‘Cantor wanted’ • By DAVID OLIVESTONE

As the hagim approach, what is the place of ‘hazanut’ in our synagogues today?

As the High Holidays draw near,

A job market opens up for cantors.

They scan the ads placed by synagogues and minyanim: “Cantor Wanted. Must have a wonderful voice...”

So begins a Yiddish golden oldie with words by Shalom ben Avraham and melody by Shalom Secunda (1894-1974), famed composer of Bei Mir Bist Du Schein and many other mainstays of the Yiddish theater and of the synagogue liturgy. The song, “Hazzonim Oif Probe” (“Auditioning Cantors”), parodies the hiring of hazanim (cantors) for the High Holidays in American synagogues with biting humor, and is a popular concert piece in which the singer gets to show off his vocal talents as he plays the part of three very different types of hazanim appearing before a typical synagogue search committee.

Are things any different today from 1935 when this parody first appeared? Israelis and Jews all over the world still gravitate to the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur more than at any other time of the year. And many Ashkenazi synagogues still look to hire a hazan and possibly even a choir for the

High Holidays, even if they do not have them during the year.

“We know of at least 240 communities in the US alone that hire someone to lead their High Holiday services,” says cantor Benny Rogosnitzky of New York’s Park East Synagogue who uses the Facebook page of the Cantors’ World organization to help synagogues find an appropriate hazan. “They range from large synagogues to Chabad houses. At least 100 of those who get hired are Israelis.”

But according to renowned cantor and director of the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute Naftali Hershtik, not all of them are professional hazanim. “Some are talented but amateur ba’alei tefillah [prayer leaders] who hopefully know how to conduct services but may be taking a job just for the experience of traveling to unusual places.” Both Rogosnitzky and Hershtik point out that this results in many professionals not finding positions. “For a hazan,” remarks Rogosnitzky, “there is nothing more frustrating, if not painful, than not to have a position for the High Holidays.”

PARADOXICALLY, WHILE fewer and fewer synagogues employ full-time cantors, hazanut (cantorial music) as entertainment seems to have increased in popularity, moving from the synagogue to the concert stage. Major concert halls and even opera houses around the world are filled to capacity as hugely talented hazanim sing the classics, accompanied by large choirs and philharmonic orchestras. In the US, lavish “Shabbatot Hazanut” (hotel weekends featuring star cantors) and cruises with evening concerts by hazanim are regularly sold out.

In Israel, there are frequent special Shabbat services featuring prominent hazanim leading services in towns all around the country and hardly a month goes by without a concert somewhere. The late Dr. Mordechai Sobol, who was a major force in bringing hazanut to audiences worldwide, produced an annual

(Yuval Ensemble for Cantorial and Jewish Music © Andres Lacko) FAMED CANTOR Yitzchak Meir Helfgot sings at a Tel Aviv concert, with philharmonic orchestra and choir, conducted by the late Dr. Mordechai Sobol.

(Milken Archive of Jewish Music) (Photos: Courtesy) (Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives, Budapest) Clockwise from top left: MOSHE KOUSSEVITZKY. MORDECHAI HERSHMAN. ZEVULUN KWARTIN. YOSSELE ROSENBLATT. GERSHON SIROTA.