Sheya Mendlowitz’s Legacy of Music and More

NEW YORK – Two days after his untimely passing, producer Sheya Mendlowitz is being remembered as the rare individual whose talent, creativity and vision redefined the face of Jewish music.

Hailing from a musical family, Mendlowitz dreamed of becoming involved in the Jewish music world even as a child. As a student at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, Mendlowitz’s second grade rebbe was Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum, founder of the original Pirchei choir. When the Jewish Educational Project needed young voices for its first album 51 years ago, Rabbi Teitelbaum recommended Mendlowitz, who ultimately became one of the album’s soloists.

As Mendlowitz grew, so did his love of music and his list of credits.

In addition to singing on the fourth Pirchei album and several others produced by Camp Sdei Chemed, he was the associate producer of the Amudai Shaish double album, serving as the solo producer of the Amudai Shaish wedding album released one year later, in 1980.

That same year, Rabbi Teitelbaum had a young aspiring singer named Avraham Fried send Mendlowitz a demo tape. Mendlowitz was so impressed with what he heard, that he responded with a contract for a full album, which was ultimately titled No Jew Will Be Left Behind, Fried’s debut album.

In addition to producing albums, Mendlowitz also lent his talents to live performances. He produced his first concert at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum in the early 1980s, featuring Mordechai Ben David and Yigal Calek of the London School of Jewish Song. With a personality that can only be described as magnetic, Mendlowitz and Mordechai Ben David became close friends, a relationship that ultimately led Mendlowitz to Camp HASC.

In an interview with The Jewish Vues (bit.ly/3Sjnoua) Mendlowitz shared that he initially hesitated to join Mordechai Ben David on a 1987 visit to Camp HASC. But after meeting the campers, Mendlowitz was blown away by their energy and enthusiasm and arranged to spend a Shabbos in camp with his family. Sharing his impressions of the inspirational weekend with camp director Moishe Kahn, Mendlowitz learned that it would likely be Camp HASC’s final summer, because the government had chosen to withdraw its funding for the program, feeling that the children could be served just as well by attending local schools.

“I said he couldn’t close the place down and I had an idea,” recalled Mendlowitz in the interview. “This was all while I had one foot in the car, ready to go home. I proposed something that had never been done before – a gala benefit for the HASC summer program.”

While Jewish music concerts were hardly a new concept, they were typically held on school stages. Mendlowitz reached out to music producer Dovid Nachman Golding, known universally as Ding, and the two began planning not just a concert, but a major event. The first HASC benefit concert was held in Avery Fisher Hall on January 8th, 1988, starring Mordechai Ben David, Avraham Fried and Israeli sensation Yoel Sharabi.

“It was huge,” Ding told VIN News. “They called it the HASC concert and the underlying factor was that what people were coming for was to support HASC. It was a concert that was a tzedakah and also a black tie affair, and it wasn’t for kids.”

The concert set a new standard of professionalism in Jewish events, featuring a 28 piece orchestra, with slides and pictures showing the Camp HASC experience throughout the concert. When it came time for the finale, Avraham Fried sang Forever One, the title track of his 1983 album and another Mendlowitz production, with Mordechai Ben David and Sharabi emerging on stage pushing a HASC camper in a wheelchair.

“The entire place just stood up,” recalled Ding. “That concert changed the entire Jewish music concert dynamic.”

“He went from a regular Brooklyn College concert to Avery Fisher Hall to Radio City Hall,” added Srully Williger. “He lifted up what we have today. He was the one who said ‘we can actually do this.’”

But at the same time, Mendlowitz was a stickler for keeping the concert spotlight aimed in the proper direction.

“Sometimes you hear discussions of who is getting top billing at a concert, but you never had any of that at HASC,” noted Williger. “Sheya didn’t care about making anyone bigger or smaller. There was always a sense of, ‘we’re doing this for the people we are trying to help.’”

Mendlowitz went on to produce fourteen more HASC concerts, as well as many albums for artists who went on to become the biggest and brightest names in the Jewish music business.

“Sheya was a trailblazer,” said Fried. “A visionary who lifted Chasidic music from second class status back in the 70s to first class where it has remained all these years.”

“He understood what is enjoyable about a Jewish concert and there were few people who really got it,” added Avromy Werner of KMR Luxury Kosher Retreats, where Mendlowitz was responsible for the musical experience and often led zemiros. “That is why he was so successful at those types of things.”

But more than just focusing on a single track, album or concert, Mendlowitz was a mentor to many of those he worked with.

“He taught me a lot, really a lot about what it means to share the stage with others and to produce things properly and to be authentic about the music,” recalled Yaakov Shwekey. “Everyone calls themselves a producer, but to be really somebody who knows how to create a certain sound with songs from many different singers and knowing how to put them together and how to really give the crowd something they could walk away with – that was Sheya Mendlowitz.”

That out of the box approach to music took Mendlowitz in other directions as well.

“He was the founder of Mostly Music,” said Mendy Werdyger of Aderet Music. “It was his idea to start a store, a specialty store that was just for music.”

Long before it became common to turn weddings into full-scale musical productions, Mendlowitz was replacing the typical solo drummer and trumpeter with full brass and rhythm sections at high end affairs, often adding in sophisticated and other high end touches. He was also a big believer in using music as a vehicle for chesed, driving with singers to summer camps that served special needs children and visiting senior living facilities.

As the Jewish music business evolved, Mendlowitz eschewed hip hop, electric and new wave sounds. Still, his music continued to inspire a new generation of singers.

“I remember as a child the CDs he did with Avraham Fried and MBD,” said Lipa Schmeltzer. “Sheya always had unique ideas and he definitely left a mark on Jewish music.”

More than just a talented producer, Mendlowitz also had something special – a unique ability to connect with people, and he was typically the life of the party backstage at his concerts.

“There was always a circle around him,” recalled Ding. “He was always interesting and always cracking jokes.”

Equally popular outside the music world, Mendlowitz’s channeled his talent and creativity in other directions as well, and his passion for greatness extended far beyond the stage or the recording studio. He would often share his ideas with others, urging them to follow through because they he knew they would be successful. But while some turned coaching into a career, giving advice was something that came from Mendlowitz’s heart and he dispensed it freely and openly. And despite his prominence as a producer, Mendlowitz was always accessible.

“You never had to call him – he would always call you,” said Williger. “He always had time for everyone. He shared in your simchas and any personal pain you were going through he took to heart – everyone’s sorrow was his.”

Despite facing significant medical issues for years, Mendlowitz was perpetually upbeat and, far from complaining, he would tell people that whatever challenges he faced were gifts from Hashem, who knew that they were in his best interests. When leaving the house began posing significant difficulties, Mendlowitz started a shul in his own house. It was a place that drew people and in addition to a place to daven, Mendlowitz offered a listening ear and a warm heart.

“He was a mentor to me and I would go during the week and Motzei Shabbos and we would talk,” said former City Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who davened in Mendlowitz’s home for eight years. “He was a person you could trust and a very loyal friend, and if you came to him with an issue, he would say it wasn’t a big deal and he would talk you through it.”

In one instance, Mendlowitz asked Deutsch to take him to visit someone who lived in the area and wasn’t well. Given Mendlowitz’s own physical hardships, Deutsch tried to dissuade him from going.

“I told him that it was hard for him, but he explained that he wanted to go and surprise this friend, so I took him in his wheelchair and we went,” recalled Deutsch.

Mendlowitz produced his final concert for Makor Care and Services Network in February 2022. The concept was another Mendlowitz brainstorm, celebrating 60 years of Jewish music in what was billed as the Jewish Music Hall of Fame Show.

“It was his idea – he was passionate about people with special needs and his goal was to make Makor a known name,” said Makor board member Hillel Jaffa, who was also cousin of Mendlowitz’s. “It was October and I didn’t know how we were going to pull it off and we worked day and night.”

In the final days before the concert, there were still 1,000 seats that remained unsold, a reality that wasn’t sitting well with Jaffa. Time and time again, Mendlowitz told him not to worry, and when the curtain went up at Long Island’s 2,242 seat Tilles Center, there wasn’t an empty chair in the house, with a sellout crowd coming to hear six decades worth of Jewish music, with performances by the biggest names in the business.

“He produced an unbelievable show, encompassing years of music,” said Jaffa. “When he was doing a concert, he was like a kid in the candy store. That was what he loved doing.”

But even as successful as the concert was, the pre-show rehearsal also stands out in Jaffa’s mind as something truly remarkable.

“Every single person, whoever you can imagine in the music business – Abie Rotenberg, Baruch Levine, Benny Friedman, Rivie Schwebel – everyone was at the rehearsal, and he had such relationships with all of them, some of whom he hadn’t even produced. He was close with them all.”

Jaffa recalled how Mendlowitz insisted on bringing a few musicians of his own to be part of the concert, explaining that each one was going through some sort of personal difficulty.

“He told me that he didn’t want to leave this one out and was hoping that including another one would give him a pick-me-up,” said Jaffa. “Here was someone who wasn’t well himself, but he was thinking about these musicians and bringing them on – he felt like they were brothers. He loved everybody and never put anybody down.”

After being unwell in recent weeks, an exhilarated Mendlowitz called Jaffa from a rehabilitation center in Boro Park after Yom Kippur, saying that he had been able to attend davening and insisting that his succah be put up at his home for the upcoming yom tov.

“He knew he was sick, but he had that succah ready,” said Jaffa. “It was his way of saying that he was doing this for Hashem, that he was showing his hakaras hatov to Hashem for taking care of him. He had a lot of bitachon and emunah.”

Mendlowitz’s passing at age 61 on October 28th reverberated throughout the Jewish world, with tributes pouring in on social media.

“With deep sorry, we say goodbye to our beloved Sheya Mendlowtiz,” tweeted Mordechai Ben David. “His life was full of challenges, yet he remained unwavering in his emunah. Sheya’s ambition & resilience were evident as they were in his personal life. He will be sorely missed. תנצב”ה”

Shlomo Simcha shared on Facebook how Mendlowitz pushed him to maximize his potential, as he launched his career. Still, what touched Simcha most was Mendlowitz’s gargantuan heart.

“He would jump in front of a bus to save a friend,” wrote Simcha. “If you had a problem or simply needed to talk, you could call him at 3:00 AM and he would spring into action. He had a charisma that could convince anyone anywhere to do anything that was needed to help someone in distress. He was Chaverim International before Chaverim was even in existence and he did it all by himself.”

Producer Mendy Hershkowitz wrote how Mendlowitz encouraged him to reach for the stars, a lesson that he taught by example, despite undergoing his own personal hardships.

“He was a man who had experienced his fair share of challenges throughout his life, but only knew how to make everyone else smile and laugh no matter what,” tweeted Hershkowitz.

Mendlowitz will long be remembered for his contributions as an icon whose fingerprints shaped Jewish music as we know it today.

“There will be nobody like him,” said Shwekey. “He was a legendary figure and saying he has done so much for Jewish music is an understatement. He changed Jewish music forever and he will be sorely missed.”