KJ Shabbat Chazzanut - Musical Program

Dear Friends,

I’m excited to welcome you to this first-of-its-kind Shabbat Chazzanut at KJ, sponsored in loving memory of Morris J. and Elsie Goldberg. This special evening is part of the continuing celebration of KJ’s 150th anniversary, focusing on music and tefillah.

׳ט ט״כ םיליהת ״דובכ רמוא ולוכ ולכיהבו״

While in His temple all say “Glory!” Psalm 29-9

Music has a way of uplifting our ordinary prayers to the extraordinary. Liturgical music with the proper nusach has always been a cornerstone of our tradition at KJ, elevating the chazzan and the congregation to spiritual heights in God’s house. Our Shabbat services will be accompanied by the renowned Hampton Synagogue choir, led by maestro Izchak Haimov and will feature a wide range of musical styles, from classic compositions of the golden age of cantorial music to contemporary settings.

What follows is the background of some of the musical selections we will be singing this Shabbat, which I hope will enhance your appreciation of the history of the pieces we will be performing.

Chaim Dovid Berson

This special Shabbat Chazzanut is sponsored in loving memory of Morris J. & Elsie Goldberg, who were inspired by the power of music to transform the act of prayer to something moving and holy. Both were leaders in their community, Congregation Kehilath Jacob, also known as “The Carlebach Shul.” They developed a deep relationship with Rabbi Naftali and Paula Carlebach, and later with their son, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. They were blessed with an understanding of the heights to which music could elevate the spirit and touched many souls through music and teaching.

Special thanks to Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky for contributing his extensive research and musical knowledge in preparing this program.

Shabbat Shalom!

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SHABBAT EVENING

Yedid Nefesh

The Friday night service opens with this soulful prayer, widely attributed to Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (1533-1600), who first published it in his work Sefer Charedim. The first letters of each of the four verses make up the four letter name of God, known in English as the tetragrammaton. The prayer describes the intense love we should have for God, which intensifies as the Shabbat begins.

Kabbalat Shabbat

Aside from the numerous melodies for which Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1925-1994) was renowned, he was also famous for leading services in the style he developed based on prayer motifs, family tradition, and the strong Chassidic influence on his life and teachings. The opening of Kabbalat Shabbat is Carlebach’s own original composition; although it is not the traditional nusach, it is in a major key and therefore still adheres to the majestic spirit of the prayer as we welcome the Shabbat, as do the various songs used throughout the Carlebach Kabbalat Shabbat experience.

Tunes we will use include Shiru LaHashem to the tune of Carlebach’s Ata Takum, and Mizmor Shiru LaHashem to Carlebach’s Hashem Oz Le’amo Yitein, composed by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach after the Yom Kippur War. Cantor Berson will sing the well known recitative Moshe ve’Aharon, one that calls for a wide range of pitches and is a popular piece among chazzanim. It is an introduction to the well known tune for Mizmor LeDavid that is a staple of the KJ Carlebach Kabbalat Shabbat. It is in a minor key, reflecting the yearning the verses express for our prayers to be answered as were those of Moses and Aaron.

KJ Thanksgiving Services, 1940s

Berlin Neue Synagogue

Tzaddik Katamar

This piece is known throughout the world and sung every Friday night in many congregations. It was composed by Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894), the choirmaster of the Neue Synagogue in Berlin and composer of many well-known choral settings of Jewish liturgy in the Western European cantorial tradition. This melody is the ending of the original setting of Psalm 92 written to be sung responsively between cantor and choir.

Hashkiveinu

This is another well known setting by Louis Lewandowski.

R’tze Vimnuchateinu

This soulful setting of a passage from the Shabbat prayers was composed by Cantor Moshe Ganchoff (1904-1997), who served in a number of New York’s most prestigious congregations and was considered one of the last representatives of the “Golden Age of Chazzanut.”

Yigdal

This piece was composed by Abraham Saqui (c.1824-1893), the first choirmaster at Liverpool’s Princes Road Synagogue. Saqui was born in London and raised in the Bevis Marks Sephardic community there. His famous Yigdal contains references to the second movement of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, and has become a standard feature of the Shabbat service in the United Synagogue in England. It was popularized by Cantor Naftali Herstik at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue.

Louis Lewandowski Jewish Museum Berlin, Wikimedia Commons Bevis Marks Synagogue, London Edwardx, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

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Emile Pierre Joseph De Cauwer, Wikimedia Commons

SHABBAT DAY

Ein Aroch Lecha

This Chassidic melody has become extremely popular throughout the world. It was originally composed by Benny Hershkovitz, and arranged for cantor and choir by Raymond Goldstein and Cantor Azi Schwartz.

Al Zot

Cantor Moshe Stern has served as Cantor in some of the most prestigious pulpits in the world, including Temple Beth El in Borough Park, where he succeeded the great Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky. This setting is based on a composition of his from 1996.

Mimkomcha

This setting is one of the earliest settings composed by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and one of his most musically complex and sophisticated. It is strongly influenced by the cantorial and classical tradition with adherence to the principle of nusach ha’tefillah as well.

Ein Kamocha

Composed by Salamon Sulzer (1804-1890) who is widely recognized as the father of synagogue music. He was the Chief Cantor of Vienna beginning in 1826, and achieved great renown, garnering such honors as Knight of the Order of Francis Joseph and a maestro of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He was held in high regard by Franz Schubert, who composed a setting of Psalm 92 just for him.

Av Harachamim

This is the second half of a setting composed by Abraham Dunajewski (1843-1911) who was the conductor of the Choir of the Great Synagogue of Odessa in pre-WWI Russia. The first part of this setting of Ein Kamocha is virtually unknown outside of synagogues with a strong and classical choral tradition. The minor key is reflective of the yearning nature of the text, which pleads for the rebuilding of walls of Jerusalem.

Franz Schubert Josef Kriehuber, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome italiacanora.net Temple Beth El Smallbones, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Mi Shebeirach for IDF Soldiers

This tefillah is set to the song El Eretz Tzvi, composed by Dubi Zeltser to words by Telma eligon-Rose. It was sung by Yehoram Gaon as part of the soundtrack for the movie Mivtza Yonatan about the Israeli mission to rescue the hostages at Entebbe in 1977. Cantor Berson’s rendition of this song, accompanied by Six13, has gone viral. (Photo top right from YouTube video: Six13 featuring Chazan Chaim Dovid Berson - Mi Shebeirach)

Avinu Shebashamayim

This contemporary setting for the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel by Cantor Sol Zim, of the Hollis Hills Jewish Center in Queens, has become a classic since its composition and is sung throughout the world.

Birkat Hachodesh

David Koussevitzky (1912-1985) was one of the four brothers in the famous cantorial family who served as cantor of Temple Emanuel in Brooklyn as well as in other positions, and taught Cantorial Arts at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He composed and performed this moving setting of the prayer for the new month. (Photo top left from YouTube video, Cantor David Koussevitzky Uvnucho Yomar Concert.)

Mi She’asa Nissim

This beautiful setting of a passage from the Prayer for the New Month was composed by A.M. Himmelstein (1906-1974), the Choirmaster of the Great Synagogue of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Uvnucho Yomar

This is one of the most famous compositions of Louis Lewandowski. Originally composed for cantor, mixed choir and organ, it was rearranged by Raymond Goldstein and became one of the signature pieces of Cantor Naftali Herstik at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. In this setting, the “Hashiveinu” section is reprised in a delicate falsetto with choral accompaniment.

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Mechalkel Chaim

Cantor Berson has introduced this melody into the weekly Shabbat service of KJ. It was composed by the late Cantor David Bagley (19322007), who served pulpits in Israel, South Africa, the United States and Canada. This week, it will be sung in a choral arrangement by Stephen Glass, former music director of Congregation Shaar Shomayim in Montreal.

Kedusha

This majestic setting of Kedushah in the Western European musical tradition was composed by Leo Low (1878-1962). Low was choirmaster at the Great Synagogue of Warsaw, and then at Temple Beth El of Borough Park. Low was also the director of the National Workers Farband Choir in New York.

Uv’yom Hashabbat

This lively setting, composed by Cantor Naftali Herstik, is built upon the nusach motifs for Chazarat Hashatz of Shabbat Musaf.

Sim Shalom

Composed by Abraham Nadel (1926-1985), who was a prominent synagogue choir conductor and composer of liturgical music. He led synagogue choirs accompanying some of the greatest cantors of the day, including Moishe Oysher, Leibele Waldman and Moshe Ganchoff.

Ein Kelokeinu

This setting for Ein Kelokeinu was composed by Dr. Zvi Talmon, the choirmaster of the Heichal Shlomo Synagogue in Jerusalem. Until the Jerusalem Great Synagogue was dedicated in 1981, Heichal Shlomo was the center for cantorial music in Jerusalem. Cantor Naftali Herstik credits Dr. Talmon as the only one who successfully created a distinctive new Israeli choral and harmonic style. Many recall this as a highlight of the services at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue in the 1980s, when the young Netanel Herstik, now cantor at The Hampton Synagogue, sang it as a solo with the choir in his angelic voice.