For 2013. We present our book in serial format on our blog - God's Favorite Prayers
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The
Performer’s Prayers
Artist, Poet, Musician
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The
Performer’s Prayers
To·rah
[toh-ruh, tawr-uh; Seph. Heb. toh-rah; Ashk. Heb. toh-ruh, toi-ruh]
–noun (sometimes
lowercase)
1. the Pentateuch, being the first of the three
Jewish divisions of the Old Testament. Compare Tanach.
2. a parchment scroll on which the Pentateuch is
written, used in synagogue services.
3. the entire body of Jewish religious
literature, law, and teaching as contained chiefly in the Old Testament and the
Talmud.
4. law or instruction.
Ta·nach
[tah-nahkh]
–noun Hebrew.
the
three Jewish divisions of the Old Testament, comprising the Law or Torah, the
Prophets or Neviim, and the Hagiographa or Ketuvim, taken as a whole.
—Random House
Dictionary, 2010
Artist, Poet, Musician
|
C
|
antor Louis Danto was a happy hazzan.
His chanting was upbeat and peppy. I often heard him chant the synagogue
services at the Atlantic Beach Jewish Center when I was a child and teenager in
the 1950s and 60s. Just by listening to him I knew then that Danto was a
world-class singer, a tenor whose beautiful voice was trained and ethereal. And
I could see that he comprehended and loved the words of the prayers and
cherished their meanings. I did not know at the time that he had studied at
Talmudic yeshivas and in musical conservatories in Europe, and that he had won
prizes for his talents. I could not have known that he would go on to perform
worldwide, to record many albums of Jewish songs, of folk, popular, romantic
and operatic music.
As
a boy in Atlantic Beach, I could not foretell that this leader of our prayers
years hence would be celebrated for his unmatched graceful yet ornate bel canto
artistry, for his classical vocalization and for his just plain beautiful
singing. I did recognize that I loved his extraordinary rendition of the Shehecheyanu
blessing after the Kiddush on a Yom Tov holiday. In it, we praise God for
keeping us alive and bringing us to a special sacred time. His blessing rang
out with such emotion and expressivity that it just lifted my soul. I can
recall vividly—and to this day—Danto’s ringing repeated conclusion of the
blessing, “Lazman hazeh, lazman
hazeh…” which means, “…to this time, to this time.” And I’ve
tried at every holiday to replicate the joy of that singing as best as I can in
my own chanting of the same blessing.
Danto
defined for me an ideal—how a formal davening
should sound. Wow, he set the bar way high up! His lyrical singing always
changed the very character of the sanctuary. From listening to him, I learned
that a good hazzan
like Danto creates a palpable focus, a presence, a joyous, numinous, holy
quality in the house of prayer.
Not every
congregation can be fortunate enough to have such a performer. Many synagogues
still do have professional cantors who lead the services. However, many
congregations these days send up basically untrained volunteers to lead the
public prayers.
Whatever the style,
at every service in an actual brick-and-mortar synagogue, Jewish prayer is an
orchestrated performance, led by a leader and joined by a congregation. The
synagogue members attending the service act at times as a performing chorus and
at other times as a listening audience.
Now, for your
information, I’m postulating in this book that we speak mostly about prayer in
a synagogue. To be precise though, Judaism does not require that you attend a
community synagogue to engage in sanctioned, legitimate, effective prayer. You
can pray alone, at home, or anywhere clean and proper. When a solitary Jew
recites the synagogue prayers in private, it still can be a complex and moving
performance. But by him or herself, the individual at prayer must play all the
parts that I will identify here, serving as the leader, the chorus and the
audience.
And so, without
further adieu, please allow me to more formally introduce to you my first
archetype, the performer.
This persona is in
parts an artist, a poet and a musician. Performers play several roles in the
synagogue. These, enumerated below, are the major troupe members, the group of
actors, the cast that you will find in the synagogue, and a capsule
introduction to each of their roles.
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