A new and exciting single is being released these days – “Mizmor Shir”, an ancient and meaningful melody, performed by Levy Falkowitz, Ahrela Samet, Gershy Uri, Moshe Dovid Weissmandel, the wonder child Ari Kraus, and accompanied by the Malchut Choir. A melody that the great Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Asher Deutsch, used to sing during the Chanukah candle lighting ceremonies. It is a melody that over the decades has become an inseparable part of the thrilling ceremony that repeats itself every year.

The roots of the melody are deeply rooted in previous generations. Rabbi Asher Deutsch received the melody from his father, Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev Deutsch, who is originally from Hungary. According to tradition, the melody originates from the kedoshim of the Holocaust. He was born in the town of Pupa in Hungary, where it was composed for the Chanukas Habayis of a local yeshiva. During the lighting ceremonies, Rabbi Asher would sit in front of the candles and sing the niggun together with his family and dozens of students, night after night during the days of Chanukkah – moments of transcendence, emotion and inner devotion, in which even great men of the world found a special spiritual uplift.

The person who led the release of the niggun from private collections to the general public was Aryeh Kaplinsky, a student of Rabbi Asher, who labored for an entire year together with the best musicians in Israel and the world to produce a recording that was faithful to the original, but one that gave it a professional, deep and moving musical appearance. The elaborate arrangement was entrusted to Yehuda Galili, who also managed the production with meticulous investment throughout the entire process of creation.

The current performance faithfully preserves the depth of the original niggun, but opens it to a wide audience, in a presentation that penetrates the heart and soul. This is the first documented, organized recording of a tune that was previously reserved for a few, and now stands as a future treasure trove of Yeshiva music. The song was launched tonight for the first time in a particularly moving setting – at the home of the rabbinical widow of Rabbi Asher Deutsch, together with family members, children and grandchildren, immediately after the lighting of the candles.

Production and initiation: Aryeh Kaplinsky
Lyrics: Levi Falkowitz, Gershy Uri, Ahrela Samet, Moshe David Weissmandl
Child of Wonder: Ari Kraus Choir: Malchut
Music: Kedoshei Hashoah H”yd
Arrangement, musical production and conducting: Yehuda Galili
Public relations and communications: Israel Rosen