Chassidic Singer Yisrael Jerufi Releases Debut Single “Haben Yakir Li”

Yisrael Jerufi has been performing for over a decade. Five of those years were spent in the shadow of the illness of his daughter Chaya Hadar, of blessed memory, who finally succumbed to cancer last Sivan, to his immense sorrow.

Now Yisrael presents his first single dedicated to Hadari’s memory. Even in the most difficult of times, Hadari took great pleasure and exceptional joy in Jewish and Chassidic music.

The tune itself, written by Reb Shalom Charitonov, masterfully combines pain and longing with a spark of joy and hope, and is often sung by Chabad chassidim during the prayers of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Yisrael chose this extraordinary and wonderful nigun, which has never been arranged and presented publicly, because it evokes and expresses, both in its’ tune and words, his personal experience in these last years, and especially these last months.

With a surge of pain and longing: “My beloved son Ephraim, is he not a precious child that whenever I speak of him I remember him even more? And My inner parts stir for him.” And with the movement of prayer that opens the gates of hope: “I will certainly have compassion on him, says the L-rd.”

Towards the end of the song, marked by Yisrael’s grace and Chassidic depth of feeling, and arranged by the great Yaakov Asaraf, is a short excerpt from the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s ‘blessing of the children’ to the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivas that came to be with the Rebbe during the high holidays. The Rebbe, who himself never had children, saw the yeshiva students as his children. The ‘blessing of the children’ is traditionally given by a father to his children on erev Yom Kippur. Moments before the beginning of the awesome holiday prayers, thousands of yeshiva students would gather together, their hearts skipping a beat, to receive the Rebbe’s special, powerful and moving blessing.

Produced by Shneor Jerufi
Music produced & guitar by yakov asaraf
Keyboard: Dotan Lev-Ari
Ganun: Amir Alaev
Drums: Almog Lizmi
Bass: Shacham ohana
Vocals: Nemouel Harroch