It’s certainly time to give credit where it’s due and set the record straight
One such instance, says Jewish music curator Yaakov Brown, is the error linking Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, rosh yeshivah of Kamenitz and leading talmid of Rav Chaim Brisker, to the song known as “KOL DODI DOFEK PISCHi LI” (“Ani Yesheinah”). The niggun was actually composed by RABBI SHLOMO WEITZMAN, a prominent Gerrer chassid and school principal who lived in Bnei Brak until he passed away in 1999.
Rabbi Weitzman, who had absolutely no known connection to Rav Boruch Ber’s descendants or yeshivah, released this song in 1980 as the ninth track of his second record of original compositions, entitled Lev Tahor, arranged by Mona Rosenblum. Yet album covers consistently attribute the stirring niggun from the words of Shir Hashirim to Rav Boruch Ber. How did this happen?
“My fellow researchers and I dug into this one,” says Yaakov Brown. “A dear friend and esteemed colleague named Elazar Marks tracked down and spoke to Rabbi Weitzman’s grandson, Reb Bezalel Einfeld of Ashdod, and he shared the story behind the composition and how it ended up being linked to Rav Boruch Ber.
“He said that it was one Pesach night back in the 1950s that his grandfather was learning with his chavrusa, Rabbi Shlomo Zilberstein. After they had learned the Sfas Emes on Shir Hashirim for a few hours, Rabbi Weitzman came up with this now world-famous niggun for the words ‘Ani yesheinah v’libi er’ (Shir Hashirim 5:2). It was eventually recorded and released on his second record, Lev Tahor, in 1980.”
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