The Making of a Reform Jewish Cantor
The Making
OF A
Reform Jewish Cantor
Musical Authority, Cultural Investment
Judah M. Cohen
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published with the generous support of the Helen B. Schwartz Fund for New Scholarship in Jewish Studies of The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, Indiana University
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
First paperback edition 2019
© 2009 by Judah M. Cohen
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Library of Congress has catalogued the original edition as follows:
Cohen, Judah M.
The making of a Reform Jewish cantor : musical authority, cultural investment / Judah M. Cohen.
p. cm.—(A Helen B. Schwartz book in Jewish studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35365-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. New York Campus. School of Sacred Music. 2. Cantillation—Instruction and study. 3. Cantors (Judaism)—Education. 4. Reform Judaism. I. Title.
MT4.N5H439 2009
296.4'62—dc22
2009012332
ISBN 978-0-253-04549-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-04547-8 (e-book)
1 2 3 4 5 24 23 22 21 20 19
For Rebecca, who has known the project from the start, and Rena (b. 2006), who witnessed its completion.
Contents
Acknowledgments and Attributions
Note on Transliteration and Transcription
INTRODUCTION: A Moment of Transformation
4. Through the Prism of the Practicum
6. A Prism of Cantorial Identity
CONCLUSION: Cantors in Israel and the Structure of Musical Authority
Appendix A: Ashkenazic and Sephardic Pronunciation Table
Appendix B: Notes on Audiovisual Materials
Acknowledgments and Attributions
As with any major undertaking, a book never results solely from the work of a single person. What appears on these pages (and accompanying materials) resulted from a lucky and benevolent confluence of individuals, all of whom devoted time and effort to see this project through. Without them, this work would have remained merely an intellectual adventure.
Kay Kaufman Shelemay guided my years of research with a steady hand and unending support. Her constant, positive involvement over the past years has influenced every page of this work. Thomas F. Kelly and Richard K. Wolf provided valuable and detailed comments, giving me the pleasure of mulling over my topic in numerous thoughtful and interesting ways.
In the field, I found a mentor, colleague, research associate, “site advisor” and academic sibling in Mark Kligman, who enthusiastically took me under his wing as I started exploring ideas about Jewish music in New York City. His insights, as a fellow Jewish music scholar, and as Hebrew Union College’s resident ethnomusicologist, have been invaluable to my understanding of the School of Sacred Music and its environment. He has opened many doors for me, both in my research and in the professional academic world.
I am grateful to Cantor Bruce Ruben, the current director of the School of Sacred Music, for generously sharing of his own researches and resources on the School of Sacred Music’s history. Dr. Gary Zola and Eleanor Lawhorn, at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, also provided enthusiastic assistance in helping me locate and access material on this and several other fronts.
For facilitating my fieldwork in Israel, I owe much gratitude to Cantor Eliyahu Schleifer and Rabbis Michael Marmur and Shaul Feinberg. They graciously granted my requests to spend time at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion campus in Jerusalem, and let me sit in on classes, record religious events, and take part in every facet of campus life. Eliezer and Chava Shaykevitz, distant relatives but close friends, opened their home and offered to serve as “my embassy” as I learned to function within a new environment.
In New York, Cantor Israel Goldstein, director of the School of Sacred Music during my research, looked kindly on my project and took a chance by allowing a stranger into School life with little introduction. Thank you also to Cantors Robert Abelson, Richard Botton, Andrew Edison, Martha Novick, David Lefkowitz, Jacob Mendelson, Noah Schall, Benjie Ellen Schiller and Faith Steinsnyder—all master cantors and first rate mentors, who became my teachers in more ways than they know. Joyce Rosenzweig and Allen Sever, both extraordinary musicians, were equally helpful in their interest and assistance with my research.
My wife Rebecca has been a fellow traveler on this journey, constantly serving as a model of efficiency for me to follow. Thank you for your love, your companionship, your welcome distractions and your encouragement—not to mention your patience and insight into my theoretical rantings. Our daughter Rena, born in 2006, napped diligently as I worked on completing this book, and was probably keenly