Aharon Razel together with his siblings recently released a new song, and this by itself is a good reason to reminisce about some of their good old music.
The Razel siblings actually started making music as kids. The family made aliyah from the U.S. when they were babies and later became baalei teshuvah. From a very young age they started to learn and practice music and when they were teenagers they started a band. They appeared on Israeli TV, in one case on the very popular TV show called Toses (which as a kid I used to watch a lot).
Later each of them started to record and perform on their own.
As a teenager I liked to listen to chassidic music. When I was in yeshiva high school in 9th and 10th grades most of the chassidic music my classmates and I listened to and sang at parties was the traditional music made by singers such as Avraham Fried, Mordechai Ben David, Dedi Graucher, z”l, Michoel Streicher, etc. Music which was mostly based on brasses, clarinet and sax, strings, strong drums – music which sounded more like a modern version of the good old Klezmer music. I still love this music, but to some kids it was not appealing as it sounded kind of anachronistic. Not to mention that most (if not all) of the singers dress and look charedi; in other words, they didn’t look like rock stars.
I remember one day, the year was 1997, Bill Clinton was still the president, and you could still use a payphone in New York. They announced in our yeshiva high school that the Reva L’Sheva band was going to perform in the yeshiva. Reva L’Sheva was an Israeli Jewish rock band formed by lead singer Yehudah Katz. The band was formed in 1994, but we were not really familiar with the band nor its style. But we were excited. A Jewish rock band! Music with acoustic guitars and singers with long hair, more casual dress and just an Israeli accent. (Yes, there was already the Carlebach music, but it was not yet that popular. It started, by the way, to become very popular then.) I think the reason our yeshiva was able to afford to bring them in was precisely because they were not that famous and didn’t charge much. The performance, if you are wondering, was a hit. The kids spoke about the show for a long time.
In the same year, 1997, Aharon Razel also had his first album, “The Burning Bush,” with one of the famous songs on the album truncated to “The Bush” (Ha’Sneh). Other popular songs on this album were “Tz’e Min Hateiva” and “Hayinu Semechim.” Aharon Razel was one of the singers who started the trend of original Jewish music – together with the Reva L’Sheva, Adi Ran, and others. This opened the door to more singers, and today it’s exploded with artists Yehuda Green, Ishay Ribo, Hanan Ben Ari, etc. Interestingly, in the last couple of years Israeli singers who mostly write and perform secular Israeli rock music joined the trend and released more “Jewish” songs with words from our tradition. One of them is Berry Sakharof (one of my favorites singers). For example, in the album “Adumei Hasfatot” from 2009, together with the musician Rea Mochiach, Sakharof performs songs written by 11th century Jewish poet and philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol. But this might be worth a different column.
In 1999 Aharon Razel released the album “Mayim Rabim” (Water from the Rock, which is the translation that appears on the album itself, for some reason), which was also a success. My favorite song on this album is “Chagiga,” a beautiful song about a chassid who lived a lonely life and only ever learned Masechet Chagiga. He repeatedly reviewed it and it was the only masechet he knew. One day he passed away and no one knew. Until one day a woman emerged in front of his body and started to cry, until he was buried. Immediately, others gathered and eulogized the man. They then asked the woman for her name and she said “Chagiga” and disappeared. They then knew it was Mashechet Chagiga that appeared as a woman. Another popular song on the album is the title track, which Aharon Razel performed together with his older brother Yonatan.
In 2001 Aharon Razel released his third album “Z’man Hageula,” and the title song became a big hit. No surprise since the song is very optimistic and has a great beat. Another fan favorite from this album is “Two Sugar One Coffee” which is a cool song, with some electric guitars with distortion and overdrive. You wanted a Jewish rock? You got it. I recommend you go to Aharon Razel’s YouTube channel and listen to both of these songs. Over the years he continued to create music and released more albums. But I didn’t really follow as I was already in the army and then started my career.
The above-mentioned Yonatan Razel is also a popular musician. He released his first album in 2007. But became popular in 2009 when he posted the song “Vehi Sheomdoh.” After performing the song in duet together with Yaakov Shwekey in Caesarea the song became a big hit. Another popular song of his is “Katonti,” which he released in 2012. In the song Razel incorporates pesukim from Parashat Vayishlach when Yaakov prayed to Hashem before the meeting with Eisav.
The new song “Ana Avda,” which was composed by Aharon Razel and performed by the Razel siblings is in honor of the siyum of Masechet Bava Batra in the Daf Yomi. A very touching video was filmed inside the beit midrash and documents a special meeting with Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter, founder of Dirshu.
The words of the song are taken from the tefillah which is said when opening the Aron, before taking out the Sefer Torah. A tefillah which we simply ask Hashem to open our hearts to learn and understand the holy Torah.
You can view this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLNTe9sgAtI.
