“I was crying when I wrote them”
N
ot too many Jewish music followers have heard of composer Michael Shapiro or his albums, which he began putting out in the 1980s (the first was Beyond Twelve Gates, followed by another five). But Shlomo Katz, who came across Shapiro’s music as a teenager in Los Angeles, was one old-time fan who was familiar with the heartfelt niggunim, a blend of stirring pesukim and English lyrics.
A few years later, the first time Shlomo was a guest at the Shabbos table of Rav Moshe Weinberger of Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, the name Michael Shapiro came up in conversation, and the Rav shared Shlomo’s excitement. “We couldn’t stop singing the songs around the table,” Shlomo recalls. “They arouse a certain feeling which your heart just can’t ignore.”
In fact, when Rav Weinberger first heard Michael Shapiro’s music about 35 years ago, he contacted the composer and told him he was crying when he heard the songs. Michael replied, “I was crying when I wrote them.”
In honor of Aish Kodesh’s 26th anniversary, Shlomo has collaborated with a team of artists and musicians to release a collection of Shapiro’s little-known songs. Participating artists include his brother Eitan Katz, Zusha, Chaim Dovid, Yosef Karduner, Dovid’l Weinberg, Raz Hartman, and Yaakov Klein. (Shapiro, who was part of the broader Carlebach community and did a lot of teaching and kiruv back then before basically vanishing for decades, told the team he can’t believe his music is making a comeback.)
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