That uniquely Jewish clergyman, the cantor, is threatened with extinction as economics and sociology combine to curtail the supply of replacements for a rapidly-aging generation of European-trained prayer leaders.
Unlike other faiths where the priest or spiritual leader conducts the liturgy, in Judaism it is the cantor who helps lead the congregation in prayer. It is his responsibility to interpret traditional modes and chants that vary with each particular occasion — Sabbath, Passover, High Holidays — and to evoke feelings of spirituality among the worshippers through his melodious renditions of the Psalms and scriptural texts that form the basis of the service.
Until recently, the major source of cantors for congregations in the United States had been the shtetl of Eastern Europe, where generations of vocally-gifted and pious young Jewish lads would study the cantorial art at the feet of the community’s senior hazzan. That source disappeared forever during the Nazi Holocaust.
With the proliferation of synagogues in the U.S. after World War II, the chief educational institutions of Judaism’s three branches — Orthodox, Conservative and Reform — each developed cantorial institutes for the training of indigenous American hazzanim (cantors).
CAREER HAS FALLEN ON HARD TIMES
Today the cantorate as a career for musically talented young Jewish men seems to have fallen on hard times, despite salaries that average over $40,000 a year, plus benefits. Cantors in a few of the most prestigious congregations can earn upwards of $70,000 per year, according to Cantor Samuel Rosenbaum of Rochester, NY, executive vice president of the Cantors Assembly (Conservative), the world’s largest body of hazzanim. Yet there is a dearth of candidates for the profession.
This year only II cantors were graduated in the United States. Eight were women invested by the School of Sacred Music at the Hebrew Union College (Reform), the only branch of Judaism that permits women to officiate as cantors. Two male cantors were graduated from the Belz School of Jewish Music at Yeshiva University (Orthodox). Only one student was graduated from the Cantors Institute (Conservative) this June, while some 60 Conservative congregations are now actively seeking full-time cantors for their pulpits.
Perhaps it’s the lure of show business — many cantors are frustrated opera singers — that has discouraged candidates for cantorial training. Another turn-off is a reluctance to get involved in every facet of congregational life — officiating at weddings and funerals, teaching Bar and Bat-Mitzvah students, conducting the choir, counseling congregants. These responsibilities make the contemporary cantorate a full-time ministry.
Half a century ago, many of the great cantors (Rosenblatt, Kusevitsky and others) were star performers who attracted overflow audiences to their synagogues — and often to their cantorial concerts. They never gave Bar-Mitzvah lessons.
Whatever the reasons, the demand for cantors far exceeds the supply — and the situation becomes more critical with each passing year as European-trained cantors reach retirement age.
To alleviate the shortage, the Cantors Assembly recently voted to establish a $1 million fund to under write scholarships to encourage the training of the 150 to 200 qualified cantors needed in the next decade. “The ship is leaking and we need to do something about it quickly,” Rosenbaum says.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
