Y’Shaya Grama

Music:

Member Since: 12/10/2007
Band Members:
Influences: What friends and family had to say about the Cantor, my dad. ======================================== October 13, 2007 I was extremely saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Cantor Grama and offer my heartfelt condolences. He was such an endearing man who always showed he cared about me and my boys. His glorious voice was a joy to be heard. His indomitable sense of humor and twinkle in his eye was ever present. He will surely be missed by me, my sons and all who had the pleasure of knowing this exceptional man. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 13, 2007 Please accept my sincere condolences on you loss. Isaiah was the consumate performer and a true professional. He will certainly be missed.----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- October 12, 2007 Cantor Grama was one of the kindest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He had a heart of gold and a gorgeous voice that could move you to tears from its sheer beauty. Talented, kind, funny, natural, unpretentious, emotional. The grief of losing Cantor Grama is too much to bear. A lovable, sweet, talented, unique person, I will never be the same after losing him.-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ October 12, 2007 There are certain unique people we get to meet in our lifetime. Some are famous, some are crazy, some are extra real, some light up a room, some are brilliant and some are super talented in what they do. Y'shaya was all of those things. We fondly recall the gift you had to fill up a sanctuary with that special angelic voice and to make Jewish prayer so easy to participate in and listen to. We miss you already and will look back with warmth and a smile at who you were and what you meant to so many.------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- October 12, 2007 I was saddened to hear that Cantor Grama had died. Yet, I can still hear him when I am at the synagogue. He set a standard, not just as a voice, but as a person who we will all remember. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 12, 2007 He has been part of our family for 30 years. The Cantor and I had a very special bond that I will surely miss.------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- October 12, 2007 What a tremendous, irreplaceable loss. In all my years searching, I have never found a schul with a Cantor who can live up to my expectations. Who could match such a voice? He was larger than life. My condolences to his family.----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- October 12, 2007 The beauty of his voice will forever be etched in my mind as he chanted the nusach. My heartfelt condolensces to his family. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 11, 2007 Because you cared,made us learn and laughed with us. Thank You for all your efforts,teachings and most of all thank you for giving us so much of yourself....We will always remember "the candy man"....---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- October 11, 2007 Cantor Grama had a spirit and zest for life as big as his wonderful and soulful voice. He shared his talent with the entire community and he will be missed well beyond the bounds of Rodeph Shalom. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------ October 11, 2007 We will greatly miss Cantor Grama. He represented the warmth of our congregation. His voice was the equal of an opera star. We will always have very fond memories of him and services will never be the same without him. How lucky we were to have him as our Cantor and our friend for so many years! We extend our deepest sympathy to Fern and Joy and the other members of his family. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 Cantor Grama was a wonderful man. He was always there for me and my family when we needed him. He was a terrific teacher and had a passion for what he did. I always looked forward to hearing his beautiful voice at Shabbat Services. He was a joy to be around. I will always remember him as a warm and wonderful man. My thoughts and prayers to his family. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 Although we are new to Rodeph, we had the great honor of hearing Cantor Grama's phenomenal voice at services. He will be greatly missed! ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 Cantor Grama was Rodeph Shalom to me. His voice rang out in the sanctuary like a beacon of hope and put all those in a presence of awe that heard it. He took our Bar/Bat mitzvah tutoring classes on crazy trips to Six Flags and NYC for a day of fun and food FOR FREE. He'd spend all day winning prizes while we'd be riding roller coasters. I remember him always handing out candy after Shabbat services. He was so compassionate and caring to me and my family. I will always miss him and always love him. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 What a personality! What a heart! What a voice! Y'Shaya we will miss you forever. You were our friend, our teacher and our adopted uncle.------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------- October 10, 2007 This was a wonderful man as well as a terrific Cantor.....his voice and his prayers were a joy to hear....my heart felt sympathy goes out to the family of a person that will always be remembered as well as missed ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 Fern and family, My heart goes out to you and your family at the loss of Y'shaya. His magnificent voice will be a blessed memory for all who heard it. He was a loving man who adored his family and the congregation which was his second home. I will cherish the times we shared the bimah and how he would always tease me in his own 'fake' sign language. May his memory be a blessing. Baruch dayan v'emet. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 I was blessed to have Cantor Grama officiate at my wedding in '84, and both of my childrens' baby namings. I don't live in Bridgeport anymore, but will always remember his voice, his presence, his laughing eyes, and his tuning fork! God bless his soul. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 I will miss this wonderful man and brother mason. The memories that I have from our blue lodge (Cosmopolitan 125) to being our spiritual leader in Pyramid Shrine, will be with my brothers and I for years to come. I will always picture his great smile and wonderful voice, his kidding around with me and being serious when necessary. Isaiah, may you rest in eternal peace. So mote it be.--------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- October 10, 2007 To our "Brother" Shaya's family, We were stunned & saddened by the news of Shaya's passing...We send our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to you and to the countless others who are in mourning over his loss...God be with you all.-------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- October 10, 2007 My thoughts are with you. I have so many great memories of "the early years" up the lake in the summer at Grandma's cottage. What a great man! ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 I grew up listening to the operatic voice of a next door neighbor who used to bring me little stuffed animals, for no reason at all. What a warm man. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 We attended a service over 20 years ago. Each year we said we must hear this incredible Cantor again. We were fortunate enough to attend Kol Nidre services this year and again hear Cantor Grama's magnificent voice. May God continue to hear him. Our deepest sympathy. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 My sincere sympathies to the Grama family on their very sad loss. My thoughts are with them,. Cantor Grama had a heart and voice of gold and will be sadly missed by all who knew him ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 I remember the first day I walked into Rodeph Shalom many years ago and Isaiah's voice pierced through to my soul. He had so many special gifts and will be greatly missed. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 Words cannot express our pain on the loss of such a warm compassionate man. He has made the world a better place just by being here. We will forever hear his powerful voice joyfully singing in our hearts and in our minds. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 Fern: My sincere sympathy to you and your family. Cantor Grama will be missed not only by all of us from Rodeph Sholom, but by all the community as well. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- October 10, 2007 He was a wonderful man.-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ October 10, 2007 A gteat voice has been silenced. We extend our deepest sympathies to Fern, and family.It is a sad and shocking day indeed. ------------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------
Sounds Like: by Cole Krawitz This past week, I found out that my cantor from my childhood, Cantor Y’shaya M. Grama, passed away in his sleep. For most of the week, I kept on, knowing that underneath, a sadness had taken over me. But, I couldn’t find a way to meet it in the days of what often feels like my separate secular life. I was sad, yes, but I was also utterly unsuccessful at articulating this loss. That was until I went to shul Friday night, and began to hear song. “Of course!” I realized. “I’d find him here. I’d find my mourning in song.” Being new to Netivot Shalom, I hesitantly opened myself up to the waves of emotion and loss in hearing the chanting and davening, and knowing deeply and truly that I would never be able to hear Cantor Grama sing from the pulpit again. That I’d never be able to go back to him, and take him up on his offer extended long ago. “What offer?” you might be asking. Well, let me tell you. I like to believe I don’t live with regret, but to be honest, I have a few. One of them is that I didn’t say “yes” when Cantor Grama wanted to train me more after my bat-mitzvah. He had worked with me for years, but I had already given up on myself as a singer. Outside of my shul, I wasn’t celebrated as a singer, so I thought, “eh, they’re not being honest with me. I can’t be good, can I?” At a certain point, in being as teenagers can be, I let it all go. He was a truly gifted singer. He had the fullest voice. Mic or no mic, he filled a hall. With an operatic voice so deep and prolific, I often wondered why he chose to be in a synagogue, rather than on Broadway. His bio tells some of this story, growing up in a Yemenite traditional family in Brooklyn, attending Lubavitcher Yeshivas and the like. So, shul was his home. He was, undoubtedly, an entertainer, and understood the importance of stage performance in all of his work. He even had times in the year when he’d hold evening gala events, singing show tunes along with Hebrew ones. While he spent many years teaching me song, he so rarely taught in words. So, unfortunately, I have little of his story to tell. As I write this, there’s still a part of me that wishes I could go back, walk into his study on the second floor and say, “Cantor, I was wrong all those years ago. Please, teach me. I want to take back my no. I was scared. I didn’t know.” I could write this now, and say I’m going to go on to cantorial school, reclaim this memory and his voice, but that, at least in this moment, isn’t true. But, what I can say is I am ready to begin small, in something new. In joining my voice with others in the small communities I’m finding here in Northern California. I take his passing as I take each new day in my new city, watching the leaves turn even here in California (who said there’s no fall in California?). I take this as a reminder of returning to what I have known, to build something new. And I take it as a reminder that I come from something very good, and that memories do live on. Thank you, Cantor Grama, for offering a space for a young pudgy tomboy kid to shine. Thank you for being my earliest teacher who showed me that the Jewish tradition, that song and faith and love, is also very much so mine. May your memory forever be a blessing. ================================================= My Uncle Yshaya was closer to me and my family than I could have ever imagined. I remember asking my parents, “Can we see Uncle Yshaya?” and they’d always say “Another time.” But there wasn’t another time. Uncle Yshaya used to sing to me when I was a baby, going into his office. He was a wonderful man. The last time I saw him was when I was eight. Sad but true. I’ll never forget Uncle Yshaya. I’ll miss you. I love you. Shalom to all, Jackie ================================================ shia my great friend and brother. im gonna miss you,we had a great time growing up together.im so happy i saw you recently and we sang some doowop together.you are a mench and a great person. i will never ever forget you.i daven every morning and say an extra prayer for you. rest in peace i love you. joey ================================================ Y’shaya, All I see is your smile. All I feel is the warmth of our boyhood friendship. We seemed never to tire and through it all we can say that we came thorough this life as Boro Park Bumpkins. We were all linked to each other - either by being in each others homes, going to school to together, singing together. I know that you would say ‘boy I wish everyone would have had at least one tenth of the camaraderie that we had’ – just as children. I can see by the comments here today that what you were given by the Almighty, came naturally to you and you gave it to others with no reservations.The time we spent together was, what I would call, ‘quality time’. I enjoyed carousing with you and having you as my friend and sometime protector. I was a very young Yiddishe-Britishe – new to this country, and you and your brothers befriended my brother Jay and I, right from the beginning. Today Arthur Rubin played, your version of Yosele’s “V’hu Rachum” to me over the telephone from New York as I listened in Tucson, Arizona. You sounded great! We were both on the original Moshe Koussevitsky Memorial Concert given by Der Chazzonim Farband at the Ocean Parkway Jewish Center on March 14th, 1982. . This particular tefilah, a favorite of many Hazzanim, is not a long one, but it needs a lot of neshama to sing it. I heard your neshamah once again after so many years – after so many years of missing you. I, like others, went to look for my fortune a long way away. This morning, yes, this morning, I was reunited with you, listening to you sing “V’Hu Rachum”. Wonderful, I said to myself as I held back the tears. But when I look at your handsome face and I look deep within your eyes and listen to your voice, I know I need not cry because you were a joy to know and to recall in love and unending friendship. I’m so glad you were a blessing to your family and friends and to your congregation. Thank you most of all for bringing honor to our profession and to Hazzanim everywhere. So Y’shaya, I bid you adieu – until we meet again B‘Ezrat Hashem – I really hope He let’s us hang out together – again. God’s speed on your wonderful journey to Olam Habaah! You boyhood chum David =================================================
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