Learning the Prayers Today, For a Post-Covid Shabbat Tomorrow

by Tzipora Reitman – chabad.org

Before the pandemic, Steven M. Jacobs, a retired computer-science professor living in Flagstaff, Ariz., loved listening to Rabbi Shmulik Moscowitz sing the Shabbat prayers in synagogue on Friday night and Saturday. Now that he’s been advised to refrain from in-person synagogue attendance, Jacobs is learning to recite the prayer melodies on his own through a new online video resource on Chabad.org/Video, Timeless Tunes, even as he looks forward to returning to services as soon as he can.

“Rabbi Shmulik’s Timeless Tunes video series brings me back into the synagogue,” said Jacobs. “It warms my heart with individual prayers, tunes and explanations, and the words even appear on the screen in transliteration and translation.”

Like Jacobs, the community members and college students at Chabad-Lubavitch of Flagstaff—where Moscowitz served as a rabbi for four years before taking up a post in Brazil—loved listening to him sing and were eager to learn the songs themselves. Recognizing that people had difficulty reading Hebrew and keeping up with the prayers, Moscowitz taught a musical “prayer of the month,” which they sang together over and over until everyone really knew it.

Moscowitz had long dreamed of becoming a cantor, or chazzan in Hebrew. As a child in Chicago, he helped his father lead services at a synagogue in a local Jewish retirement center. As a yeshivah student, he traveled to various Chabad centers, teaching songs and serving as chazzan for the High Holidays. He also served as a baal menagen (expert in Chassidic melodies) in various yeshivahs, teaching classic Chassidic compositions to the students.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Moscowitz and his family were in Brazil, visiting his wife Yael’s family, the Michaans, who are emissaries in São Paulo. “I wanted to find ways to connect with people to bring joy and happiness during this difficult period,” said Moscowitz. He realized that just as people in Flagstaff enjoyed learning the songs of the prayers, this could benefit Jews around the world.

And so, Moscowitz harnessed the power of social media by launching Timeless Tunes, expanding his lessons on the melodies of Jewish prayer to a worldwide audience. He added subtitles with transliteration and translation, and enhanced the videos with accompanying music by Mendy Golomb, a 15-year-old in Sheffield, England, who records the song on his keyboard and then sends it to Moscowitz to record the vocals over it. “I knew most of the tunes, but I had to learn quite a few myself, and I am still learning!” said Mendy.

Now a Chabad emissary in Brazil, where he serves as chazzan and rabbi at Bait Centro Judaico in São Paulo, Moscowitz prepares Portuguese subtitles for his local Brazilian audience in addition to English.

“I really like the songs posted by Rabbi Shmulik,” said Paulo Kopelowicz, a Jewish community member in São Paulo. “They are cheerful and inspiring, and the videos teach me how to recite them with joy and bring more intention to my prayers.”

Each week, Moscowitz posts a new Timeless Tune on numerous social-media channels, along with a few meaningful explanations about the prayer. The series has a huge following in Brazil, and its debut on Chabad.org has greatly expanded its reach to individuals as far-flung as Beijing and Belgium.

Timeless Tunes includes sections for Shabbat prayers, High Holiday, Chanukah and Hallel Series, with the Friday-night prayers to launch soon.

So don’t be surprised if you hear a Chassidic niggun (melody) somewhere in the Arizona wilderness. It might just be Ivy Kellogg of Flagstaff.

“I find myself singing some of these songs when hiking in the forest,” she said. “These songs bring peace and joy to my heart while supporting my strength in living the best Jewish life possible.”

To watch the Timeless Tunes videos, visit the page here.

To help support the project, see: www.jewishflagstaff.com/timelesstunes.