Champions of Hazzanut (was: Shevach/Salonika)

[Sam Weiss <samweiss...>]

Robert Cohen <rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com> wrote:

   >Well, I don't know that that's at all
   >anomalous on an Orthodox record. 
   >Fact is, much of the Orthodox world is I think *very* comfortable 
and at
   >ease incorporating/integrating contemporary musical styles into their
   >music.
   >Perhaps because they feel grounded enough Jewishly that they
   >don't feel at all threatened.

   >Compare--though this is certainly not the last word on this by any
   >means; it's not black-and-white--the unease/distaste/disgust
   >with which non-Orthodox champions of hazzanut react to folk and
   >popular, etc., styles of rendering liturgy.


Allow me to add some shades of grey to this topic that Robert broaches.

I believe that there is litte difference between non-Orthodox Champions of
Hazzanut and Orthodox C.O.H.'s insofar as they both worry about
=displacement= of Hazzanut, and they both are unworried about the
=co-existence= of all types liturgical singing.  An important 
distinction also exists
between C.O.H.'s =in the synagogue=  (these tend to be Non-Orthodox, and 
are
predominantly cantors) and those who simply champion Hazzanut  =as an art
form= (these tend to be Orthodox, and are predominantly lay people).  The
reason why the former category usually does not comprise the Orthodox is
because the virtual displacement of Hazzanut in the general American and 
Israeli
Orthodox synagogoue, other than on the High Holidays, has already 
occured.  (I
lack sufficient information regarding the European situation.)

Needless to say, C.O.H.'s in the synagogue, if they are cantors, have as 
one
reason for their campaign simple economics (e.g. my daughter's college 
tuition). 
Leaving that sub-category aside, there remain other factors in championing
Hazzanut -- none of which, I believe, relates with statistical 
consistency to one's
Jewish groundedness/threatenedness quotient.

Civlization:  Hazzanut is arguably the most original contribution of the 
Jewish
people to the world's art forms.  It merits preservation at least as 
much as any
item on the Endangered Species list or any item usually enlisted in the 
service of
establishing our place in the world's civilizations.

Art:  Hazzanut is a highly sophisticated art form that uniquely 
integrates and
rewards textual awareness, musical sensitivity, vocal refinement, 
improvisational
skills, and other areas of intelligence and Jewish education.  
Nevertheless, it once
had the power to attract to its charms Jews (and a few Gentile 
cogniscenti) of all
levels of society, while today all levels of Jewish society are 
oblivious to it.  Of
course, as in the case other unappreciated art, this does not suggest a 
deficiency
in the art form.

Religion:  Hazzanut, particularly in the context of a synagogue service, 
has the
capacity to engender unique moments of religious inspiration in the 
singer as
well as the listener.  This capacity is directly related to one's 
Jewish, musical,
linguistic, tempremental and spiritual skills and capacities.  The 
tempremental
factor is probably the most under-appreciated one in the list, as it 
accounts -- in
tandem with the four other factors -- for the many fervid Orthodox 
Champions
of Hazzanut well as the widespread Orthodox apathy towards Hazzanut. 
Moreover, while most Orthodox C.O.H.'s are devoted to Hazzanut only as 
an art
form outside the synagogue, it is important to remember that many of these
people pursue religious inspiration outside as well as inside the 
synagogue. 

Aesthetics:  To paraphrase The Byrds and Kohelet-- there is a time to 
nosh and a
time to dine; a time to notice and a time to absorb; a time to 
participate and a
time to be overwhelmed; a time to sing and a time to shut up and 
listen.  There
was a time, for example, when Black and White photography reigned 
supreme in
artistic circles as well as in the pages of mass journalism, and color 
photography
was relegated to the "snapshot" and the experimental.  Each met a specific
aesthetic need.  Gradually, with technical progress and changing 
aesthetics, color
practically displaced B/W photography, creating the assumption or the 
illusion
that color was an =improvement= over B/W.  In actuality, all that was
happening was that an aesthetic hunger was left unsatisfied.

Architectural and devotional aesthetics are yet another factor to 
consider.  A
grand synagogue interior, a highly structured service, extensive Hebrew 
liturgy,
a formal sermon -- all of these demand, aesthetically, one kind of 
music.  A
Khavura or Shtiebel setting demands another.  That today's mainstream
congregations usually do not appreciate the incongruity between simplistic
musical tastes and elaborate worship settings is an aesthetic joke or an 
aesthetic
crime, depending on your outlook.

Tradition:  Hazzanut is one of the ingredients that makes "us" who we are
ethnically and culturally as Ashkenazic Jews, whether we are aware of it 
or not. 
(The current renewed interest in Hazzanut in the wake of the Klezmer 
revival is
an example of how awareness can be raised.)  As a musical ingredient it 
takes its
place among the myriad other ingredients in such areas as genetics, 
religion,
cuisine, linguistics, etc. etc.   It is thus something worth championing 
if we
champion Ashkenazic Jewish culture.

______________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ


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