Notes from Cantor Avima

You know you have really been "seen":" when you are the clue on Jeopardy. The Cantorial world was all a happy buzz about a week ago when the following clue appeared: "Also called a Hazan, It's the person who leads a synagogue congregation in song". Although my colleagues were all excited, I was a bit disappointed to see how our profession has now been boiled down to "song leader".  One of our colleagues pointed out that a similar question ran in 2012: "In a Synagogue this person also called a Hazzan leads the congregation in chanting and singing." (At least they spelled HAZZAN correctly, with two "z's" and included "chanting" in our job description).   

The role of the Hazzan has evolved through history. Hazzanim were the "emissaries of prayer", they were liturgical poets, composers, virtuoso singers, the guardians of traditional Jewish liturgical music, prayer modes (nusach) and Trope (scriptural chant) and in more recent times - educators, spiritual leaders, pastoral leaders and, yes, song leaders. The curriculum of Professional Cantorial Schools include not only musical disciplines, but also Biblical text study, Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew and even Talmud. We are clergy with a musical focus. The website of the Cantors Assembly (the Professional organization of Conservative Cantors) defines Cantors as: "Clergy who bring spiritual, sacred and musical leadership to our 21st century Jewish Communities."  As we say, "Singing is just the beginning", but in truth is does not fully describe the role of the Cantor in modern times. 

So, thank you Jeopardy for recognizing the role of the HaZZan, but when you described us as the "person who leads a synagogue congregation in song", you really skimmed the surface of  who we are, what our role is in the modern synagogue.