Hillel paley biography

Some of the Jewish music world’s most talented composers are also marbitzei Torah... it’s about letting everyone hear the soundtrack of the beis medrash 

"My rebbeim didn’t encourage me to compose music,” shares RABBI HILLEL PALEY, a maggid shiur in Yeshivas Chemdas HaTorah in Beit Shemesh who has dozens of classic compositions to his credit.

“In fact, it was the opposite — they worried that it would come at the cost of learning. My rebbeim were the sentinels who prevented my music from becoming a profession, and so I’ve always remained an outsider — I dabble in music, but I never enter a professional studio.”

That said, Rabbi Paley is the composer of many well-known songs, from “Shiru Lamelech” (Yeedle), “Ad Heina” (Avraham Fried), “Ochilah Lo’Keil” (Lipa), “Oz Yiboka” (Sruli Ginsberg), “Mesikus HaTorah,” “Torah Hakedoshah” (MBD), and so many other classics.

He shares an interesting story about the latter song, whose words are a soulful plea to the Torah itself to ple