About Hazzan Isaac Azose
Hazzan Isaac Azose was born in Seattle in July of 1930. His parents, Jack and Louise (Kadoun) Azose, met for the first time in Seattle in 1928 and were married in June, 1929. Jack Azose, Alav Ashalom, passed away in March of 1987. Louise passed away in May of 2005.
Having been born to parents who were born in Turkey, Hazzan Azose, spent his early years attending Sephardic Bikur Holim drinking in every little word and nuance of the tefilah from such hazzanim as Nissim Azose (the same one who was at the Sephardic Hebrew Center in Los Angeles for many years), his uncle Bension Maimon, Leo (Lia) Azose, the Reverend Moshe Bezalel Scharhon and Reverend Samuel Benaroya A'H. From time to time after his Bar Mitzvah in 1943, Hazzan Azose would be invited to lead services on a Shabbat afternoon which also called for the reading of the Sefer Torah, and in this way, gained a measure of experience in leading services. Hazzan Azose married the former Lily Shemia in March, 1962 and together they raised four children; Aimee, Jack, Solomon and Yossi.
In 1962, the same year they were married, the Sephardic Bikur Holim purchased the two lots on which the synagogue currently stands. (The Ezra Bessaroth had already built their own All-Purpose Social Hall in the Seward Park area, which, as the name implies, served both as a synagogue as well as a hall in which to hold social events.) At that time, about half the membership of the Sephardic Bikur Holim was living in the Seward Park area and the other half was still in the old Central Area. An old ramshackle house stood on the property on which the synagogue was to be built. Several of the young members decided to turn that old house into a 'branch'. They gutted the interior, put in paneling, lighting, built a 'tevah' and 'aron kodesh', brought two sifreh torah' and some folding chairs from the old synagogue, and they were in business.
Hazzan Azose became the primary hazzan, not only leading Shabbat services, but also leading services on the High Holy days, as well as Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot. Of course, he could not do all this by himself, particularly reading sefer torah. This was parceled out among many young men, including himself. Those three or four years retain a special place in Hazzan Azose's heart.
In 1965, he was the first vice-president of the Sephardic Bikur Holim, ready to step into the position of president, when his future changed. On the second day of Shavuot, in June, 1965, as he was having lunch at his parents' home after synagogue services, he heard a knock at the door. It happened to be Bob Franco, of blessed memory. He greeted the family and asked if he could see Hazzan Azose on the outside porch. He indicated that he would like Hazzan Azose to try out at the Ezra Bessaroth for Rosh Ashanah and Yom Kippur. Hazzan Azose was flabbergasted. He tried to beg off, pleading that he wasn't experienced enough, that he had had no training (which was true). However, Bob was very persuasive and convinced him to give it a try.
One month before Rosh Ashana, Isaac was asked to meet with a select group of people in the tiny school office below the social hall at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth. Reverend Behar and a few others were already gathered in the office. He was asked by Reverend Behar to sing the Nishmat of Rosh Ashanah. He sang it for him, exactly as he had sung it and heard it sung for many years at the Bikur Holim. When he finished, Reverend Behar said, "our people won't go for it" "Sing the Kedushah of the Shahrit" the Reverend asked. Isaac did as he was asked. Again came the same answer "our people won't go for it" "Reverend" Isaac said, "I can't promise anything, but if you will record those two pieces for me, Ill try to learn them". As it turned out, with a family and working full time for Boeing, Isaac had no time to learn the two selections, which were difficult enough in their own right.
Although everyone at the Ezra Bessaroth was very nice to him and indicated how much they enjoyed his services, Isaac was not too sure how well accepted he had been. He called Bob Franco after Rosh Ashana and told him that he would not be coming back for Yom Kippur. Bob would hear nothing of it. "First of all, you promised me", he said, "and second, you did a great job on Rosh Ashana; the people loved you". Isaac wasn't any too sure of that, but he gave in and performed the Yom Kippur services.
Afterwards, he heard nothing whatsoever from anyone at the Ezra Bessaroth until the first week of March, 1966. Bob Franco called and told him that he had been hired as hazzan and they wanted him to start immediately. That was the beginning of a long, warm, and caring relationship between Hazzan Azose and Congregation Ezra Bessaroth.
The first few years at the Ezra Bessaroth were difficult when it came to reading perasha. What with raising a family and working full time at Boeing, it was difficult to put in the many hours that were required for the learning of each perasha week after week. There are many weeks when the perashiyot are 'mehubarot' (joined together), i.e., two perashiyot on the same Shabbat. That was the most difficult time of all. Many were the times when he would meekly walk to synagogue on Shabbat morning and Reverend Behar was already there. He would ask, 'Reverend, I was only able to learn until 'shishi' (the sixth of seven portions). Would you be able to do 'shevii' for me?' And he would very graciously say yes.
Hazzan Azose believes Rev. Behar knew all the perashiyot by heart. He also believes he has carried on the tradition as passed down to him by Reverend Behar, but is sorry that he didn't spend more time recording various minhagim (customs) that are specific to the Rhodes tradition. It was a sad day when Reverend Behar passed away in August, 1977. In December of 1998, Hazzan Azose gave notice to the Ezra Bessaroth of his intention to retire at the end of 1999.
Although feeling physically fit for someone his age, being hazzan precluded any long vacations because he had to find people within the synagogue to read perasha in his absence. There was no one in the synagogue capable of reading an entire perasha unless they were given several weeks notice, and, even then, it would have been too much of a burden for them. Arranging for a weeks' vacation meant assigning the various 'aliyot' of the perasha of the week he would be gone, to several people. It was a luxury when he was able to take more than one week at a time.
One of the requirements of Hazzan Azose's contract was that he teach the Bar Mitzvah boys of all members. In order to give each boy the maximum opportunity to do his best, Hazzan Azose would start with each boy a year before his Bar Mitzvah. In this way, if the boy was capable of doing the entire perasha, it was a 'feather in the boys' cap' and it made the family very proud. During the first several years of his tenure, there were no more than four or five boys per year becoming Bar Mitzvah. In recent years, however, the average has been ten boys coming to his home each week to study for an hour each. This kept Hazzan Azose very busy.
When he was still working for Boeing, this did not leave much of a family life. However, his retirement from Boeing in July, 1995, allowed him more time for other things. One of those 'other things' was a project that has been a lifelong dream for him. There is no Sephardic prayer book that incorporates the 'nusach' (order of prayer) of the Seattle Sephardic community, Turkish or Rhodesli. As mentioned earlier, in growing up, he made mental notes of those portions of the service where words or phrases were inserted or deleted from that which was written in the prayer book. As he would lead a service, those words or phrases were inserted or left out automatically.
The Ezra Bessaroth has been using the De Sola Pool Daily/Sabbath Prayer Book (as well as the other Holiday prayer books) for approximately fifty years. They went for the De Sola Pool (as did the Bikur Holim a few years later) because it was the only Sephardic prayer book in America with an English translation. Most of the old-timers in the synagogue were still using the old prayer books they had brought with them from Rhodes. Even those who did switch to the De Sola Pool siddur knew those words and phrases that were inserted or deleted by heart. However, in recent years, many of the young men growing up in the synagogue have been treating the De Sola Pool as if it is their 'nusach', which it is not.
In order to preserve the unique flavor of the Seattle Sephardic community 'nusach', Hazzan Azose, who has always been a computer 'buff', bought a Hebrew Word Processing program from the Davka Corporation in Chicago called 'Davka Lite'. It came on a small floppy disk and took up very little room on the hard disk. However, he learned very quickly that, at the rate he was putting in one letter and one vowel, it would take several years before he would be able to finish the siddur.
There was no Hebrew scanning software available that would have allowed him to scan in a siddur and modify it to his needs. A few months later, Davka came out with an Ashkenazic siddur on disk. Hazzan Azose thought, this is my big break! The Ashkenazic siddur must be at least fifty to sixty percent compatible with most Sephardic siddurim. He was very excited and couldn't wait until the disk arrived. When it did arrive, he dropped everything he was doing, cancelled the Bar Mitzvah lessons for that day, and spent the next several hours on the siddur, working until three or four in the morning. It gave him a great sense of accomplishment. Of course, those original programs were very rudimentary with limited capabilities. Some time later, Davka came out with Dagesh, version 1.0 on CD with a lot more capabilities and much later, with version 2.0 and 2.1. Soon after he finished a first proof copy of the siddur, and placed copies in the hands of several knowledgeable people from both synagogues as well as a few outside Seattle to help proof-read it before publication.
This work, which began in March, 1994, culminated in the publication of Siddur Zehut Yosef, the Seattle Sephardic Community Daily and Sabbath Siddur in March 2002 and is now in use in both Seattle Sephardic synagogues.
In 2007 Isaac Azose completed a Makhzor for Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot in conformity with the Rhodes and Turkish traditions as practiced in Seattle.
Hazzan Azose could not have accomplished whatever he has accomplished without the help and support of his beloved wife, Leah (Lily) A'H. Over the years, she invited hundreds of people to their home for a Shabbat meal or a holiday meal. One of the traditions in the Ezra Bessaroth community was to have a Sukkah Trail on the first two days of Sukkot, where a few families who had built sukkot, volunteered to host the members who attended synagogue services in their sukkah. Leah's sukkah always drew the biggest crowd, because Leah would always go all out for these events. She would spend weeks beforehand baking bulemas, borekas, boyos and making yaprakes and fritada.
On the day they came to her home, she would put on the table as well, kezo blanko, kashkaval, azetunas, pishkado salado, pickled eggplant and drinks to no end. Although they could only accommodate 50-60 standing in their sukkah, there were always another 50 or 60 gathered inside the house. During the last two years, it had became too much for Leah to go through all the baking and preparation that was required. It was with a sense of regret that Leah gave up the annual Sukkah trail tradition. For Sukkot of 1999, however, Isaac asked his wife if she couldn't invite, once again, the members of the synagogue to their Sukkah, since he would be retiring at the end of the year. Leah acceded to his wishes, and spent weeks again beforehand preparing all the wonderful Sephardic delicacies that everyone had come to expect. That year, it seemed, the turnout was greater than ever before. Leah was very tired but it was well worth it.
Lily, of blessed memory, passed away in 2001. Hazzan Azose remarried in 2003 to Elisa Chrem, of Lima, Peru and Cleveland, Ohio. Hazzan and Elisa Azose both live happily in Seattle, and until recently they opened their sukkah every year to children and families, who were treated to an informal concert and snacks.
Over the years, many individuals have asked Hazzan Azose to record various and sundry parts of the liturgy for them and he has accommodated them whenever he could. Many have asked him to professionally record their portions of the service. The stock answer was 'I hope to, whenever I can get some free time.' However, the 'free time' never seemed to come. At that time, one of the members of Ezra Bessaroth, Steven Baral, took the bull by the horns and told Hazzan Azose that he would just have to set aside some time to record some of the liturgy of Ezra Bessaroth. Thinking it over, the hazzan believed it would be a wonderful legacy for the synagogue, and possibly for any other synagogue carrying on the tradition from Rhodes.
Mr. Baral, underwriting the project, set aside a block of time in a studio for Hazzan Azose to do his recording this past July. There was so much recorded that it turned out to be a two CD set. "The Liturgy of Ezra Bessaroth." It is by no means comprehensive of the entire liturgy but gives a fairly good representation of the Shabbat, Holiday and High High Holiday liturgy. Since the Ezra Bessaroth has carried on the tradition of using the booklet published by Rabbi Reuven Eliyahu Yisrael, the last Chief Rabbi of Rhodes, which is all in Ladino, you will find a good portion of the CD's done in both Hebrew and Ladino. Not all of the selections are done in their entirety. In many cases, only the first and last stanzas of a particular selection have been recorded in order to give a flavor of the pizmon or tune.
After years of intensive labor and research, Hazzan Azose produced the first ever Siddur according to the tradition of the Rhodes and Turkish communites of Seattle, WA; The Zehut Yosef Siddur came out in 2002 and was immediatly embraced by the two Sephardic Synagogues in Seattle. Zehut Yosef has become the worldwide standard for Turko/Rhodesli Siddurim. In June of 2004 Hazzan Azose came out with two new versions of the Zehut Yosef Siddur, a thinner lighter version with English translation and an all Hebrew version.
Hazzan Azose has given our community a gift that can never be repaid. He has endlessly and selflessly labored to preserve every tune and every nuance of our beloved Rhodesi traditions and melodies.
In Memory of Hazzan Azose’s parents, Jack and Kadoun (Louise) Azose
These are notes that were written down by my brother, Rabbi Michael Azose, with a little editing on my part, and given as a eulogy to mom at the chapel at the Sephardic Brotherhood cemetery on the day of her passing and burial, May 27th 2005, Lag LaOmer.
Mom was born in Brusa, Turkey in 1904 to Ribbi Avraham Maimon and Vida Sultana or Victoria Maimon nee Franco. Papu Maimon was originally slated to continue in the family silk business but he had an insatiable desire to study Torah and become a Haham. So he set off for Istambul and made his way to the Beth Din and studied with the Hahamim, eventually receiving his Semiha. The reason Michael mentioned this is to give you an indication of mom’s high regard for Torah learning. Whenever she would see Michael learning, she would relate that often, as a child, she would wake up in the middle of the night and see her father poring over the holy books. When she asked him what he was doing up so late, he answered, “Meldando la Mishmara”. Mike wrote that this must have been Papu’s euphemism for studying late into the night. I, personally, feel that it is a contraction of Mishna and Gemara.
She also told us that when a highly respected Haham would pass by in his carriage, she and the other women would turn their faces away. When we asked her why, she indicated it was out of reverence.
How we enjoyed and delighted in listening to her telling us the stories of her youth in Brusa and Tekirdag. There was the story of Tio David, Papu Maimon’s brother, returning as a Turkish soldier from the battlefront and his knock on the door in the middle of the night. She told us they didn’t recognize him because he was emaciated from lack of food. She told us of how Papu and Nona Maimon took in a young girl who came to their home with a very unusual story. She said she had been kidnapped by Moslem Turks who forced her to become their servant. The young girl escaped and came to Papu Maimon revealing that she was Jewish. After Papu’s investigation verified her story, the young girl was invited to stay in their already crowded home. The happy ending is that this young girl who was known as Dona, eventually became known as Tia Dona; you see, she married Tio David.
When mom and Aunty Fanny, A”H, were unable to come to Seattle with the rest of the family in 1924, they stayed in Tekirdag with a good friend of Papu’s until they would be allowed somehow to join the family.
On a visit to Brusa, a cousin from Izmir by the name of Merkada Palachi told them that they should not go to the G-dless United States of America where their Judaism would be at stake. This is Nona’s story, the way she told it. She added that her cousin Mercada was the daughter of a big rabbi in Izmir. (Could this Rabbi have been Rabbi Avraham Palachi, the son of the illustrious Rabbi Haim Palachi? It is not unlikely.)
Papu had arranged for mom and Auntie Fanny to come in 1927, not to the United States, but to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Apparently the Jewish lawyer who worked on behalf of Papu to bring his young daughters into Canada was none other than the father of John Erlichman of the infamous Nixon Watergate scandal.
While in Turkey, mom and Auntie Fanny took oud lessons, and one of her greatest regrets was not continuing to play the oud. She insisted that she and Auntie Fanny were quite proficient in the musical art of oud playing. She also told us how Papu often requested that his daughters sing for him. Mom was proud that Papu expressed his great joy and delight in the musical talent of his daughters.
When the tickets finally arrived, Louna and Kadoun, aka Fanny and Louise, nervously, and with much trepidation, prepared for their long trek by boat to Halifax, Nova Scotia. As if the long arduous boat trip was not difficult enough, they now had to face a train trip through the entire length of Canada, from the east coast to the west coast.
Here is where another famous story of mom’s occurs. As the slow train chugged along, a gentleman approached mom and Auntie Fanny and offered the sisters some fruit, which they had theretofore never seen. Unbeknownst to them, the fruit was bananas. The two sisters, who couldn’t understand the language of the kind gentleman and were suspicious of his intentions, were concerned that this strange fruit was in fact some type of poison. So when the gentleman was out of sight, mom and Aunty Fanny threw the bananas out the window. When many years later they discussed this event, they recalled with regret their misguided actions regarding the bananas, which eventually became a favorite food for the both of them.
When Nona and Auntie Fanny finally arrived in Vancouver, Papu, through the Ashkenazic Rabbi in Vancouver whose name was Rabbi Pastinski, had arranged for the girls to stay with the Steinbergs, a kind family who had agreed to act as relatives of the girls for the sake of the Canadian immigration laws. This beautiful adopted family became real family, and many a trip to Vancouver included visits to the Steinbergs.
Mom was allowed to visit the United States and somehow she met Auntie Suzie (Angel) the daughter of Haribbi Yitzhak Azuz, my papu on my dad’s side, after whom I am named. Apparently, Auntie Suzie brought mom to the Madrona Theatre, in the Central Area. My father, a young bachelor at the time, was curious to meet the young daughter of the new Haham Maimon. He talked his way into the theatre without paying by telling the ticket taker that he was going in for only a moment to talk with his sister. The rest, as they say, is history. Dad was smitten to the extent that he devised the following plan to change her Canadian immigrant status to a more permanent ability to stay in the U.S. Dad went up to Canada on Sunday, his day off, with the intention of marrying mom in a civil ceremony, thus enabling her to enter the U.S. legally as the wife of a U.S. citizen. There was only one hitch in the plan. There were no government offices open on Sunday to perform the perfunctory ceremony. Dad was not to be deterred. He found a church and a minister who was kind enough to perform the ceremony and transfer to dad the proper papers to legalize her entry into the U.S. Of course, the actual Hatunah, Jewish religious ceremony, was conducted some time later with the proud fathers, Papu Azuz and Papu Maimon officiating on June 23, 1929.
On their honeymoon, if you want to call it that, Auntie Susie Angel, dad’s sister, went along as a chaperone. (No demandes!) ihch ihcnv. Those who understand, know of what I speak.
Life in those early years of marriage was not easy. The young couple at first lived with the in-laws and with Uncle Sam Azose. If you knew my mother, you can imagine how hard it must have been on her, but she never complained and she was always a diplomatic, skilled peacemaker. This uncomfortable situation lasted only about a year, and mom must have been elated when the young couple moved less than a block away from the in-laws but in their own rented house. It wasn’t too much longer that the behor, Yitzhak, was born. Can you imagine the excitement of both sides of the family? It was Papu Maimon’s first grandson. Unfortunately, because of his untimely passing six months after my birth, I was the only grandson he would be privileged to see.
One of the saddest days of the Maimon Family was the day Papu Maimon passed away on January 31, 1931, at the young age of 56. All his children had a special relationship with their father and this sad event would have taken its toll had there not been more semahot (joyous affairs or occasions) in each family. The other family members were marrying and having children and the closeness of the family was a great comfort and wellspring of strength. Most of the family lived in the same Central Seattle neighborhood and each family member had their own group of friends as well. Mom was a magnet and popular. Nona Maimon taught her girls well. They were all excellent homemakers. Family members can argue the point as to who was the best baker, cook, crocheter, etc., but in our eyes, there was no one who could make a tastier “yuvetch” out of leftovers than my mom. Her bulemas, borekas, boyos, biscochos, panderikas etc. were legendary.
She gave a course to U of W college students who tried to press her on amounts. My mother didn’t know from amounts. Una damla, a little of this, a little of that. In Chicago, one young lady taped her making bulemas and borekas and panderikas. The videotape has made the rounds in Mike’s community.
Mike remembers when mom was studying for her citizenship. She took her classes very seriously; so seriously, that for the first and only time that he could remember, mom did not have meals ready. She was too busy studying for her citizenship classes. She went along with a couple of other Sephardic women and they were at first put into the same class, but after the first couple of classes, mom was advanced to a class comprised of mostly fluent English-speaking Canadians. Mom complained bitterly that it was much harder for her than for her Sephardic friends.
Mom treated my dad like a true Pasha. His Turkish coffee was waiting for him when he got home from work. They enjoyed their life together and it was a beautiful relationship. But anyone who knew mom, also understood that when she wanted to get her way on a certain issue, Dad would succumb to Mom’s subtle suggestions.
Up until 2-1/2 years ago, as a 97 – 98 year old woman, she was as sharp as a tack. She would remind Mike of things that were long forgotten from his memory banks.
She was a devoted daughter to her mother, Vida Sultana, also known as Victoria, and she loved her brothers and sisters. If anyone in the community would criticize any of her siblings, she would not countenance the criticism.
Mom had a traumatic experience at the Kline-Galland Home once long ago. She never wanted to go back. However, when mom reluctantly understood that she could no longer brave it out at home taking care of dad, who had come down with Alzheimers, she allowed us to place him in Kline-Galland. We have only the highest of praise for this wonderful facility; from administrator to staff, some of the finest people to do a yeoman’s job in caring for the aged and challenged. But when dad was admitted to Kline-Galland, mom wanted more care for her Pasha. She came, at first with great trepidation, fighting the anxiety caused by that former traumatic experience. But she could not stay at home while her husband was at the Kline-Galland. Her devotion to Dad was phenomenal; she gave him a daily sponge bath to always insure his cleanliness, she fed him and stayed with him from morning to night.
In a sense, this helped mom because she socialized with so many of the wonderful Kline-Galland residents. She soon joined the discussion groups and the bingo and the learning sessions. She later joined the Senior Day Care program and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Earlier, when Dad had retired, my parents joined the Golden Age Club at the JCC and they went on short bus trips to Portland and Vancouver, B.C. among other places. They put on Broadway shows in full costume and had a grand time.
We got a kick out of their sneak performance for us. Both Mom and Dad had good voices and they used it to great advantage in their road performances.
Mom had the knack of making each of us feel as if we were her favorite. How she got away with it I don’t know but she did get away with it.
Her emunah in Hashem was solid. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Mom was unconvinced. “After all”, she would say, “Hashamayim shamayim LaHashem v’haaretz natan livnei Adam. Los cielos son cielos para el D-o, i la tierra se la desho para los ijos de Adam”. To her, it was a great hoax perpetrated on man. The scene of the moon landing we witnessed on television was in her eyes a movie scene shot somewhere in Eastern Washington near Soap Lake.
Dad tried to convince her, but even the personal letter he requested, received and eventually showed to Mom, written from the hands of Neil Armstrong himself, didn’t change her mind.
Her name, as mentioned, is Kadoun. This Turkish, Jewish name translates closely to “efficient woman”. “thv lf vnaf”….as is her name, so is she. Mom never put off until tomorrow, what she could do yesterday. There was no such thing as rushing to prepare for Shabbat. The table was set by Thursday and the comida and desayuno was ready to be served. She always had time for a relaxing cup of coffee by 2:00 p.m. every Friday no matter how late or early Shabbat came.
Around 30 or so years ago Dr. David Raphael took the occasion of our entire family being in Los Angeles to cast us in a Sephardic Pesakh Hagadah scene for his then, yet to be released “Song of the Sephardi” movie. We all gathered at David and Esther Raphael’s home where the table was set for the seder. Mom, dad, Ike, Al, Dave, Selma, Aimee (Ike’s daughter), Esther Raphael and myself were all seated, ready to shoot the Ladino ceremony when the film’s photographer had his assistant take the scene clapboard and announced, “Scene 1, Act 1 of Song of the Sephardi”. He was standing right next to Mom as he clapped the clapboard. Mom, who was startled by the surprising noise, yelled out, “Ad-o Santo” at which, the family and crew all got a great laugh. Scene 1, Act 1, Take 2.
Speaking of camp, Mom worked very hard at Sephardic Summer Camp at Camp Benbow. She understood the importance of educating Sephardic children to appreciate their Jewish and Sephardic heritage.
I am reminded that Mom would always bless us with the traditional Sephardic blessing of “ke bives sien anyos” which literally translated means “you should live for 100 years”. Some commentators tell us that the well known statement of “ad mea ve’esrim shana” which means one should live until 120 years is really a misreading of the statement at the end of Parshat Bereshit which states that man’s life on earth is 120 years. Many feel that this refers to man’s life span but in reality it was referring to the 120 years prior to the flood in which Noah was given this long span of 120 years in which to attempt to persuade this wicked generation to repent while he was building the ark. In the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) we are told by Yehuda ben Tema that at the age of 5, one should learn scripture. At 10 years of age one should learn Mishnah; at 13 one is fit for Mitzvot; at 15 for the Talmud; at 18 for Hupah; at 20, he flees from punishment; at 30, for power; at 40, for discernment; at 50, for counsel; at 60, a man attains consideration as a sage; at 70, he attains gray hair; at 80, special strength; at 90, he is bent over; at 100 it is as if he is dead and has passed and been voided from the world. Mom was right! Ke bives sien anyos. She lived by those words.
Te’eh nishmata tserurah bitsror ahayyim.