BEN-HAIM, YIGAL

BEN-HAIM, YIGAL (1935– ), ḥazzan. Born in Jerusalem, Ben-Haim was the 11th generation in a family of cantors originally from Bukhara. His early cantorial education was from his father. As a child he sang in the Jerusalem Taḥkemoni school under the direction of Cantor Mendel Tirnover and Ẓvi Talmon . He sang in the Mizmor Shir choir established by Kol Yisrael. When 18 he debuted as the cantor of the Baba Tamma Synagogue in the Jerusalem Bukharan neighborhood. He studied cantorial theory and maqamat . He led services and appeared in concerts in Israel, the United States, South America, Europe, and the Far East. Ben-Haim sings on cassettes presenting selections from the prayers as rendered by the Oriental Jewish communities. He was an instructor of Sephardi cantorial skills in the Jerusalem Renanot cantorial school and Bat Yam school, thus continuing his longstanding activity of shaping cantors. In a CD called Avot u-Banim issued recently he and family members perform cantorial pieces (Akiva Zimmerman)