CANTORIAL
COMMENTS
BY
CANTOR
ELIHU FELDMAN
On the Saturday evening
before Rosh Hashanah, we at B'nai Shalom gather for
a special Selichot service.
The Selichot Service is composed of many prayers
of supplication. The purpose
of the music and Cantorial liturgy is to move
the congregation, inspired
by the dramatic mood of a night service, to think
seriously about the
forthcoming High Holidays. Selichot means prayers of
forgiveness and derives from
the Hebrew root word selach to forgive. The
Selichot service is always
observed on the Saturday night preceding Rosh
Hashanah.
One of the most curious
aspects of the Selichot service is that the service
is at night. Jewish Music
anthologists offer several explanations. One
source is a beautiful legend
they cite from the Talmud: "A harp was always
suspended above the bed of
King David. As soon as the hour of midnight
struck, a north wind came
and blew upon it and it played beautiful melodies.
Upon being awakened, King
David would begin to pray and study the Torah
(Berakhot3b).” As a
consequence prayer at night or midnight seems be an
opportune time to ask for
forgiveness.
More modern Jewish music
anthologists have tried to ascribe the lateness of
the Selichot prayer service
to the tradition of midnight revelation found in
the masquerade balls staged
by 18th- and 19th-century European aristocracy.
Everyone came disguised as
someone else. At the stroke of midnight, all the
guests unmasked, and the
face of each was revealed. Since Selichot is a time
of unmasking before G-d and
self- revelation, it was instituted at midnight.
But, it seems hard to accept
that explanation, since the majority of Jewish
musicologists ascribe the
origin of Selichot at night to the legend about
King David. As further proof
of their position they bring the following
source: King David knew that in the future, the Holy
Temple would be
destroyed and the offerings
would cease because of the sins of the Jewish
People. King David was
troubled because he didn't know how the Jews would
gain atonement for their
sins. The Holy One said to King David, "At the time
that troubles come to the
Jewish People because of their sins, let them say
before me Selichot Prayers
and I will answer them." (Tanna D'bei Eliyahu
Zuta, ch. 23):
Many of the great classical
cantors of the past have chosen to record
prayers from the Selichot
service. Some of the recordings that have survived
include: solo recordings by
Cantor (Yosele Rosenblatt , Moshe Koussevitzky),
others recordings feature
Cantor with male choir (Yosele Rosenblatt,
Shlisky, Waldman). Still
other recordings of the Selichot services include
cantor and mixed choir
(Richard Tucker with S. Secunda conducting), choir
alone and cantor choir and
symphonic orchestra together (Cantor Jack
Mendolsohn and Cantor Abe
Mizrachi).
Usually, these recordings
are of the main segments of the Selichot service:
Ashrei, Bmotzay Menuchah,
The thirteen attributes, and Shma Kolaynu. There
is a beautiful recording by
Richard Tucker and choir singing Ashrei, the
opening prayer of the
Selichot service. A second recording of the same
prayer worthy of mention was
by the Chief Cantor of Jerusalem’s Heichal
Shlomo synagoguge.
There is a very unique
aspect to some of the recordings that are made of the
Selichot service. This is
one of the only services that it would be
permissible to tape or
record live since it does not occur on Shabbat or
Festival that would preclude
a live taping/recording. Therefore, there exist
a whole category of Selichot
recordings that are “live” recordings of the
entire service.
Some of these recordings are
very high quality and others made by private
individuals using personal
recorders are poor. However they sound more
authentic in that they
record the congregational responses since the
location of the tape
recorder was in the pews of the congregation. These
recordings, were later
released by commercial recording studios, which had
to be enhanced prior to sale
to the public. When I was a youngster, my
father, alav hashalom, used
to take me to hear some of the top chazanim of
the time for Selichot. These
Selichot services started at midnight, had a
male choir and sometimes
ended at 3:00 AM. The tone was very somber. At
times many of those praying
were in tears.
Many of the recordings of
Selichot feature the main components of Selichot.
Ashrei is the first prayer
of the Selichot service. The reason why the
cantor starts with Ashrei,
according to some Jewish musicologists, is very
interesting. The Talmud says
that if a person says this Psalm three times a
day then he is worthy of the
world to come. So the cantor prays on behalf of
the congregation that the
congregation be worthy and sinless before G-d. Of
course, this does not mean
that just by saying this Psalm you become worthy
of the world to come. You
have to implement its teachings. The main teaching
of this Psalm is that we are
to imitate G-d. Just as G-d clothes
the naked and feeds the
hungry and upholds those who fall, so should we do
the same thing.
A keynote phrase in the
Selichot prayers is the phrase, "Adoshem Adoshem El
Rachum,"
"The L-rd, the Eternal,
is a merciful and gracious G-d, slow to anger and
abounding in loving kindness
and truth, giving mercy for thousands of
generations, forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and sin and acquitting all
those who truly
repent." This prayer signifies in one sentence the entire
spirit of the High Holidays
and Selichot.The main Peezmon (hymn) of the
first night Selichos is
Bmotzaay Menuchah. The text of the first stanza is:
At the end of Sabbath day,
we bare our sins. Receive, O, God our song (joy)
and prayer. Another
important prayer in the Selichos, the Shma Kolaynu,
calls for the Almighty to
"Hear our cry, L-rd our G-d, and have mercy upon
us and receive with
compassion our prayer." We also pray, "The neshoma
(soul) is yours and the body
is also your creation." “Have mercy upon us.”
May we all be blessed with a
Shana Tova Umetuka, a year of a goodness and
sweetness. May we all know
only good health, wealth, and good things in the
coming year. May the
Mashiach come soon, so there will be peace and safety
in the USA, Israel, and
throughout the world. I would like at this time on
behalf of Marcia, myself, Alexander, Vivian, Saul, Layah, Estie and Pinchas Doveed
??,
wish you a wonderful and
Happy New Year.
Sincerely,
Cantor Elihu Feldman Sept 2002