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

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 and the Hasidic

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

group

Zusha The Zusha (russian: Зуша) 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.Kemp Mill, Maryland Kemp Mill is a census-designated place and an unincorporated census area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 13,378 at the 2020 census. Kemp Mill census area consists of the separate communities of Kemp Mill Esta ...

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

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

'' 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 Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

for seven years as a child. Gaisin attended

Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy The Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, referred to locally as Berman or The Hebrew Academy, is a coed Modern Orthodox Jewish day school serving the greater Washington area. It is in Aspen Hill, Maryland, with a Rockville postal address. The scho ...

through high school, graduating in 2009. After spending a year in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

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 Neb ...

, he attended

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

, though he later left to study

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

. 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 IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

Zusha (2013-present)

Gaisin moved to Washington Heights in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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

Zusha The Zusha (russian: Зуша) 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.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 advertise ...

'''s World Albums chart.

Other activities

Outside of music, Gaisin is a certified ''

mashgiach A mashgiach ( he, משגיח, "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 sl ...

'' and provided kosher supervision to a

Chinese restaurant A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves a Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora and adapted to local taste preferences, as in t ...

in Washington Heights. He has led prayer services at Beth Hamedrash Hagodol and Chevra Ahavas Yisroel. He contributes essays and original music to the Jewish media website

Hevria Hevria is an American Jews, 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''" (gr ...

Personal life

Gaisin was

engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to Chanalee Elhyani in September 2019, and the couple

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

in January 2020. When announcing the birth of his second daughter in November 2022 via Zusha's

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

, 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, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

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, Neochassidut, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. O ...

.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. Founded in 2004 as a Danish startup, the company moved its headquarters to the United States in 2013. ...

. 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 (1698 – 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ( he, בעל שם טוב, ) or as the Besht, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which ...

Discography

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

Zusha The Zusha (russian: Зуша) 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.Hasidic entertainers American folk singers Jewish American musicians Yeshiva University alumni Living people People from Kemp Mill, Maryland People from Silver Spring, Maryland Singers from Maryland Jewish rock musicians Jewish folk singers Jewish jazz musicians Hasidic singers 21st-century American singers Year of birth missing (living people)