World-renowned chazan Yaakov Motzen makes his home in Englewood, but he performs all over the world. He was just honored for 50 years of chazanut at a sold-out concert in Tel Aviv’s Recanati Hall. On Tu B’shvat, January 20, Motzen will perform at The Shul of Bal Harbour, Florida, in a benefit concert for Project Yeshuah, an organization founded by former Teaneck resident Larry Jaffe to aid financially distressed individuals and families in the Miami area. He will be joined by Chazan Benzion Miller and accompanied by pianist Chazan Daniel Gildar.
Jaffe first talked to his “good friend Yaakov” last summer about doing the concert and set up a date with him and The Shul. He has been to dozens of shuls, schools, restaurants and condos to leave posters about the concert and explain his organization. He also wants to get the word out about the concert to people here in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area who plan on visiting Miami Beach over yeshiva break.
Motzen, a native of Israel, is the fifth generation in a family of chazanim. He is a familiar personality at The Shul where he has been the chazan for the Yomim Tovim for many years.
“The concert will have something for everyone: chazanut, Yiddish, Hebrew and chassidic,” Motzen said in a phone interview from Israel. “This will be a different style of concert.”
Motzen said he has performed with Miller hundreds of times, even behind the Iron Curtain with the blessing of the government. Like Motzen, Miller has recorded with several orchestras, and is known for his interpretation of Jewish liturgical and folk music. He has been a chazzan in Canada and Brooklyn. Motzen praised Gildar as the greatest piano accompanist for chazanut. Gildar has played in Eastern Europe under the auspices of the Chaim and Gila Weiner Society of the Advancement of Cantorial Art and is the pianist for all concerts produced by Cantors of the World. Motzen and Miller will be singing solo and in duets with each other.
Jaffe, a retired corporate and securities lawyer, divides his time between Florida and Israel. He made aliyah two years ago and resides in Jerusalem half the year. He founded Project Yeshuah 10 years ago, after conversations with his friend Yossie Stern, z”l, founder of Project Ezrah, an Englewood-based organization to help Jews with financial difficulties. “I asked Yossie if he wanted to expand Project Ezrah to South Florida, and he said, ‘No, you do it.’ So I did!”
Project Yeshuah raises money to help alleviate crises for individuals and families in Miami-Dade County. Recently, Project Yeshuah assisted a man with two children with special needs who just had a kidney replacement and couldn’t work; an executive who lost his job and was at the end of his savings; and a woman whose husband passed away without leaving any insurance. “We look for the most pressing needs,” Jaffe said in a phone interview from Florida. “Florida Power and Light is threatening to turn off electricity, a landlord wants back rent or a car is about to be repossessed. Project Yeshuah pays the creditors.” Jaffe said he talks to creditors and tries to work out arrangements, like getting a reduction in debt if he pays a lump sum. “I don’t give grants anymore. It’s a higher level to give a loan. The person doesn’t feel like he’s getting a handout, and if he gets back on his feet he believes he can repay.”
“Tzedakah is an important mitzvah,” said Jaffe, who referred to the Rambam’s list of eight levels of charity, with the greatest being support of a fellow Jew by providing him with a gift or a loan. “The main thing I get out of working with Project Yeshuah is the satisfaction of helping our brothers and sisters.”
For concert tickets, call Jaffe at 786/512-8784 or email: [email protected]. For more information about Project Yeshuah, visit www.yeshuah.org.
By Bracha Schwartz
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