Death of a musical Chassidic master
mainBased in Brooklyn, living among the Modzitz community, R’ Ben Zion Shenker was the foremost chassidic composer of modern times.
His melody for Eshet Chayil – Woman of Valour – is sung in thousands of Jewish homes every Friday night. Dozens of his works have the status of folksongs, existing as if they have exited forever.
Ben Zion Shenker died today at the age of 92.
I got to sit near him many times at the Modzitz tisch in Brooklyn, and was always amazed how he committed to memory hundreds of niggunim of the previous Modzitzer Rebbes, some lasting up to half an hour with very little repetition. And of course, there are so many of his own compositions sung all around the world on a weekly basis. Will miss him dearly.