“Be’ein Meilitz Yosher” sung by the London School of Jewish Song is over forty years old, but you still might be hearing it this Yom Kippur
Composer/chazzan Jeffrey Craimer’s niggun is the prayer in our hearts
The distinctive “Be’ein Meilitz Yosher” sung by the London School of Jewish Song is over forty years old but you still might be hearing it this Yom Kippur in shul.
Today the composer of that classic is enjoying retirement in Eretz Yisrael but Mr. Jeffrey (Yisroel) Craimer has been serving as a baal tefillah since his youth in Manchester UK. After his marriage Craimer moved to London where he collaborated with Yigal Calek on the latter’s groundbreaking recordings with the London Pirchim Choir also known as the London School of Jewish Song under the label Yad Bezemer Productions. Most of the composing was done by Calek but Craimer was responsible for a few hit songs on the first two albums such as “Be’ein Meilitz Yosher” and “Bamarom” (from the Borchi Nafshi album) and “Hamavdil bein Kodesh Lechol” (from the Ma Navu album). His compositions are youthful and earnest sincere but not overly intense suited to the young voices of a boys’ choir.
In 1971 when the plight of Soviet Jewry peaked activists approached Yigal Calek to produce a music record in conjunction with the demonstrations outside the Soviet Embassy. An evening of music and speeches was arranged in a London concert hall and a mini commemorative record produced by Yad Bezemer titled Children of Silence contained four songs. The title track was sung by Yigal Calek and the choir with Craimer’s powerful lyrics:
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