Beyond Words

We knew we could rely on his quick wit, his extensive Torah knowledge, and his selfless ahavas Yisrael. Although many of you may not have heard of Seymour, the chazzan of Kesher Israel Synagogue in Harrisburg, PA, he wrote and composed hundreds of songs, lyrics and most famously, parodies. He composed such ’70s-era classics as “Shabechi Yerushalayim,” “Ufduyei Hashem Yeshuvun,” and “Od Avinu, Od Avinu, Od Avinu Chai.” And on the parody front, who can forget the Rechnitzer Rejects albums, which included his famous “Boro Park” (to the tune of “New York, New York”), “Cold Chopped Liver” (to “Old Man River”), or “Learning How to Lein” (to “Singing in the Rain”)? There wasn’t a parody he couldn’t conquer, and certainly not at the speed he would guarantee to have it done. I remember how many times I’d call him up either for a parody or for lyrics and I’d say, “I hate to put pressure on you but is there any way I could have it by tomorrow?” And he always gave me the same response: “Tomorrow, I don’t know. But today, for sure.”

This week, on 21 Tammuz, is Eliyahu Shalom (Seymour) Rockoff’s sixth yahrtzeit, and it’s a fitting time to remember all the times he made us laugh or helped us feel connected.

When Seymour was a young child, he would travel every day by train from Washington Heights to Yeshivah Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg. When he got there the first day, he met Sherwood Goffin a”h, who became his lifelong friend. Both of them loved music, loved learning Torah, and were both super passionate about using correct dikduk during davening and recordings.

While “Am Yisrael Chai” is undoubtedly Seymour’s most famous composition, my personal favorite is his “The Day Will Come,” written as a dedication to Soviet Jews behind the Iron Curtain: “Each day she takes her tattered Tehillim to the cellar and there in silence she whispers to Hashem; although her neighbors know she’s Jewish, she cannot be a Jew in front of them; she lights the Shabbos candles in secret and makes a brachah no one else can hear, and she will continue to do those precious mitzvos till the day she can do them without fear….”