Re: Music in the Synagogue - Hazzanim

[Jeff Finger <jfinger...>]

I believe that we overemphasize the role of the role of the khazzan
[cantor] in public prayer. Yes, there were great and famous khazzanim in
Europe, but they "performed" only on Shabbat and holidays. Jews prayed
in the shuls three times a day, seven days a week. As a special treat on
Shabbes and Yuntif, the khazen would lead davening.

I do not want to play down the beating that many nukha'ot [traditional
motifs used for a given service or occasion] take at the hands of
amateurs, particularly here in the Diaspora. They certainly take a
horrible beating, and I am no doubt one of the guilty.

But, I believe that a *crucial* aspect of traditional Jewish prayer is
that prayer is not handed down by some silver-throated khazzan. Public
prayer consists of a minyan [quorum of ten], each of whom has come to
carry out an *individual* obligation to pray in public, and any of whom
is perfectly capable of conducting the service.  The one conducting the
service does little more than to set a pace, more or less, for the
individual members of the congregation, and to represent the minyan in
saying certain parts of the service that can only be said within the
framework of a minyan (Kaddish, Barkhu, Repetition of the Amidah,...).

In the Shulkhan Arukh, and probably going farther back, there are
discussions about who should lead public prayer. "Having a pleasant
voice" is in the list of attributes to be considered, but, it is the
among the very least important things consider!

-- Itzhak "Jeff" Finger --

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