It all started with another video which circulated on WhatsApp groups. An African-American man puts gas in his car while listening to some very Jewish song.
Now, you know those videos which you get in many groups and often ignore the second you see “Forwarded many times” next to the message. But sometimes they contain something worthwhile.
In this one, the person taking the video approaches the man putting gas in his car and asks how he knew the song. The man then pauses the song playing in his car and starts singing by himself. The person again asks how he knows the song and the man answers that he works as a driver for a Satmar school – that’s how he became familiar with this music.
And you know how it is when a song gets stuck into your head and you keep humming it? This song just got into my head and I had to find it. I had two pieces of information to start the investigation: One, I knew I had the video somewhere in one of the (many) WhatsApp groups I’m on. And two, I remembered from the video that it was Satmar music.
So I started the search. I Googled Satmar music but didn’t get much. Then I finally found the video in one of the WhatsApp groups, and the song starts something like: “Keiser, keiser, keiser…”
What is “Keiser?”
Then I figured out it might be Keter in a Yiddish accent. It turned out I was right and that that was the name of the song. And the singer is Isaac Honig.
I wasn’t familiar with Isaac Honig until then. Quick research on Google taught me that he’s a singer and also a Satmar chasid who actually has a few albums that he’s released over the years. The song “Keser” is from the album Al Hehurim which he released in 2013.
If “Keser” was a beautiful song, I assumed he probably had some more good stuff. So I started to explore his music. I purchased the Al Hehurim album and loaded it to my music player. Turns out I was right. After listening to Al Hehurim, I listened to some of his other albums on his YouTube channel and I discovered really beautiful songs. Some of his albums go back to 1998, and he just released a new album in 2024. So let’s explore some of his albums and songs.
Honig works with all the famous names in Jewish music, including Yossi Green, Moshe Laufer, etc. I find his style of singing to be very similar to Avraham Fried, so those who like Avraham Fried are probably going to like his music. He has the more rhythmic songs, quiet and chazanut-style songs, and those which start quiet and then by the end of the song become more rhythmic, similar, for example, to the famous Sh’tar Hat’noim song by Fried.
Honig is also a chazan and ba’al tefillah, which is very noticeable in his albums. As I mentioned, many of his songs are in a chazanut style. And he does a good job on those songs. Now, I am a big fan of chazanut in general, so finding a singer who also does some chazanut is always welcome.
Now, some of you are perhaps now thinking to yourself, “But he’s Satmar…” And yes, Satmar has this stereotype of being extremist and anti-Zionist. But once you get to know people from up close, you see things differently. When my wife was pregnant and was in Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park and I needed a place to stay on Shabbat, it was a Satmar family that offered me a room and very warm hospitality. And I can’t even count the amount of cholent and delicious chicken soup we got from the Satmar ladies that walked every Shabbat between the rooms in the few Shabbatot we spent there. Anti-Zionist? They knew better than me where the best kosher restaurants and ice cream places are in Israel…
I also enjoyed davening occasionally in their shul which is just near the hospital. Trust me, I look and dress very Modern Orthodox, and on Shabbat very casual, yet they were very welcoming and nice. So it’s always good to get to know people closely in order to get the real picture.
Back to Isaac Honig. As I said, the “Keser” song is from the album Al Hehurim, and I find it to be the best song on the album. But the album has some more beautiful songs, including “B’shefa” which is a very rhythmic song, and “Atoo Horeisu” which is a quiet song and also considered popular among those who are familiar with Honig. You should just purchase the album and enjoy it.
Another popular album of Honig’s is Behar Hamoriyo which he released back in 2005. The songs which l liked most on this album are “Shehecheyoni” which is a rhythmic song and “Dodi” which has a more quiet style. But it’s a really beautiful song. The album Adon Hakol was released in 1998 and has some rhythmic songs as “V’yamale,” “Ki Lashem,” “Bruchois,” and “V’sivnaihu,” which I liked. The other songs on the album are more on the quiet side.
In 2023, he released a single, “Imisheifa,” which is a beautiful song about the mitzvah of tefillin. The words of the song are taken from the tefillah we say every morning before putting on the tefillin. The songs start quiet and become more rhythmic toward the end of the song.
The latest album from Isaac Honig is Kol Baayar which was just released in 2024. Kol Baayar has some beautiful songs. My favorite song in this album is “Kol Yaakov,” which is by far one of his best songs – it gives nice competition for “Keser.” The song “Kol Baayar” is in chazanut style and it’s a nice variation on the famous song “Haben Yakir Li Ephraim” which we all know from the Yamim Noraiym tefillot. “Haben Yakir Li” has many variations and different melodies from over the years. It also became very popular in Israel, not only among frum people. If you love chazanut (like me), you’re going to love this song.
“Kol Todah” is a nice rhythmic song. The words of the song are from the pasuk “Mekimi me’afar dal” from Tehillim. This pasuk has had many melodies over the years as well. This one is also nice. Other nice songs in a quiet and chazanut style on the album are “Kol Hashofar,” “Kol Dodi,” and “Kol Arev,” which begin quiet and then turn more rhythmic.
Another song which was recently released featuring Isaac Honig is “Ve’Harev Nu,” which is worth listening to.
Isaac Honig’s music can be purchased on Spotify, Apple Music, and other online Jewish stores as OnlyMusic. Enjoy!
