31 Oct REMEMBERING SHEYA MENDLOWITZ Z”L

Sheya Mendlowitz, a music
producer whose work heavily
influenced the landscape of
Jewish music for four decades,
was niftar this past Friday, 12
Cheshvan, 5784.
He was 61 years old.
A trailblazer and visionary
in the music industry, Sheya
produced hundreds of music
albums, including some of the
greatest hits for Mordechai Ben
David and Avraham Fried. He
was also the producer of 15 of
the legendary HASC concerts,
the first one of which took place
35 years in January of 1988 at
the Lincoln Center, when Sheya
was just 25 years old.
Sheya grew up in Flatbush,
attending Yeshiva Torah
Temimah as a child. His entry
into the world of music came
through his second grade
melamed, Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum
a”h, who headed the original
Pirchei Choir. Sheya joined the
choir, appearing on the fourth
Pirchei Choir LP, and later sang
on the Sdei Chemed albums.
In 1979, he co-produced the
Amudei Sheish Boys choir LP,
then solo-produced the Amudei
Sheish Wedding Album which
was released the following year.
Sheya produced his first concert
in 1981 at the Felt Forum
in Madison Square Garden,
featuring Mordechai ben David.
He was the composer of one of
the most famous “Siman Tov

U’Mazal Tov ‘’ tunes of all time
– first sung by the chasunah of
the Belzer Rebbe’s son – which
is still used at Jewish weddings
throughout the world.
Sheya had a special fondness
for authentic Jewish music,
and insisted on promoting it as
much as possible.
“One thing I have tried to do
is to preserve Jewish music.
Everything is influenced by its
surroundings and people try
to take the rhythms of secular
music and put Jewish words to
it, but I wonder if that’s really
Jewish music,” he said in an
interview earlier this year. “So
what I’ve tried to do is preserve
the Jewish identity of the

music. The stuff that’s lasted
through time are the real old,
old songs- the chasideshe stuff
and the Carlebach stuff and the
Modzitzer stuff, because if you
take all the arrangements and
extras out of it, you’re left with
a beautiful, pure melody.”
Sheya suffered terribly from a
slew of ailments and medical
conditions the past few years.
Incredibly, he never complained.
As he was unable to walk the
past few years, close friends
made a shul on east 23rd street
for him in his home where there
was minyanim every Shabbos
and Yom Tov. He always had
a smile and a good word for
everyone.

Sheya’s musical contributions
will be missed, but more so, his
friends and acquaintances will
miss the dear friend and chaver
who has passed on to a better
world.
But while Sheya is no longer
here, Klal Yisroel will continue
to benefit from his musical
accomplishments and continue
to sing the songs he composed
and made famous until the
greatest song is sung, may it be
bekarov.
He is survived by a son and two
daughters.
Baruch Dayan Haemes.