When my father, Ronny Horovitz, passed away I looked for a way to remember him, and remind others about him.
One of his joys in life was music. He loved classical music and taught me to enjoy it.
He got me hooked on the Beetles “Revolver” album and introduced me to Eleanor Rigby.
Daddy’s enjoyment of music was probably most pronounced in his קריאת התורה and תפילה.
He lained regularly, sometimes twice on the same Shabbat, in both the early and late minyanim. In his laining he kept to the customs his father brought from Frankfurt, Germany. His Megillat Esther reading was famous, and included special voices for Esther and the neighing horse.
Daddy was also a שליח ציבור who focused on finding a way to lead the congregation and move them, as he led the תפילה. This was especially evident during ימים נוראים. Here too, he continued using tunes he learnt from his father and mother. To these he would add classical melodies and tunes he heard from other שליחי ציבור and חזנים.
The tunes were also part of the Shabbat and Chag table in זמירות, lots of different שיר המעלות melodies, and more. Even the הגדה של פסח had special tunes, and we also had a different tune for the Hanukah Candle blessings.
All the tunes and melodies are not unique to the Horovitz family, but are certainly part of its legacy.
This site tries to capture some of these tunes, and is dedicated to the memory of my loving and smiling father, Ronny Horvitz, חיים מנוח בן מרדכי הלוי.
Quite a number of these tunes also appear in “The Blue Book”, a book of Jewish liturgical music (shul music), which can be found at http://shulmusic.org/bluebook/
May these tunes capture other hearts, as they did mine since childhood.
יהי זכרו ברוך
– Yair Horovitz –