Community Magazine August 2016

An Ode to Mr. Gabriel A. Shrem, A’’H, Renowned Cantor Who Elevated Hashem’s Name with His Prayers DAVID M BETESH, DMD To mark the 30th year since his passing, Community Magazine pays tribute to a community icon, Gabriel Abraham Shrem (1916- 1986). As the cantor of Knis Betesh, Magen David of 67th Street, and Congregation Bnai Yosef, he truly embodied the purity of the services he officiated for over 50 years. Indeed, he was a living example of the values embedded in the prayers he so loved. Nishmat The opening word of the Shabbat morning service is ‘Nishmat’ , or ‘soul.’ Anyone who has ever heard Hazzan Shrem cantor can attest to the fact that he poured his entire heart and soul into voicing the prayers. He was amanwho led his congregation for all the right reasons andwho had a strong sense of yirat shamayim , fear of Heaven. To him, the words “Nishmat kol hai, tebarekh et shimkha,” represented his mission of bringing all living people into the fold, as they recognized the Almighty’s providence in the world. In good taste, he drew his congregation close, with humility and a smile. Shavat Aniyim One of our beliefs is that Gd listens to the sufferings of the poor. This was a position to which Cantor Shrem could relate. Despite the great legacy that he left behind, things rarely came easily for him in his lifetime. His childhood was spent in poverty as unemployment spread across Egypt. In time, his family journeyed to the Americas in search of opportunity and a better life. Once settled in the United States, the Shrem family opened retail stores in the South. For the most part, money was difficult to come by, but they always made the best of their situation. It was Rachel Shrem, Gabriel’s wife, who demanded that they leave the South and make their home amidst the Sephardic community in Bensonhurst. Mrs. Shrem felt that being so far away “was no way to have a life” and made it very clear that she didn’t mind starting from humble beginnings. Gabriel could be a janitor or a store clerk for all she cared, as long as they moved closer to the community. Florence, the couple’s first child, was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but shortly afterwards Gabriel fulfilled his wife’s wish. In 1941, he moved the family to Brooklyn. El Hahodaot Each morning, in the zemirot of Shaharit, we praise Gd using biblical verses. “El hahodaot” is one such example. The concept of singing to Gd in the form of pizmonim was not invented by Gabriel A. Shrem, but it was he who put this practice on the map. Sadly, before Gabriel took up the cause, the study of pizmonim , was dying out. As Cantor Isaac J. Cabasso can attest, the old pizmonim books were unappealing and virtually inaccessible to the public. They were held together with the cheapest possible binding and the Hebrew words were written in small print with no vowels. Plus, the pizmonim were not comprehensively compiled into one volume. In order to conduct any given Shabbat service, cantors had to extract melodies from at least five different pizmonim books. It was Mr. Shrem’s idea to standardize the songs of our heritage into one beautiful tome. Known as “The Red Book,” the anthology’s title “Shir ushbaha hallel vezimra,” is a reference to the 13 attributes of praise listed in the Yishtabah prayer. Published in 1964 by Sam Catton of the Sephardic Heritage Foundation, this new compendium was a masterpiece and an instant success. It took Mr. Shrem 15 years to put together this treasure. He labored most nights to edit and collate the pages of the book, all with one sixth of the eyesight of an average person. (L-R) Hazzan Yosef “Sousou” Hamaoui, Hacham Baruch Ben Haim, Hazzan Gabriel A Shrem, and Rabbi Moshe Shamah. This picture is from the wedding of Estelle and Mitchell D Betesh, January 30, 1983. Gabriel Shrem with his brother-in-law, David Cohen. 38 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE