Re: Nittl

[Cantor Neil & Katie Schwartz <schwartz...>]

>
>> Can't a guy (or now a gal) make an honest living without someone
>> like you telling us we shouldn't even exist?
>
> hey, guy, sure - you can exist. That was never a problem from my
> keyboard.  It's the haughtiness that ought to go, in my opinion.
> Drop the 'tude. Drop the airs. The title. All of it.
>
> And the silly hat. It seems to have gone to your heads.
>
> This shtuss about you guys being the purveyors of a long tradition
> and all that, sure, okay, great, but so does EVERY other service
> found in Judaism. Is Mohel a title? No, it's an honor. Gabbai, the
> same. Is Schohet a title? No, it's not.
> It's a PRIVILEGE to serve the Jewish community in any way possible!
> All Jews are commanded to serve our Creator with all our (humble)
> hearts - even cantors.
>
> Since when does behaviour befitting a medieval German guild fit
> into that category?
>

This is turning into semantics, which is not such fun.  However,
here goes an attempt at a reasoned reply which hopefully will not
degenerate into personal attacks - if it does, I'm outta here.

1. I truly feel badly if any of us Cantors come across as being
   haughty, including myself.  That is a serious criticism, and
   unfortunately the profession as it was once practiced could
   lend itself to that charge.  However, as should be quite clear
   by now, the profession has changed dramaticly since WW II, and
   most of us now spend most of our time teaching.  Any Cantor
   who is involved in these InterNet discussions is likely to be
   that type of Cantor, and thus sees this as a forum for sharing
   among folks who are interested in Jewish music of all types.

2. With all due respect, I will be happy to "drop the attitude"
   and "drop the airs", but I will not "drop the title"!  Would
   you ask the same of a Rabbi or medical doctor?  4 years of
   college and 5 years of grad school ought to be worth a title
   if that's part of the deal - lawyers use the "Esq." after
   their name, and a Ph.D. is usually called "Dr." also.  The
   difference between a Rabbi and a Cantor versus a Mohel and
   a Shochet is simply that we are trained clergy; when a Mohel
   is also a Rabbi, he is addressed as such.

3. Most of us do not wear the "silly hat" nowadays.  For the
   High Holy Days, I wear a white Bukharan kippa; that is also
   the only time I wear a robe (or kittel).  What is interesting
   is to see who wears a "big" tallit and a crocheted kippa -
   one can do "Jewish religious sociology" on that subject.

4. Yes, of course it's a privilege to serve the Jewish community
   through all of these professions.  We all reflect traditions
   about how to serve the Jewish community in our own ways, and
   we should all be humble about the honor of doing so.  However,
   as I said above, the way some of us serve is by being clergy.
   With that responsibility comes a title, just like "Reverand"
   for Christian clergy.  It does not imply lack of humility.

5. You are correct about one thing which we don't like to talk
   about much:  the professional associations of Rabbis and
   Cantors in all the movements do function as unions or guilds.
   However, I'm not sure that this is a negative comment:  the
   medieval guilds served an important function in the society
   of their time.  By controlling the standards for the emerging
   professions, the guilds paved the way for our modern economy.

   To an extent, this is what we do when we say that one must
   have command of a certain body of knowledge to qualify for
   membership in our professional associations.  Separate from
   issues of pensions and parsonage, this is a way of putting
   "boundries" on who is a "Shaliach Tzibbur" and who is also
   a clergyperson.  It may surprise you to know that in our
   conventions, issues like those you have raised do come up.
   We have elder members who constantly remind us that we are
   not doing this for pride or attention, but rather to serve
   our communities humbly through our special vehicle of music.

 Alex, I hope that all this puts you somewhat at ease that we
are not trying to use the profession of Cantor as a source of
haughtiness, but rather simply as one of several ways to serve
HaShem and the Jewish community.  If I have not convinced you,
then I am sorry to have taken your time.
                                                 Happy Hanukka,

                                                 Neil S.