{"id":115097,"date":"2024-11-14T16:52:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/raphael-elfassy-1939-2019\/"},"modified":"2024-11-21T16:51:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T15:51:01","slug":"raphael-elfassy-1939-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/en\/raphael-elfassy-1939-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Elfassy, Raphael (1939-2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raphael Elfassy was born on November 4, 1939 in Rabbat, Morocco. Like many children in the Moroccan community, he developed a precise and meticulous knowledge of sacred texts. He was an active member of the Eclaireurs Isra\u00e9lites (E.I.), a Jewish scouting group.<\/p>\n

When his family emigrated to Israel in 1956, he had the courage to remain in France, alone and destitute, with the strong determination to pursue his studies. Thanks to the support and protection of a wise and clear-minded principal, he passed his baccalaureate at the Lyc\u00e9e Saint Louis in Paris. At the same time, he studied with Manitou<\/a> at Orsay.<\/p>\n

Passionate about music, Raphael’s beautiful tenor voice was noticed at liturgical services. He went on to study musicology, and at the Direction de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse (DEEJ) on rue Poissonni\u00e8re in Paris, created the first Jewish music choir in a reborn community.<\/p>\n

In the synagogue of Montevideo in Paris, under the leadership of Rabbi Schwartz, he created the first Talmud Torah correspondence course, and taught Hebrew at the Lyc\u00e9e Lakanal. A demanding pedagogue, he developed astonishingly effective teaching methods of his own.<\/p>\n

As a visiting prison chaplain for several years, he has retained a strong sense of human emotion.<\/p>\n

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A passion for music<\/h3>\n

Choir director for decades in numerous synagogues (Neuilly, Montevideo, Saint Lazare, Chasseloup), Raphael Elfassy – known as Raphy – has made every official celebration and, for every family, every wedding or bar mitzvah, an unforgettable musical and emotional memory.<\/p>\n

Anxious to make the Jewish soul and harmonic sensibility understood by as many people as possible, he founded the Guilgal Artistic Association<\/strong><\/em> in 1971 with a small but committed team, which has drawn masses of young Jews – and non-Jews – to Israel’s dance classes and choir. At the same time, in France and Israel, ably assisted by Bernadette Leclair, n\u00e9e Weisz, he worked in constant collaboration with numerous musical personalities and choreographers.<\/p>\n

During her lifetime, the great harpist Lili Laskine enjoyed accompanying him in some of his performances. The Guilgal<\/strong><\/em> amateur choir represented France at the Zimria [1]<\/sup><\/a>Gathering of Jewish choirs and choruses from around the world<\/span><\/span>