This Cantorial Life

A regularly updated blog written by the members of the Cantors Assembly.

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Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray writes:

“I made this cd when my kids finished a JCC preschool and I realized there was no music curriculum for the school. I loved choosing my favorite mostly traditional songs for all the holy days ending with Yiddish lullabies for nap time. It's been a popular cd with young families who tell me they play it in the car all the time! I'm so happy little kids enjoy it! I like the melodies – mostly traditional yet fun – you can practice the Ma Nishtana (two ways), Bim Bom, and the Hanukkah candle blessings.”

Available on iTunes

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A wonderful article from the perspective of a hazzan, posted by Cantor Reinwald of the ACC, over at RJ.org.

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Interior of Esnoga Synagogue or the Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam, undated

For more images, visit the William A. Rosenthall Postcards and Prints & Photographs collections in the Lowcountry Digital Library. Click here for more information on Rosenthall.

A Synagogue A Day is also on Twitter.

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Get the new Luaḥ!

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Cantor Israel Gordan on Camp Ramah

Cantor Israel Gordan:

This year, I will be going to Camp Ramah in California for the 14th time.  My first summer was back in 1990 as a camper in Giborei Yisrael, the Edah for entering 6th graders.  Ojai, CA was a long way from my home town of Longmeadow, MA, but I knew one girl from Boston who went there because her family was from California and I had an aunt and uncle in Los Angeles, so I went for it.  While that first summer wasn’t great, I made a few friends and went back again the next summer. After that, I was hooked.

I spent four summers as a camper, three as a counselor, two as a rosh edah, and then I returned a few years later as Rosh Musica, Rosh Tefilla, and now I am going to be a Yoetz.

I cannot begin to describe how important Ramah has been to me, and not just because I met my wife there.  It is no secret that there is no greater bang for your buck in Jewish education than residential summer camp.  Jewish summer camps have continuously proven enormously successful in the formation of Jewish identity, and studies have shown that camp leads to more knowledgeable, engaged, and active Jews, with lower rates of intermarriage, higher rates of synagogue membership, etc. etc.

But I was someone who grew up in a fairly traditional family.  I attended Jewish day school and was a regular attendee of synagogue.  What was so  formative for me, was the prayer experience.  Even with my background, I had never before been to a Friday night service.  That summer was my first exposure to the liturgy and nusach of Friday night and the ruach of davvening with dozens of other kids my age.

I still think about those experiences in my davvening today in synagogue and it is something that I think everyone can learn from and infuse their own davvening with.  I hope everyone gets to experience the magic of Ramah whether it’s for one day, one week, one session, or a whole summer - this one, or one in the near future.

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Rabbi Susan Silverman's family and Women of the Wall.

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The Therapeutic Riding Center of Israel המרכז הישראלי לרכיבה טיפולית (by moovgroup)

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The great hazzan Cantor Moshe Schulhof passed away this morning. His life and work had a powerful impact on many of our friends in the cantorate, and the Jewish world at large.

Baruch Dayan Emet.

Moshe Schulhof, an icon of the cantorial world and superstar of the concert stage, was born in New York City and began his singing career there as a child prodigy at the early age of six, when he performed a cantorial piece before an audience of 2,000 in New York. Foreseeing a great cantorial career in his future, at the age of eighteen the famed Cantor David Kusevitsky took him under his personal tutelage. Growing up, Moshe learned to sing in seven different languages and eventually decided to follow in the spiritual path of his father who was a rabbi and his grandfather, who was a cantor in Austria.

Schulhof studied cantorial singing and opera in New York and Montreal conservatories. At the early age of 18, he was appointed to his first pulpit in New York. Subsequently, he has held some of the most important cantorial positions in Montreal, Los Angeles and Miami as well as at the famed Concord Hotel in New York. As an internationally renowned concert artist, Moshe is in constant demand on the concert stage as well as guest cantorial appearances throughout the world thrilling Jewish as well as non-Jewish audiences the world over. Until October 2005 he served for nine years as the cantor of the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center Beth Jacob in North Miami Beach, considered by many as the premier cantorial pulpit in the United States today, where his awesome vocal talent and spiritual guidance inspired thousands of congregants.

During his career, Schulhof has performed in concerts with the Israeli Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony and other great Orchestras throughout the world and has released many very popular albums throughout the years. His most recent being “Moshe Schulhof Sings the Classics.” performed with the Romanian State Philharmonic and shortly he will be releasing a collection of live performances entitled the "Artistry of Moshe Schulhof Live." He has appeared in a concerts with other renowned cantors including his teacher David Kusevitsky, Shmuel Vigoda, Shalom Katz, David Bagley and Moshe Stern as well as with many of his contemporaries such as Benzion Miller, Yakov Motzen, Yitzhak Meir Helfgot and otheres.

In 1988, he was called upon by the American Society for the Advancement of Cantorial Art to be one of the representatives of the American Cantorate in a series of spectacular and historic concerts in the then Soviet Union, Romania and Poland. As a guest of the respective governments, he brought Jewish music and hope to those long forsaken communities. Heads of State, the Diplomatic Corps as well as the public at large gave him standing ovations wherever he sang. His tour of Poland was covered by CBS and was shown in the United States on "Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt". The Society awarded him their gold medal and gave him the designation of "Master Cantor". A recording of this tour is available under the title "Greetings from Russia".Recently, he was called upon to sing in the Rotunda of the Capitol for members of the House and Senate of the United States 

Moshe Schulhof is a prolific composer and also a recognized authority on Nusach Hatfilah as well as a gifted teacher of Hazzanut, having many students who are in themselves professional cantors and has been  on the faculty of the Academy of Jewish Religion in New York as an adjuct proffesor. Moshe Schulhof sings in seven languages being equally at home singing secular as well as religious music to world acclaim.

(Source: MosheSchulhof.com)

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The most wonderful, tense, educational, painful, awkward and delightful vacation...ever. Part I

by Cantor Frank Lanzkron-Tamarazo, Congregation Beth Shalom, Oak Park, Michigan

Have you ever been part of an awkward conversation where every subsequent word that you speak gets you into deeper trouble? You awkwardly try to repair the situation, but it's hopeless. Now imagine a free trip to post-Nazi Germany for former citizens and their children. That's why our trip to Hamburg was so intense, but also delightful.

One of the first events took place at the Hamburg Rathaus, where they deported the Jewish members of the Senat and Congress to concentration camps. We were guests of the Hamburg Senat and enjoyed a delicious vegan lunch, especially prepared for my wife, Lisa, and I.

The 2nd Deputy Mayor of Hamburg was our host. She spoke beautifully about her city of Hamburg and graciously acknowledged the atrocities that occurred within those walls. Another member of our tour discussed how she didn't even know that she was Jewish until her elderly mother passed away. Her mother's Jewish soul was destroyed by what she experienced, that she couldn’t tell her children that they were Jewish, or that she was a former citizen of Hamburg.

Why was I so nervous? The reason is complex. Imagine if you found out that your grandparents were mass murderers and you had to invite the victims' children and grandchildren to your home to apologize. How awkward is that for the relatives of those murderers and for the relatives of those who were affected by those horrific crimes?

Germany is doing everything imaginable to educate their people about the crimes committed against over 12 million people during the Shoah. It is a crime in Germany to deny the Holocaust. It is a crime to purchase any Nazi paraphernalia or to bring into the country anything with Nazi significance. They're trying, but how will we ever look at Germany as a beautiful country that created centuries of the greatest composers, writers, poets, and scientists?

To be continued…

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The בית הבראה לצעצועים – literally, “Retirement Home for Toys” – is a unique Israeli museum located in the Yafo Port. Click on the image for more information.

Discovered via The Promised Podcast

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So Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, and Krishna walked into a synagogue… by Hazzan Michael Weis, Brotherhood Synagogue photos ©Lauren Faith Photography

And so it was this past Sunday, June 9 at Brotherhood Synagogue in Manhattan. Our former Quaker meeting house turned shul played host to an interfaith music festival called Voices of the Sacred.

It was the first concert I ever organized, and I wasn’t even a featured performer.

I sang a little bit at the beginning of the finale, when we brought back all our artists after three and a half amazing hours—Basya Schechter (Jewish), Khalil Ismail (Muslim), Yungchen Lhamo (Buddhist), Peace and Serenity Gospel Choir (Christian) and Anjula Prasad (Hindu)—to sing “Sanctuary,” a song that I had first heard sung by Jews, but which I later discovered comes out of the Evangelical Christian world. It was the perfect ending to a transcendent evening, one that was historic in the life of my synagogue and the highlight of my own professional life.

Living in New York City, concerts are a dime a dozen, so not even our own congregants are terribly likely to attend, no matter how big a draw we bring in. There are just too many other activities and events constantly vying for their attention. So, I needed to find a much stronger hook to pull off an event like this, especially one that promised to bring in performers that nobody in my congregation had ever heard of. Where to begin?

I have always believed that all religions are simply attempts by various cultures to connect to the Holy, as they understand the Holy. Who and what we call IT may be different, our sacred writings may be different, how our cultures look and sound may be dramatically different, but whatever else we may do, all religions aim to help us connect to IT. What’s more, as Marianne Williamson points out, “Everyone is on a spiritual journey. Most people just don’t know it.”

And so, though it may seem obvious, I think it bears repeating: music is a universal language that transcends the differences of language, culture and theology, because it speaks directly to our emotions. In the end, this concert wasn’t about music at all: it was about using music to create an emotional encounter with our shared humanity. By sharing the sacred music of different faith traditions, we were able to get a taste of how our oft-misunderstood neighbors connect to the same sense of holiness that we seek ourselves.

…and they sang together with one voice.

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This is random – and delightful!

Tchaikovsky Flashwaltz at Hadassah Hospital (by Hadassah)

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Enosh Kechotsir by Louis Lewandowski – performed by the teen choir at Beth El, Bethedsa, Maryland. Bravi!

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Foreign Policy: Why is it important that there be a Jewish state?

Shimon Peres: …The Jewish people are small in number and great in concept. Judaism was the first example of a rebellion of the people. It started with the exodus from the house of slaves and a journey to the Promised Land. That journey is not yet over. There are still houses of slavery, and we are still engaged in making the Promised Land an island of promise. Judaism started with “Briat HaOlam” [Genesis] and it continues with “Tikkun Olam” [Healing the World]. In my judgment, Judaism is intrinsically never satisfied with the way things are, but aiming to improve endlessly.

Happy birthday, Mr. Peres! Ad me’ah ve’esreem!

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The latest from Cantors Assembly (@CantorsAssembly). The Cantors Assembly is the world's largest organization of cantors serving the Jewish world

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“100 Voices: A Journey Home” is a compelling and moving musical documentary that uniquely tells the history of Jewish culture in Poland. It highlights the current resurgence of Jewish culture through the personal reflections and musical selections of a group of cantors who made an important historical mission to the birthplace of Cantorial music. The documentary will give generations the opportunity to learn about and re-embrace the Jewish culture that produced one of the most artistic and educated societies that once flourished in Europe. Above all, the film celebrates the resilience and the power of Jewish life, while telling the story of two peoples who shared intertwined cultures.

Source: 100 Voices: A Journey Home

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Makhelat Hamercaz, Central Jersey’s Jewish soul singers, will celebrate 10 years together and Israel’s 65th birthday on June 23, with “Israel @ 65: Spirit in Song,” a concert featuring music from Broadway, Opera, and Israel at the Marasco PAC, 1629 Perrineville Road, Monroe Township.