Re: Jewish Music in the synagogue-hazzanim

[Matthew H. Fields <fields...>]

Interesting thread.  For purely selfish musicological reasons I'd like
to see the old melodies preserved.  That being said, I think a little
folk-musaf is appropriate here.

Story goes that once in olden times, the khazan called "Barchu et adonai
hamivorach!"  and the response that came back included a distracting
shrill whistling from the back of the temple.

This so disturbed the khazan that he stepped down away from the scrolls,
and asked, "Is everything all right?"

Everybody looked up at him expectantly, but nobody uttered a word.

And so he began again.  "Barchu..."

Again the response was accompanied by shrill whistling.

"B.vakasha, who is making that whistling noise?"

Eventually, some elders in the back of the temple implicated a small
child who had some sort of facial or oral deformity, and was obviously
mute aside from her or his whistling.

At this point, a wise elder is said to have intervened on the child's
behalf, saying, "Let this be a lesson to us all, that even with such
an obstacle, the child still makes an effort to praise the lord.  For
it is the praising and prayer that matters, not the exact form it
takes."

When, as a child, I first heard this tale, I wondered when the wise
men of Chelm would be called in to settle the matter.

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