Rabbi Alter Yachnes, Legendary ‘Rebbe Alter’ Passes Away At 75

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — BDE: Rabbi Alter Zvi Aryeh Yachnes, the famous “Rebbe Alter” who wrote numerous songs for children, passed away on Friday night at age 75.

Rabbi Alter had been suffering from illness over the past year and was hospitalized at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital last Shavuos in the intensive care unit. He had since recovered and started a rehabilitation process but on Shabbos his vital organs stopped functioning and he passed away at the hospital.

Rebbe Alter published many music albums for children over the course of the last few decades, with his most famous songs being the iconic ‘Pharoah in Pajamas in the middle of the night’, as well as Mashiv Haruach for the first rains in Israel. Rebbe Alter also published children’s movies as well as many songs for the various festivals.

In a Mishpacha article published in 2022, Rebbe Alter described how he had come to his unique calling:

‘As a cheder rebbi in Talmud Torah Hamesorah, I realized that songs are a magnetic teaching tool: Not only do the children learn quickly and pleasantly, but they also retain the content. I created songs in order for the students to remember information, such as the names of the parshiyos, the Shivas Haminim, the names of the shevatim and the months, and soon I had the boys’ parents asking me to send a recording home so they could keep up. I would sit down with eight tape recorders, count to three, push eight buttons, and then sing the songs we sang in class, accompanying myself on guitar.

‘At some point, it dawned on me that there was a simpler way. I played and sang into just one cassette and took it to the Gal-Paz music store on Rechov Malchei Yisrael, asking Chaim Zilber a”h, the owner, to make me a dozen copies on his machine. He was curious about what the tape was, and when I told him, he said “Let’s do something professional in the studio.” Jeff Horvitz ran the studio and arranged the music, and Pirchei Purim in Hebrew was the first album, in 1985. When it went over well, Gal-Paz asked me to do more albums.”

Rebbe Alter also described his most meaningful feedback: “Once when I was in Miami, a man came over to me and told me his grandmother was a Holocaust survivor who unfortunately didn’t remain religious after all her suffering during the war. In her old age, she lived with one of her children, who’d become frum. One day, when the grandchildren were listening to Ring around the Year, she heard the words from the Tishrei song, “Hashem, won’t you please forgive me, if I did not act properly…” and asked them to write it down for her on a piece of paper. When she passed away, they found that paper in her room on top of her jewelry box.”

May his memory be blessed.