Lipa Schmeltzer

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Lipa Schmeltzer (Elazar Lipa Schmelczer) is an American Hasidic entertainer, singer, actor, and composer.

1 Musical career and controversies
2 Honored at Bikur Cholim Dinner 2006
3 Discography
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Musical career and controversies

Schmeltzer's albums have gained tremendous popularity due in part to his masterful Yiddish lyrics, original compositions, and, most of all, his innovations in fusing traditional Hasidic music with contemporary music styles.

Schmeltzer's albums have been controversial from the very beginning. Conservative elements within the Hasidic community are unhappy with the spread of Jewish music that is so heavily influenced by contemporary pop music. They further claim that Shmeltzer's identity as a bona-fide Hasid makes it more appealing to a wider Hasidic audience, and therefore more dangerous. A number of communities have issued official notices to their members to avoid purchasing or listening to Shmeltzer's albums.

Proponents argue that Shmeltzer is a maverick in the world of Hasidic music. He pushes the envelope and is innovative in ways that no other Hasidic performer has been since Yom Tov Ehrlich.

Schmeltzer is himself a Hasid of Rabbi David Twersky, the Skverer Rebbe and he resides in Airmont, New York with his family. Under the guidance of his Rebbe, he is said to have declined to perform at events with mixed seating for men and women, despite offers of lucrative compensation.

Leaflet exhorting Orthodox Jews in Monsey to boycott the annual Bikur Cholim dinner

[edit] Honored at Bikur Cholim Dinner 2006

In November, 2006, Schmeltzer was honored as Volunteer of the Year at the annual dinner for Bikur Cholim of Rockland County, in Monsey, New York.^[1] Prior to the event, leaflets had been distributed in Monsey denouncing Schmeltzer as "the well-known rotten man" and called on members of the Orthodox community to boycott the event. According to Shimshon Lauber, Bikur Cholim's executive director, the dinner was the most successful and well-attended in the organization's 25-year history.