Shlomo Ari Gaisin is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer for the Hasidic

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

group

Zusha The Zusha () is a river in Tula and Oryol Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka. The length of the river is 234 km. The area of its basin is 6,950 km².

. He was also lead singer for the defunct

Jewish rock Jewish rock is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music that is influenced by various forms of secular rock music. Pioneered by contemporary folk artists like Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (musician), Shlomo Carlebach and the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, ...

band JudaBlue.

Early life

Gaisin grew up in

Kemp Mill, Maryland Kemp Mill is a census-designated place and an unincorporated census area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is known for its creekside walkways, calm suburban atmosphere, Brookside Gardens, and numerous hiking trails. Home to th ...

, the youngest of seven children. His parents, who both became ''

baalei teshuva In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' (; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'owner of return God or his way]') is a Jew who adopts some form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a Jewish secularism, secular lifestyle or ...

'' before he was born, Note: Skip to 13:15. were founding members of the Kemp Mill Synagogue, a local Modern Orthodox Judaism, Modern Orthodox shul. They also played instruments at home and exposed him to classical music early on. He studied

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

for seven years as a child. Gaisin attended Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy through high school, graduating in 2009. After spending a year in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh (in Hebrew: ישיבת נתיב אריה) is a Religious Zionist yeshiva located at the Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem. Netiv Aryeh was founded in 2003 by the current rosh yeshiva, Aharon Bina. Avigdor Nebe ...

, he attended

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

, though he later left to study

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

. As a student, he experienced difficulty reading and writing and often required extra time on tests.

Career

JudaBlue (2004–2013)

While in seventh grade at Berman, Gaisin met classmate Yaniv Hoffman, a fellow music enthusiast, and began playing with him. They formed JudaBlue in 2004, although they didn't begin rehearsing regularly until 2007. The band released its debut EP, ''Forty Days'', on January 19, 2010, shortly before going on hiatus to allow Gaisin and Hoffman to study in Israel. When they returned, the band released three more songs, "Falling", "Change", and "Oneness", before Hoffman returned to Israel in 2011 to serve in the IDF.

Zusha (2013–present)

Gaisin moved to Washington Heights in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, where he met fellow musicians Elisha Mlotek and Zachariah Goldschmiedt through a mutual friend. The three began playing together and formed

Zusha The Zusha () is a river in Tula and Oryol Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka. The length of the river is 234 km. The area of its basin is 6,950 km².

in 2013. Their self-titled debut EP, released on November 28, 2014, reached No. 9 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''s World Albums chart.

Artistry

Writing for ''Tablet'' in 2014, Hillel Broder described Gaisin's vocals as "forceful and far-ranging" and "a mix of

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and producer. He is best known as the vocalist, pianist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Martin went to University Colleg ...

and

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian Americans, Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's Indie music scene, in ...

", as well as sonically evoking instruments like

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Other activities

Outside of music, Gaisin is a certified ''

mashgiach A mashgiach (, "supervisor"; , ''mashgichim'') or mashgicha (pl. ''mashgichot'') is a Jew who supervises the kashrut status of a kosher establishment. Mashgichim may supervise any type of food service establishment, including slaughterhouses ...

'' and provided kosher supervision to a

Chinese restaurant A Chinese restaurant is a restaurant that serves Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora, though other Chinese regional cuisine, regional cuisin ...

in Washington Heights. He has led prayer services at

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Beth Hamedrash Hagodol"Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Des ...

and Chevra Ahavas Yisroel. He contributes essays and original music to the Jewish media website

Hevria Hevria is an American Jewish arts and culture website and collective. History Hevria was founded as a group blog in April 2014 by writers Elad Nehorai and Matthue Roth. The site's name is a portmanteau of the Hebrew words "''chevra''" (group ...

Personal life

Gaisin was engaged to Chanalee Elhyani in September 2019, and the couple married in January 2020. When announcing the birth of his second daughter in November 2022 via Zusha's

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, it was remarked that Gaisin now had "almost as many kids as albums". Gaisin's father passed away in 2019, and his death influenced the Zusha album ''When the Sea Splits''. Gaisin has been a follower of

Hasidism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

since high school and appeared on the Winter 2014 cover of ''

Jewish Action ''Jewish Action'' is an American Orthodox Jewish magazine published by the Orthodox Union. The magazine generally presents a Modern Orthodox viewpoint, and covers "topics of interest to an international Orthodox Jewish audience... ncludingartic ...

'' promoting an article about

neo-Hasidism Neo-Hasidism, also Neochassidut or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which aspects of Hasidic Judaism are incorporated into non-Hasidic religious Jewish practice. Over the 20th century, neo-Hasidism was popularized by the works of write ...

.Cover
of Winter 2014 ''

'', archived at

Issuu Issuu, Inc. (pronounced "issue") is a Danish-founded American electronic publishing platform based in Palo Alto, California, United States. The company's software converts PDFs into customizable digital publications that can be shared via links ...

. He has expressed a broad admiration for all strains of Hasidism, stating that "there exists in each one a complete form of the holy

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue f ...

Discography

;With JudaBlue *''Forty Days'' EP (2010) ;With

Zusha The Zusha () is a river in Tula and Oryol Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka. The length of the river is 234 km. The area of its basin is 6,950 km².

*''Zusha'' EP (2014) *''Kavana'' (2016) *''A Colorful World'' (2017) *''When the Sea Split'' (2019) *''Open the Gates'' (2022)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaisin, Shlomo Hasidic entertainers American folk singers American Hasidim Yeshiva University alumni Living people People from Kemp Mill, Maryland People from Silver Spring, Maryland Singers from Maryland Jewish American rock musicians Jewish folk singers Jewish jazz musicians Hasidic singers 21st-century American singers Year of birth missing (living people) Mashgichim