Abie Rotenberg

Abie Rotenberg ( he, אברהם יום טוב רוטנברג) is a prolific Orthodox Jewish musician, composer and entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has been producing music since the mid-1970s with a style which has been described as "soft and sweet" with a strong folk influence.

Rotenberg grew up in Queens, New York, surrounded by other up and coming religious Jewish musicians, including Eli Teitelbaum, who directed the first ''Pirchei'' boys choir, as well as Rabbi Baruch Chait and Label Sharfman who attended yeshiva with him. Rotenberg studied piano and taught himself guitar at a young age. Interview for ''JE'' magazine, December 31, 2005
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Musical career

Rotenberg has cited the musicians Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach as strong influences. While his folk-inspired sound and inspirational lyrics are strongly reminiscent of Carlebach, Rotenberg's soft and sometimes melancholic voice, however, contrasts with Carlebach's ecstatic style. Rotenberg has collaborated with other Jewish musicians including Mordechai ben David, Avraham Fried, Yehuda Schechter, Yaakov Shwekey, Baruch Levine, Moshe Yess and Shlomo Simcha with whom he co-starred in Israel National Radio's Miracles 18 concert.

Rotenberg has also been a main fixture of the annual HASC ''A Time for Music'' concerts. He has produced a children's audio series called the '' Marvelous Midos Machine'' comprising four volumes, with all original material. Rotenberg said that wanted to raise awareness of different traits inherent in each child through this series. He also produced the children's audio CDs ''The Golden Crown'' and ''The Lost Treasure''.

Writing career

In September 2015, Rotenberg published his first novel, ''The Season of Pepsi Meyers'', a book about an 18-year old Jewish boy playing for the New York Yankees, set in the future (Feldheim Publishers).

In November 2016, Rotenberg released ''Eliyahu Hanavi'', under his full name Avraham Yom Tov Rotenberg, an in-depth analysis of the life of Elijah the Prophet (Mesorah Publishers).

Discography

*''Clei Zemer - Ki Lecho Tov Lehodos'' (Composer and Vocalist) (1971)
*''D'veykus: Volumes 1-6'' (1973, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1995, 2001)
*''Shlomo Carlebach & the Children of Jewish Song sing Ani Maamin'' (Vocal Arranger) (1975)
*''Kol Salonika - Songs of Shabbos'' (1977)
*''Achva'' (1985)
*''Journeys: Volumes 1-5'' (1984, 1989, 1992, 2003, 2022)
*''The Marvelous Midos Machine: Volumes 1-4'' (1986, 1987, 1988, 2011)
*''A Time to Laugh'' (1988)
*''The Golden Crown'' (1989)
*''Lev V'Nefesh: Volumes 1-2'' (1990, 1998)
''Aish: Volumes 1-3''
(with Shlomo Simcha) (1997, 2003, 2020)
*''The Lost Treasure'' (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotenberg, Abie
Jewish American novelists
Jewish American musicians
Jewish Canadian musicians
American Orthodox Jews
Canadian Orthodox Jews
Living people
Musicians from Toronto
Year of birth missing (living people)
Musicians from Queens, New York
21st-century American Jews
Orthodox pop musicians