I play no instruments. I neither read nor write music. I “composed” all these songs completely in my head by singing them over and over until I remembered the melody. I was influenced by my older brother, Menachem, who also made up songs that way. He sang solo, taped them on reels and mailed them home while learning in Israel in Kerem B’Yavnah. We sang his songs around our Shabbos table, and he eventually had them recorded on an album in the late 60’s.
My first composition was Mizmor Shir / Tov Lehodos, which I sang to myself during gemara shiurim when I attended Beis Medresh L’Torah in my senior year in high school (1971). Upon my return home that summer, Mizmor Shir / Tov Lehodos became a “hit” in Camp Morasha. It then found its way onto the Bat Kol album that friends put out in the early 1970’s.
Karov and Adon Olam were my entries to song competitions at Yeshiva University (circa 1973-74). If I recall correctly, Karov (with different words) won second place one year. My wife Marsha and I walked down (separately, of course) to Karov when we married in 1975.
Mi Bon came about in a car ride on a memorable overnight trip with my son Chaim in the 1990’s to Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Lecha Dodi, Roni Vesimchi, Ma Yedidus and Vesamachta were melodies that came to me over decades at Shabbos and Yom Tov meals with Marsha and our children Rookie, Chaim, Deena and Shana. By now, our grandchildren know and enjoy singing these songs too at their parents’ Shabbos and Yom Tov tables. Indeed, my grandson Chaim Gross is a featured singer on the album and my granddaughter Yocheved Weinstein contributed her beautiful artwork as the album’s cover on this site which my son Chaim so expertly designed and produced.
I originally envisioned recording my songs for family only. But as the private recordings accumulated over the last few years — thanks to wonderful arrangements by Tova Bracha Lebovits in her Beit Shemesh studio, Hillel Kapnick in his in Monsey and Yoel Weiss’s in Brooklyn — and biased as I am, I decided to gather them into this album to share with others. My fervent wish and greatest pleasure would be that the songs gain and spread in popularity and be enjoyed by you, my audience. Please sing and dance to them as appropriate in Shul, in camp, at your Shabbos and Yom Tov tables and your weddings and other simchas.
While these songs originated in my head, they really come straight from the heart. And now, hopefully, from my heart to yours.
Enjoy!
Yitzchak (Yitz) Kasdan
Silver Spring, MD
November 11, 2025 / 20 Mar Cheshvan, 5786