Mendy Werdyger (born 1959, [1] ) is an American Hasidic singer, songwriter, and owner of the Jewish record label Aderet [Records] Music Corp. and its retail store Mostly Music in Brooklyn. [2] In 2010, he released his fifth studio album. [3]
Werdyger grew up in Brooklyn, attending yeshivas from grade school through kollel. At age 21, he joined his father's business, Aderet Records. [1] Mendy sang in the choirs on recordings made by his father, David Werdyger and on some of brother Mordechai Ben David's albums as well as those of Avraham Fried.
Since 1991, he has been the cantor for the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur prayer services at a Gerrer shtiebel in Boro Park, Brooklyn. [4]
Werdyger has re-mastered four CDs [5] using computer software to clear up the distortions on the original records. [1] [6] [7]
Werdyger is a son of the hazzan (cantor) David Werdyger, brother of singer Mordechai Ben David, [1] and uncle of singer Yeedle Werdyger (Mordechai's son).[ citation needed ] His son Yisroel released his second album in 2010. [8]
Ner Israel Rabbinical College, also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva in Pikesville, Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, dean of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. It is currently headed by Rabbi Aharon Feldman, a disciple of Rabbi Ruderman and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America.
Nadvorna is a Hasidic rabbinical dynasty within ultra-Orthodox Judaism. The dynasty derives its name from the town of Nadvorna, known in Ukrainian as Nadvirna. The town was located in the province of East Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until World War I; and between the two world wars, the town was located in eastern Poland.
Avraham Shabsi Hakohen Friedman better known by his stage name, Avraham Fried, is a popular musical entertainer in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Mordechai Werdyger is an American Israeli Chasidic Jewish singer and songwriter who is popular in the Orthodox Jewish community. He is the son of cantor David Werdyger and uses the stage name Mordechai Ben David or its initials, MBD. He is known as the "King of Jewish Music" and has released over 40 albums while performing internationally. He headlined the HASC and Ohel charity concerts for years. On February 27th, 2022, he was inducted with the inaugural class of the Jewish Music Hall of Fame.
Yaakov Choueka, better known by his stage name Yaakov Shwekey, is an Orthodox Jewish recording artist and musical entertainer. He is of Egyptian and Syrian Sephardic heritage from his father's side; and Ashkenazi from his mother's side.
Dushinsky is one of the few Hasidic dynasties not named after the place where it originated; instead, it is named after the surname of the Rebbe. It is a relatively new dynasty, as are many of the dynasties that originated in Hungary. However, the Dushinsky dynasty truly became a dynasty in Jerusalem, where it is centered today. It is not like other Hasidic groups, in that it does not originate from a Hasidic background, but from the talmidim (students) of the Chasam Sofer.
Shloime Dachs is an American Orthodox pop vocalist. He is also the founder of the eponymous Shloime Dachs Orchestra, which plays at weddings, concerts, and benefits.
David Werdyger was a Polish-American Hasidic hazzan and solo singer. A Holocaust survivor who was incarcerated in several Nazi concentration camps, including the factory run by Oskar Schindler, Werdyger moved to Brooklyn, New York, after World War II and began recording albums featuring the music of the Bobov, Boyan, Skulen, Melitz, Radomsk, and Ger Hasidic dynasties, recording 60 albums in all. He also established the Jewish record label Aderet Records, now managed and owned by his son Mendy Werdyger.
Dombrov is a Hasidic dynasty founded by Rebbe Mordechai Dovid Unger. Dombrov is the Yiddish name of Dąbrowa Tarnowska, a town in present-day Poland.
Yossi Green is a Hasidic Jewish composer of contemporary Jewish religious music. As of 2013 he had written more than 700 melodies in the genres of pop music, classical music, liturgical music, Hasidic music, and show tunes. His songs have appeared on more than 120 albums and CDs. His clients include most of the superstars of the Orthodox Jewish music world. He has released four greatest hits albums titled Shades of Green, and a solo album, The 8th Note. He regularly performs at charity benefits accompanied by popular Jewish singers under the rubric "Yossi Green & Friends".
For the purposes of this article, “contemporary” refers to the period from 1967 to the present day, “Jewish” refers to the various streams and traits of Judaism practiced. Many Orthodox Jews use the term “religious” to refer to a strict adherence to Jewish law. For the purposes of this article, “religious” refers to the content and context of the music itself: liturgical or implicit references to the divine.
Simcha Bunim Cohen is an Orthodox rabbi and author who has written English-language halachic works that deal with the intricate laws of Shabbat and Jewish holidays.
Dovid Tzvi Schustal is an Orthodox rabbi and one of the four roshei yeshiva (deans) of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. He shares this post with Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, and Rabbi Yisroel Neuman.
Yehudah "Yeedle" Werdyger is an American Hasidic Jewish singer. He is the son of singer Mordechai Werdyger and grandson of the cantor David Werdyger.
Yaakov Dov (Yankel) Talmud was a Hasidic composer of Jewish liturgical music and choirmaster in the main synagogue of the Gerrer Rebbes both in Ger, Poland, and in Jerusalem, Israel. Known as "the Beethoven of the Gerrer Rebbes", he composed dozens of new melodies every year for the prayer services, including marches, waltzes, and dance tunes. Though he had no musical training and could not read music, Talmud composed over 1,500 melodies.
Yaakov ("Yanky") Lemmer is an American Chazzan and performing artist. Lemmer performs traditional Hebrew liturgy, Yiddish folk, opera, Broadway, Israeli, and Hasidic music.
Benzion Hakohen "Benny" Friedman is an American Hasidic Jewish singer and a non-pulpit rabbi. Professionally trained in voice, he rose to prominence on the Orthodox pop scene with his first album in 2009. Singing mainly in Hebrew, Friedman tours extensively and also appears in music videos. He views his music as a shlichus (outreach) tool, with the goal of drawing Jews closer to Judaism.
Ari Goldwag is an American Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, composer, and producer of contemporary Jewish religious music, as well as an author and teacher living in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. He was a soloist for the Miami Boys Choir at age 10 and starred on five albums and three videos before his voice changed at age 14. He launched a music career after his marriage and move to Israel. He has released seven solo albums, and composes songs and produces albums for other artists.
Orthodox pop, sometimes called Hasidic pop, Hasidic rock, K-popHaredi pop, and Ortho-pop, is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music popular among Orthodox Jews. It typically draws stylistically from contemporary genres like pop, rock, jazz, and dance music, while incorporating text from Jewish prayer, Torah, and Talmud as well as traditional Jewish songs and occasional original English lyrics with themes of faith and positivity. The genre was pioneered in the 1970s by artists like Mordechai Ben David and the Miami Boys Choir, who incorporated secular pop and dance influences into their music in contrast to the more traditional Jewish music of the time, and has had continued success in the modern era with singers like Yaakov Shwekey, Lipa Schmeltzer, Baruch Levine, and Benny Friedman.
Shlomo Simcha Sufrin, better known as Shlomo Simcha is a UK-born Canadian Hasidic Jewish cantor and singer. Shlomo Simcha began his career in a small kollel in Montreal, where he was discovered by a local wedding band leader who brought him onto a project recording a series for children in the Satmar community called Besof Umachol. His work on the series caught the attention of Mendy Werdyger at Aderet Records, who introduced him to artist Sheya Mendlowitz, with whom he would create his first commercial album.