Volume 7, Number 3 - Cantors Assembly

decorum; then came the measured, rhythmic choral response: then the
concluding hymn; then the weekly sermon in the vernacular, this
occasionally introduced by an anthem; responsive readings; then the
inevitable abbreviation of the service. A fact it was, and still is, that
for almost every innovation and addition introduced into the service,
the cantor had to give up something of his work.
With the general increase in ignorance, this process of addition on
the one hand and reduction on the other, so painful to the cantor, went
on unprotested.
In extreme instances, as in the Reform temple, the position of the
hazzan became practically superfluous. In others, with less work, came
less prestige, less remuneration, less opportunity. Concurrently with
the diminishing role of the cantor, we observe the growing stature of
the rabbi. In place of the old-fashioned rov, pouring over the tomes of
the Talmud, we now have a modern rabbi, preaching at every service, a
pastor of his flock, visiting the sick, comforting the bereaved, lecturing
before men’s clubs and sisterhoods, supervising the religious school,
instructing the confirmants, acting as good-will ambassador to our
neighbors, in charge of all religious activities and, I regret to add this,
according to newspaper notices, he also conducts the service.
The cantor, I fiiy believe, like every good Jew, rejoiced at the
manifold activities of his rabbi, but was hurt when he found himself
deprived of his ancient tasks and of its corresponding prestige.
A few lines quoted from the book I mentioned a few moments ago
will be revealing of the change that took place in the pulpit: “Brith
Shalom, like other orthodox congregations, was not content to have
merely a good cantor, but, in the rivalry for members, the congregation
found it necessary to have a rabbi as well for his sermons and
leadership. The chief item, by way of salary - not the rabbi’s: in 1936
the cantor’s salary was $1,750, the rabbi’s only $750. By 1949, the
rabbi of the congregation was receiving more than ten times as much,
and the cantor three times as much, as rabbi and cantor had been paid
respectively. At the same time, the rabbi of orthodox Beth Israel was
receiving about three times as much as the cantor.” (p. 220)
If the fruits of the Reform movement in its infancy were, as far as
the cantor was concerned, negative or harmful, the advent of the conservative
movement heralded an age of mixed blessings. The effects
varied with the individual congregations. While the service was
streamlined in most Conservative congregations, the lengthy
recitative limited and the musical part of the service circumscribed,
the services of the cantor were minimized, but seldom entirely
dispensed with.
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