Hazzan
A
hazzan or
chazzan (
Hebrew for "cantor") is a
Jewish musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the synagogue in songful
prayer.
There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources. The
Jewish prayer services have their own entry; the prayers in these services are collected in a prayerbook known as the
siddur.
The person leading the congregation in public
prayers is called the
shaliach tzibbur (
Hebrew for "emissary of the congregation"). Traditional
Jewish law restricts the
shaliach tzibbur to be males over the age of 13; the non-Orthodox Jewish movements allow women over the age of 12 to have this role as well.
In theory, any lay person can be a
shaliach tzibbur; most synagogue attending Jews serve in this role at least once in their life. In practice, those with the best voice and the most knowledge of the
prayers serve much more often.
The term
hazzan may have been borrowed from the Assyrian word "Hazanu." In the
Talmud the term is used to denote the "overseer": (1) of a city; (2) of a court of justice; (3) of the Temple; (4) of the synagogue. It also comes from the word Hazzon, denoting a "visionary." The early
hazzanim (the plural of
hazzan) were most likely prophets. In regard to a
hazzan's duties in the
synagogue, the Talmud notes that 2,000 years ago, he brought out the rolls of the
Torah, opened them at the appointed readings for the week, and put them away again, with trumpet-blasts he announced the beginnings of
Sabbaths and holy days from the roof of the synagogue, he attended to the lamps of the synagogue, he accompanied the pilgrims that brought the firstlings to the sanctuary of Jerusalem. His place was in the middle of the synagogue, on the wooden
bimah (raised platform), and sometimes would read aloud from the Torah. A passage in the Jerusalem Talmud (Ber. ix. 12d), implies the hazzan also led the prayers in the synagogue.
During the early
medieval era, the duties of reading from the Torah and of reciting the
prayers were included, as a rule, among the functions of the
hazzan. The blowing of the
shofar was also one of his duties, as may be seen from a responsum of Rabbi Solomon ben Adret (No. 300). He acted sometimes as secretary to the congregation. He was assisted, especially on festival days, by a chorus (
meshorerim, singers). This institution was afterward developed in
Poland and
Germany, where a singer stood on each side of the precentor and accompanied him, sometimes in high, sometimes in low, tones, at intervals singing independently. Today, the
hazzan leads the prayer service and therefore must be fluent in all aspects of the liturgy. This includes knowledge of the meanings of the Hebrew words that he is saying, the way each prayer is supposed to be chanted, using the correct musical modes, and laws and customs regarding the chanting of the
liturgy. In the last 100 years, his duties sometimes have come to include teaching
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah classes, Hebrew school teaching, adult education programs, leading or working with a choir, and concertizing.
The office of the
hazzan increased in importance with the centuries. As public worship was developed in the
geonic period, and as the knowledge of the
Hebrew language declined,
singing gradually superseded the didactic and hortatory element in the worship in the synagogue.
This is not necessarily true today, particularly in the world of Orthodox Jews where the role of the chazzan has diminished substantially. As congregants have become more fluent in their ability to read the text, understand the words and perform the melodies, the chazzan increasingly has become seen as superfluous.
Additionally, there is a difference between the traditional cantor who was more of an opera singer that sang for the congregation and the chazzan of today who is interested in getting the congregation involved. People attribute this shift to
Shlomo Carlebach as well as other factors such as the cost of a chazzan and disinterest in the "old tunes".
Even in the oldest times the chief qualifications demanded of the
hazzan, in addition to knowledge of Biblical and liturgical literature, were a pleasant voice and an artistic delivery; for the sake of these, many faults were willingly overlooked. The
hazzan was required to possess a pleasing appearance, to be married, and to wear a flowing beard. Sometimes, according to Isaac of
Vienna (13th cent.), a young
hazzan having only a slight growth of beard was tolerated.
Maimonides decided that the
hazzan who recited the prayers on an ordinary
Sabbath and on week-days need not possess an appearance pleasing to everybody; he might even have a reputation not wholly spotless, provided he was living a life morally free from reproach at the time of his appointment.
But all these moderations of the rule disappeared on holidays; then an especially worthy
hazzan was demanded, one whose life was absolutely irreproachable, who was generally popular, and who was endowed with an expressive delivery. Even a person who had once appealed to a non-Jewish court, instead of to a Jewish court, in a disputed question could not act as
hazzan on those days, unless he had previously done penance (
Shulkhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim, 581).
In the early Middle Ages the office of
hazzan seems to have been held in high esteem, for scholars like
Rabbi Eliezer ben Meshullam and Rabbi Meïr acted as the leaders in prayer. As late as the end of the fourteenth century Jacob Möln ha-Levi (
Maharil), at the express desire of the congregation, read the prayer on special festivals, such as New-Year, the Day of Atonement, the eve of the 9th of Av, Hosha'na Rabbah, and Shemini 'Atzeret. In
Spain, however, even at the beginning of the fourteenth century, Jews of the better families seem no longer to have adopted this calling, and the position of the
hazzan in Spain was a source of surprise and grief to the German Asher ben Jehiel. No other communal official of the Middle Ages occasioned so much and so frequent complaint as the
hazzan. As early as the ninth century complaint was made that the
hazzanim changed the
text of the regular prayers. In connection with the
piyyutim, some
hazzanim introduced melodies taken from non-Jewish sources, which in some cases was a controversial move.
Against these changes Alfasi (Responsa, No. 281), the "Book of the Pious" (ed. Basel, Nos. 238, 768), Maimonides ("Moreh," i. 59), Asher ben Jehiel ("Besamim Rosh," iv 22), and others protested in vain. The earlier Jewish melodies, not having been written down, were changed by the
hazzanim, consciously or unconsciously, in accordance with their individual tastes, which were often very poor. Their vanity also led them to prolong single notes and to insert interludes of song. Thereby the prayers were greatly lengthened. Complaints on this score were of no avail.
Hazzanim were continually censured for vanity. According to Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (ib.), they sang only what was most likely to win applause.
The role of
hazzans as a respected full-time profession has become a reality in recent centuries. In the last two centuries Jews in a number of European communities, notably Germany and England, came to view professionally trained hazzans as clergy. After the enlightenment, when European nations gave full citizenship and civil rights to Jews, professionally trained hazzans were accepted by the secular government as clergy in the same way that accepted rabbis as clergy.
In an interesting turn of events, the United States government recognized cantors as the first Jewish clergy, even before
rabbis were recognized.
In the USA there are three major organizaiontss for professionally trained hazzanim (Hebrew plural of Hazzan), one from each of the major Jewish denominations.
*American Conference of Cantors - Reform Judaism [
1]
*Cantors Assembly - Conservative Judaism [
2]
*Cantorial Council of America - Orthodox Judaism [
3]
The Reform Seminary where cantors are trained in a five-year program along with rabbinic and education students isHebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music (New York) Reform. (www.huc.edu)The curriculum for students in these programs generally include, but are not limited to:
* Learning a nusach (liturgical tradition.)
* Learning the laws and traditions pertaining to Jewish prayer service
* The history and content of the siddur
* Music theory, sight-reading sheet music
* Learning an instrument, usually a piano or guitar.
* Singing technique
* Cantillation - tropes for the liturgical chanting of biblical books
* Choral
* Jewish History
* Tanach (Bible)
* Jewish Music History
The period between the two World Wars is often referred to as the "golden age" of
hazzanut (cantorial performance). Some of the greats include
Abraham Davis,
Moshe Koussevitzky,
Zavel Kwartin (1874-1953),
Jan Peerce,
Joseph "Yossele" Rosenblatt (1882-1933),
Gershon Sirota (1874-1943),
Leon Gold (1900-1986),
Yitzchak Eshel (1912-2006),
Pierre Pinchik,
David Werdyger, and
Leibale Waldman.
*
Rabbi*
Judaism*
Siddur*
Jewish servicesRecordings
*
Virtual Cantor - Free MP3 recordings of nearly the entire Ashkenazic liturgy.
*
Sephardic Pizmonim- www.pizmonim.org- Middle Eastern Pizmonim Recordings for Sephardic Cantors.
*
Chazzanut Online - a wealth of detailed information and recordings.
*
Jewish Music.com*
Cantorial Music Page of Cong. Emunath Israel, NYC - MP3's of Ashkenazic nusach (liturgy) - supplements the Virtual Cantor website
Cantorial Organizations
*
Cantors World (Orthodox)
*
The Cantors Assembly (Conserative/Masorti)
*
American Conference of Cantors (Reform)
*
Cantorial Council of America (Orthodox)
*
The Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform)
More info
*[
4] (Hazzan)
