Date: Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003
Place: Chabad House of Buffalo near the UB Campus at 2450 N. Forest Rd., Amherst, NY
Time: 7:30 PM
Tickets: $10.00
For info call 716-688-1642
Simply Tsfat consists of three members of the Breslover Chassidic community:
American born acoustic guitarist/vocalist Elyahu Reiter, violinist Yehonason Lipshutz and Israeli classical guitarist Yonatan Tzarum. For more information see the article below and check out their website at http://www.simplytsfat.com
Alan Sisselman
Buffalo, NY
Playing the Heart-strings
by Chana Nestlebaum
For anyone who has ever wondered why “strings” are the metaphor for the deepest emotions, the musical group Simply Tsfat embodies the answer. With three stringed instruments and vocals of pure simplicity, this is music that cannot leave the listener untouched.
There are instrumental pieces of such sweeping beauty that a look around the audience -- the woman’s section at least -- reveals tears running down many a cheek. And then there are the other songs -- traditional niggunim (melodies) arranged and performed in a way that makes clapping and dancing almost irresistible.
The formula for this group’s unique contribution to Jewish music contains some rare ingredients. One is the musicians’ mastery on their instruments. Yehonasan Lipshutz, who plays violin for the group, began his musical training at the age of 7. By the time he was 9, he was studying with a musician from the New York Philharmonic. He further perfected his talents while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York - Purchase, but put aside his career as it began to conflict with his growing commitment to Shabbos observance.
It was ten full years before Mr. Lipshutz picked up the violin again. “But this time it wasn’t Bach, Beethoven or Mozart,” he remarks.
Another distinctive element in Simply Tsfat’s sound is the classical guitar, played with exuberance and precision by Yehonatan Zarum. Using the technique of classical Spanish guitar music, Mr. Zarum elicits rivers of sound from his instrument. He catches the listener by surprise, elevating favorite standards to a new level of artistry.
“Someone once said that Spanish flamenco music is really based on lost ‘sparks’ from the Temple,” Mr. Lipshutz observes, perhaps explaining the ability of Mr. Zarum’s guitar to move one to tears.
The third member of the group -- its on-stage spokesman and lead vocalist -- is Elyahu Reiter, whose agile acoustic guitar provides the musical foundation for Simply Tsfat’s sound. Mr. Reiter uses his folk-music style voice to convey lyrics with warmth and sincerity. There are no showy flashes.
“It is a simchadik (joyful) music which will not overwhelm,” says Mr. Reiter, “and some very beautiful and interesting instrumentals.”
Be Happy
The other unique component of Simply Tsfat’s music is Tsfat, which is the home of all three musicians, and the Breslover Chassidic community to which they belong.
The legacy of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the founder of this branch of Chassidim, is an emphasis on joy in serving Hashem. His writings and teachings urge every Jew to constantly seek a feeling of closeness to Hashem and to face all life’s challenges fortified by that closeness.
These philosophies come out in the group’s music, especially in English songs written by Mr. Reiter. “Take Me to You,” on the group’s first tape, “Fresh Air,” is a ballad of love and longing, but the longing here is for Hashem to open the heart and fill the mouth with words of prayer. “Put Your words in my mouth, put Your love in my heart,” the lyrics quietly plead.
In “Be Happy,” the title song of the group’s second tape, Mr. Reiter’s lyrics along with some striking instrumental touches make the simple statement: “Everything is for the good.” It is a concept every Jew learns, but this is a song that injects the message straight into the soul.
Some of the Hebrew lyrics also carry through on Rabbi Nachman’s themes. “If you believe you have the power to destroy, believe you have the power to rebuild,” says one song, framing the famous Breslov saying in a riveting, upbeat melody that defies despair.
For all three musicians, the opportunity to spread the joyful foundations of Breslover philosophy is a prime purpose of traveling the world with Simply Tsfat. They play to audiences throughout the U.S., including many locations in the New York area, Connecticut, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Miami, Virginia, Seattle, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Diego, and outside the U.S. in Toronto, Montreal, Costa Rica and Guatemala. In Israel, where they are a “local band,” they play at weddings, yeshivos and special events.
A Different Outlook
“Recently, we preformed at the University of Chicago Hillel,” says Mr. Lipshutz. “there we were met at the door by people demonstrating against the Israeli ‘occupation.’ this really stuck in our gut. So we want to do more outreach on the college campuses. Instead of terrorist activities, suicide belts and rock throwing, we want to bring a little simcha and music to the U.S.A. Quite a comparison!”
For those who already understand the joy and beauty inherent in Jewish life, Simply Tsfat’s music provides an electric connection to those sometimes buried feelings. For those who don’t yet have a clue that the Torah is alive and kicking, the group hopes to provide a pleasant awakening.
“We are just trying to make people happy, but we’re also trying to show people that Yiddishkeit is alive and exuberant, not some dusty old thing in a museum, and we don’t have to go looking for ‘it’ in the Himalayas,” says Mr. Lipshutz.
From Kumzitz to Concert
Yehonasan Lipshutz and Elyahu Reiter began playing music together in Tsfat, where each had moved to become part of the Breslov community led by Rabbi Elazar Mordechai Kenig. For a couple of years, their “appearances” were limited to local kumzitzes. “But when they put our faces on the cover of the Ascent quarterly, I knew it was a sign,” says Mr. Reiter.
In 1998, both men were planning independently to visit the U.S. They decided to do a “test” tour of three mini-concerts, “just to see if people would like this kind of thing,” Mr. Reiter recalls. The response was so positive that the audiences were coming to them after the concert to inquire as to where they could buy a tape.
“Tape?” Mr. Reiter recalls as their response. “So in 1999 we just sat down and played in a studio. It was meant to be a demo, but our friend, Yehonatan Zarum, who had studio experience, pushed us to improve it a little so we could sell it.”
Mr. Zarum added his guitar and vocal harmonies electronically to complete a simple, yet first-class production called “Fresh Air.”
The first tour as “Simply Tsfat” was undertaken on behalf of Nachal Novea Mekor Chochma, a Tsfat charitable organization. At the time, the band-members’ livelihoods were coming from other sources. Mr. Lipshutz was a day trader and Mr. Reiter ran a business called Safed Candles. But it wasn’t long before the music overtook the other occupations.
“At one point, we all lost our other ways of making a living. Yehonatan Zarum joined the band and we started doing this for our own ‘institution’ -- to support our wives and the 18 children we have altogether, b’li ayin hara,” says Mr. Reiter.
Simply Tsfat’s next tour is planned for February and March in the New York area, Florida, and tentatively, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. With both Purim and a Simply Tsfat tour on the horizon, Adar can’t help but live up to its designation as the month “when joy increases.”
