Yom Tov Ehrlich

Yom Tov Ehrlich was born in 1914 in Kažan-Haradok

Yom Tov Ehrlich was born in 1914 in Kozhan Gorodok and grew up in nearby Davyd-Haradok, then part of the Russian Empire. His family belonged to the Karlin-Stolin Hasidim. His father, Moshe, was also a musician and a prayer leader at the Karlin court.

During World War II he was exiled to Samarkand in Uzbekistan, where he spent the war years. His experiences there later appeared in his songs, mainly in the album Chevlei Moshiach. In 1946 he left and settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he married Chana and had 5 children.

He released a series called Yiddish Nachas with 36 records, mostly of his own songs, all in Yiddish. He often set his lyrics to Russian classical and folk melodies, and his songs dealt with Hasidic tales, longing for the old Jewish town and opposition to communism. Singers such as Mordechai Ben David and Avraham Fried later recorded his songs.

In 1986 he moved to Israel and settled in Jerusalem. He died there of a heart attack in 1990 and was buried on the Mount of Olives.