Ahazzan (/ˈhɑːzən/;[1]Hebrew:[χaˈzan],lit. 'hazan') orchazzan (Hebrew:חַזָּן,romanized: ḥazzān, pluralḥazzānim;Yiddish:חזן,romanized: khazn;Ladino:חזן,romanized: hasan) is aJewish musician orprecentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songfulJewish prayer.[2] In English, ahazzan is often referred to as acantor, a term also usedin Christianity.
An individual leading a Jewish congregation in public prayer is also called ash'liaḥ tzibbur (Hebrew:שליח ציבור,lit. 'messenger of the public'). Any person is called ash'liach tzibbur while leading prayer. However, the termhazzan more commonly refers to someone with formal specialized training in leading prayers or who is appointed to lead prayers regularly in a givensynagogue without a formally trainedhazzan.[3]
Halakha (Jewish law) restricts the role ofsh'liah tzibbur to adult Jews; inOrthodox Judaism,only males can lead public prayer before mixed-sex groups.[4] In theory, any layperson can be ash'liah tzibbur; many synagogue-going Jews will serve in this role from time to time, especially on weekdays or on ayahrzeit. Proficiency in Hebrew pronunciation is preferred. In practice, in synagogues without an officialhazzan (or in the temporary absence of one), those with the best voice and the greatest knowledge of the prayers typically assume the role.[citation needed]
Even in the earliest times, the chief qualifications demanded of thehazzan—in addition to knowledge of biblical and liturgical literature and prayer motifs (Yiddish:שטײַגער,romanized: shtayger)—were a pleasant voice and artistic delivery. For the sake of these, many faults were willingly overlooked. Thehazzan was required to possess a pleasing appearance,[5] to be married, and to have a flowing beard.[6] Sometimes, according toIsaac ben Moses of Vienna (13th century), a younghazzan having only a slight growth of beard was tolerated.Maimonides ruled that thehazzan who recited the prayers on an ordinaryShabbat and on weekdays 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.[citation needed]
All the above-noted moderations of the rules disappeared on holidays, when an especially worthyhazzan was demanded: one whose life was absolutely irreproachable, who was generally popular, and endowed with an expressive delivery. Even a person who had ever litigated in a non-Jewish court—instead of aJewish court—could not act ashazzan on those days, unless he had previously done penance.[7] However, many authorities were lenient in this regard. As long as ahazzan was accepted by the congregation (מרוצה לקהל,m'rutzei l'kahal), he was permitted to lead the prayers even on the holiest of days.
Today, ahazzan, particularly in more formal (usually not Orthodox) synagogues, is likely to have academic credentials—most often a degree in music or sacred music, sometimes a degree in music education,Jewish religious education, or a related discipline. The doctor of music degree is sometimes awarded to honour ahazzan.
Early sources in theMishnah refer to a position calledchazzan hakenesset, which involved leadership roles in public prayer, although not necessarily involving music or singing. Later, as public worship was developed in theGeonic period and as the knowledge of the Hebrew language declined, singing gradually superseded the role of sermons in synagogue worship, and the role ofchazzan began to focus on chanting or singing of the prayers.[8] Thus, while the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources, the office of the ḥazzan increased in importance with the centuries, evolving a specialized set of skills and becoming a career in itself.[9]
The role of thehazzan 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 Britain, came to view professionally trainedhazzanim as clergy[3] and thehazzan as the deputy rabbi. After the enlightenment, when European nations gave full citizenship and civil rights to Jews, professionally trainedhazzanim were accepted by the secular governments as clergy just as rabbis were.
Paradoxically, the United States government recognized cantors as the first Jewish clergy, even beforerabbis were recognized: as a congregation could be organized and led by a committee of Jewish laypersons, who would not have the expertise in liturgy ahazzan would have, newly forming congregations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes hired ahazzan for a synagogue (and made sure that a kosher butcher was established in the neighborhood) for some time before setting about hiring a rabbi, seeing thehazzan (and theshokhet, or kosher butcher) as a more immediate need. Thehazzan therefore solemnized marriages and otherwise represented the congregation in the eyes of civil authorities.
In the United States, manyhazzanim supplement their ministry by also earning certification asmohels forbris ceremonies.
In the United States, there are three main organizations for professionally trainedhazzanim, one from each of the major Jewish denominations:
Many members of theCantors Assembly are trained at theH. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music at theJewish Theological Seminary of America. Many members of theAmerican Conference of Cantors are trained at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music atHebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Both of these programs offer a five-year training program. Members of the Cantorial Council, the Orthodox cantorial association, can train at thePhilip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music atYeshiva University in New York.
ALEPH, the Alliance forJewish Renewal, includes a cantorial training program as part of its ordination program.
Full cantorial training is also offered by the Cantorial School of theAcademy for Jewish Religion (California) in Los Angeles, the Cantorial Program at the similarly namedAcademy for Jewish Religion in New York, and the School of Jewish Music atHebrew College. These institutions are unaffiliated with any particular Jewish denomination.
The curricula for students in these programs generally include, but are not limited to:
Until 2012, neither theReform norConservative streams used the termordained for trained cantors; use of the terminvested precluded confusion with those they titled rabbi.[13] In 2021, Conservative Judaism's flagship institution, the Jewish Theological Seminary, began using the termordain with respect to cantors.
In the 21st century, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism no longer maintain gender distinctions,[14] and therefore women often serve as cantors in these communities.[3]
The earliest known womanḥazzan,Julie Rosewald, called "Cantor Soprano" by her congregation, is sometimes called the United States' first female cantor, serving San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El from 1884 until 1893.[15][16] However, she was not ordained.
Another early and un-ordained womanḥazzan wasMadame Goldye Steiner, who sang in cantorial concerts as well as in Broadway shows throughout the 1920s. She was one of the first African-American female cantors.[17]
In 1955,Betty Robbins (born Berta Abramson in 1924, in Greece) was appointed as cantor of Temple Avodah, a Reform congregation in Oceanside, New York. Like Rosewald, she was not formally ordained, but "the spokesman for the School of Sacred Music, founded in 1947 as the first training school for cantors in [the United States], said today there was no religious law, merely a tradition, against women becoming cantors", indicating the school's institutional approval.[18]
In 1975Barbara Ostfeld-Horowitz became the first ordained female cantor in Jewish history.[19]
The Women Cantors' Network was founded in 1982 to support and advocate for women cantors by Deborah Katchko, the second woman ever to serve as a cantor in a Conservative synagogue.[20] Initially a group of only twelve women, its membership grew to 90 by 1996.[18] The organization holds an annual conference.[21]
In 1987Erica Lippitz andMarla Rosenfeld Barugel became the first two female cantors ordained inConservative Judaism; they were ordained at the same time by the Cantors Institute of theJewish Theological Seminary in New York City.[22][23][24]
TheCantors Assembly, a professional organization of cantors associated with Conservative Judaism, did not allow women to join until 1990.[25]
Sharon Hordes became the first cantor (female or otherwise) in Reconstructionist Judaism in 2002.[26][27]
Avitall Gerstetter, who lived in Germany, became the first female cantor in Jewish Renewal (and the first female cantor in Germany) in 2002.
Susan Wehle became the first American female cantor in Jewish Renewal in 2006,[28] serving until her death in 2009.[29] The first American women to be ordained as cantors in Jewish Renewal after Susan Wehle's ordination were Michal Rubin andAbbe Lyons, both ordained on January 10, 2010.[30]
In 2001Deborah Davis became the first cantor (female or otherwise) in Humanistic Judaism; however, Humanistic Judaism has since stopped graduating cantors.[31]
In 2009, Iran-bornTannoz Bahremand Foruzanfar was ordained as a cantor by the non-denominational[32]Academy for Jewish Religion (California), becoming the first femalePersian ordained cantor in the United States.[33]
The period between the two world wars is often referred to as the "golden age" ofhazzanut (cantorial performance). The great figures of this era includeZavel Kwartin (1874–1953),Moritz Henle (1850–1925),Joseph "Yossele" Rosenblatt (1882–1933),Gershon Sirota (1874–1943), andLeib Glantz.
In the post–World War II period, prominent cantors wereMoshe Koussevitzky,David Werdyger,Frank Birnbaum,Richard Tucker andAbraham Lopes Cardozo (1914–2006). Operatic tenorJan Peerce, whose cantorial recordings were highly regarded, was never a cantor by profession but often served as one during thehigh holidays.
Popular contemporary cantors includeShmuel Barzilai,Naftali Hershtik,Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, Chazzan Avraham Aharon Weingarten, Ari Klein,Yaakov Lemmer,Joseph Malovany,Benzion Miller, Jacob (Jack) Mendelson, Aaron Bensoussan, Aaron Aderet, Alberto Mizrahi, Yaakov Yoseph Stark, Jochen (Yaacov) Fahlenkamp, Meir Finkelstein, Alex Stein, Daniel Gross,[34]Azi Schwartz, Netanel Hershtik and Eli Weinberg.
The titleHazzan Sheni[35][36] (Sheni means 'second') can refer to
we welcome back our Chazzan Sheni ...
Later he became the Junior Minister (Chazan Sheni) of ...
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