28 Years Later, Shlomo Simcha Sings ‘Machnisei Rachamim’

By COLlive reporter

When R’ Chaim Banet first sang “Machnisei Rachamim,” based on the concluding sections of Selichos, in front of his Rebbe of Seret-Vizhnitz, he didn’t fully grasp its power. Then, his Rebbe gestured to him to sing it again.

“The day after that Motzaei Shabbos of Selichos, the Rebbe called me over to explain to me that there are tunes that are powerful without words like the Chabad ‘Daled Bavos’ niggun and the Karlin ‘Kah Echsof’ and there are also words that are so powerful that they need no tune. Here he said both the words and the niggun were special,” he told Mishpacha magazine.

The song was included in an album by singer Shlomo Cohen among niggunim of Seretet Viznitz released in 1992. The song caught the attention of renowned producer Sheya Mendlowitz who had a new singer from Toronto called Shlomo Simcha (Sufrin) recorded it and include it in his debut album “That Special Melody” which was released in February 1993.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The album, and “Machnisei Rachamim” in particular, immediately went on fire. The song was a smashing success and quickly became a mainstay in homes and shuls around the world.

Over time, it inspired covers versions by colleagues of Shlomo Simcha such as Mordechai Ben David, Avraham Fried who sang it with the Shira Choir at the annual L’chaim To Life Telethon of Chabad of the Westcoast and Chazzan Yitzchak Meir Helfgot who sang it this year in New York.

“The song has become such a staple that people forgot or don’t know its origins,” notes Shlomie Rabin, a chazzan himself whose talent agency Jplacing represents Shlomo Simcha.

This year, Shlomo Simcha led Selichos at the Chabad Russian Center in South Florida, where he now lives. “28 years later and singing this song still moves me to the core of my soul,” he commented.

“We never did this before, and I think we just started an annual tradition, next year in our new building,” said Shliach Rabbi Alexander Kaller who invited Shlomo Simcha to lead a Kumzitz farbrengen and Selichot for his community. “Shlomo Simcha uplifted our Shul and we even had women who never attended a Selichos before that loved it.”

VIDEO:

2005: Machnisei Rachamim performed by Avraham Fried and The Shira Choir on the Chabad Telethon

2009: Machnisei Rachamim sung by Benny Friedman at COLlive.com’s first-anniversary celebration in Crown Heights

2021: Machnisei Rachamim sung by Shlomo Simcha during Selichos at the Chabad Russian Center in South Florida

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