Many Strings to Their Bow

Nestled in the valley among the rolling green hills of the northern Galilee, just a few minutes from Meron, lies the settlement of Safsufa, and there, in a sprawling rustic home surrounded by trees and flowers, live the Tzuf family — Simcha Binyamin, Chaya Rachel, and their five children. Their lounge is cozy, decorated with colorful ethnic rugs and wall hangings, musical instruments strewn all around like part of the furniture, the wood fire casting a comforting orange glow. It’s the perfect backdrop for the music that emerges from between these walls: meditative, spiritual, soulful, penetrating. And for the Tzuf band, it’s also a family affair.

“Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Simcha relates. “It’s where I discovered my inner healing.” He grew up playing piano, guitar, and harmonica, and learned to improvise and compose original music as well. With a musical wife as well, the Tzuf children have inherited the talent and passion, and their ensemble, the Tzuf Family Band, has created its own niche and style.

Simcha tells of some of the challenges he had growing up, despite a warm and happy home, and how music got him through — and he’s happy his own children have that outlet as well. He was born and raised in Los Angeles’s Pico Robertson neighborhood, where his father, Rabbi Irwin Katsof, started the local Aish HaTorah.

As his father was an Aish HaTorah rabbi, Simcha grew up in a very kiruv-oriented household — there were always people coming over for Shabbos, after the popular davening at Aigh HaTorah, and most of the week, too.