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APRIL 3, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
I Master Storyteller
Rabbi Yitzy E rps on the Art of
Storytelling By Malky Lowinger
f you grew up on the classic children’s CD called “Yanky at the Pesach Seder With Zeyde,” then chances are you are already a huge fan of the multi-talented master storyteller Rabbi Yitzy Erps. Rabbi Erps has enchanted and entertained three generations of Jewish children with his incredible voices, his simple yet clever stories, his meaningful lessons, and his humorous characters. Brilliant yet unpretentious, educational yet entertaining, his work is in a class of its own. Unfortunately, lots of kids will not have the opportunity to join Zeyde at the Pesach Seder this year, which makes this production more relevant than ever. So it may be a good idea to dust off an old copy and play it for your children just for fun.
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ntrigued by the Yanky story and by Rabbi Erps’ unique talents, we spoke to him about his career and garnered some good advice about how to be a spellbinding storyteller. Even during a routine interview, Rabbi Erps answers questions by utilizing his wide range of voiceovers, from silly to scary to sophisticated. It’s like interviewing the entire cast of a feature Disney production. But Rabbi Erps is just one person who has the ability to transform his voice into countless characterizations, leaving his listeners riveted. When did he discover that he had this totally random and unusual talent? “I started discovering this,” he says, “when I was nine years old.” Nine?? “Believe it or not,” he says, “I was extremely shy when I was young. Like really shy. But I broke through my shyness with my characters. I use a special technique called method acting, and I literally become the character when I do its voice. So if the character isn’t shy, then I’m not shy.” Eventually, Rabbi Erps realized that changing his voice is a talent that is uniquely his own. “When you’re young, you think everyone can do it,” he says. “Later, you realize that it’s something unique to you.” Rabbi Erps insists that he
never trained for this, it just came naturally to him. And his talents as a storyteller were put to good use early on. In the early 1960s, Rabbi Erps was appointed as a Pirchei leader in Boro Park. In those days, Rabbi Shmuel Kunda, z”l, and Rocky Zweig, z”l, were both master storytellers on the Pirchei circuit. And while they were each super talented in their own way, young Yitzy Erps learned from them both as he also developed his own personal style. “I tried to incorporate the exciting movements of Rocky and the shtick of R’ Shmuel, while using my own voices,” he says. “I eventually developed my own shtick and added in some acrobatics. Kids loved it.” Eventually, Yitzy Erps was asked to tell stories at mass Pirchei rallies. Former Pirchei director, the legendary Rabbi Josh Silbermintz, z”l, was so impressed that he asked Yitzy to utilize his talents to entertain patients at local hospitals. Later, he joined the team at 613 Torah Avenue and did the artwork and narrations for 613 Torah Avenue Volume 3, Vayikra. If Rabbi Erps learned from the great storytellers of a previous generation, he is also considered a mentor for the next generation of popular storytellers including Rabbi Fishel Schachter, Rabbi Yoel Ferber, and his own son, Rabbi Mayer Erps. In fact, Rabbis Erps and Schechter successfully collaborated together on the WonderWorks telephone hotline for kids sponsored by the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation. So how does he do it? “Basically,” says Rabbi Erps, “I’m blessed with a lot of voices, I don’t even know how many. Hashem just sends me different voices and different accents. Not only that, but I can also take a voice and change the level of the pitch to create a whole different character. So, the possibilities are endless.”
How To Tell a Story
Many families will be home for Pesach this year and making their own Seder for the first time. The mitzvah of V’higadetah L’bincha is an integral part of the Pesach Seder. But how to tell the story when your
