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Samuel Benaroya, hazzan



Samuel Benaroya, beloved Hazzan Emeritus of Sephardic Bikur Holim
Congregation in Seattle, passed away this past week in Seattle, Washington,
at the age of 95. Originally from Edirne, Turkey, he served as Hazzan for a
Turkish congregation in Geneva starting in 1934, and in 1952 moved to
Seattle to become Hazzan at SBH.

He was laid to rest this afternoon in the Seattle Sephardic Brotherhood
cemetery, after an outpouring of tributes at his synagogue today.

His biography, along with photographs and info about his compositions and
other activities, may be found at:
http://www.sbhseattle.org/Bio-Rev_Benaroya.stm

The following are excerpts from that page:

< Reverend Samuel Benaroya is a descendant of one of the most renowned
families of musicians from Edirne, Turkey, where he was born in 1908, the
youngest of five brothers and two sisters. He began his career as a singer
at the age of six in the choir of the "Kahal Grande" synagogue. At the age
of 17 he already conducted this choir and at the age of 20 he joined the
Maftirim where he studied with his uncles Haribi Avraham Bahar, Avraham
Bekhor Menahem, and also with Rabbi Hayim Bejerano (Chief Rabbi of
Istanbul), Yehuda Hasid, Ben Tzyion Yeroham and the poet Hayim Benaroya. His
father, Haham Yitzhak Benaroya, was a Hazan in Edirne for 60 years. >

< Maftirim - Rev. Samuel Benaroya is one of the last surviving singers of
the Maftirim choir of the city of Edirne. From the 17th century on, one of
the most important centers of musical and poetic creativity among Jews in
the Ottoman Empire developed in this city. The center for these activities
was in the synagogues of the city, "Portugal" and later on "Kahal Grande".
On the early mornings of the Shabbat the Maftirim, a confraternity of
composers, poets and singers assembled in the synagogue to perform Hebrew
sacred poems set to Ottom classic music. >

< In 1998, Professor Edwin Seroussi, of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and The Jewish Music Research Center, released a CD entitled Ottoman Hebrew
Sacred Songs - Performed by Samuel Benaroya, representing a part of a
comprehensive research project on Ottoman Hebrew sacred poetry and music.
The recording became a last minute effort to save the vanished lore of Rev.
Benaroya's fellow Ottom Jewish musicians, most of whom remained unrecorded.
The scarcity of Hebrew Ottoman recordings enhances the value of this
documentation. >

< It might be interesting to note that the title "Reverend" was added to
Hazzan Benaroya's name prior to his arrival into the United States. The late
(WA) Senators "Scoop" Jackson and Warren Magnuson were credited with the
idea that would permit special entrance (without quota) into the U.S. for
permanent residence by the Benaroya family. The stipulation being that Rev.
Benaroya was to use the title in every document. >


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