chassidish songs. The Skulener Rebbe’s niggunim and the compositions of Reb Yitzchok Ungar of Vizhnitz are favorites"

Baruch Levine: "We always sing oldies. My own music is my work so I’m always critiquing while other people’s music is pleasure so we’ll play a lot of Journeys and old Miami Boys Choir at home. Within the family my songs don’t hold a candle to the latest camp theme songs my girls bring back after the summer."

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 687)