Yitzchok Alster

Yitzchok Alster is a Jewish educator and composer of Jewish liturgical melodies, best known for his contributions to the musical culture around Yeshiva Chaim Berlin in the 1950s and 1960s. A close student of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, he described niggun as central to spiritual life.

Musical work​

Alster composed a number of melodies that became widely sung in yeshiva and synagogue settings. Among the most enduring is Yedid Nefesh, a setting often sung at shalosh seudos, which he composed as a young student in the Catskills.

In 1960, Yeshiva Chaim Berlin released a record titled Torah Lives and Sings, which included several of Alster's compositions. He later explained that the project reflected Hutner's view of niggunim as a tool for memory and spiritual elevation, and as a way to preserve the character of a particular era.

Educational leadership​

Alster founded the Yeshiva of Pittsburgh in 1967 and later established educational frameworks for working professionals in New York. He moved to Israel in 2004, where he helped establish a kollel for English-speaking scholars.