Volume 7, Number 3 - Cantors Assembly

demnation. According to information I received, a variety show is on
its way to Broadway wherein an actress dons a cap and talis and intones
prayers from our sacred service. I propose we ask the Rabbinical
Assembly to join us in protest in this and in other instances where the
concepts of good taste and our religious sensibilities are flagrantly
violated. It is also high time to put a stop to the shameful
phenomenon, the so-called professional “hazzante”. I cannot picture it
happening among Methodists or Episcopalians.
Few acts will bring us more lasting honors than the publication of
scholarly works. May I remind you that the history of hazzanut is yet
to be written. We surely have young men in our midst who would
undertake to collect material dealing with the history of the hazzan in
America. Jewish musicology is still a virgin field. The musical repertoire
of the synagogue is in need of much new material. There is a wide
demand for occasional gebrauchs-musik. Our contemplated songster,
which we hope will be a reality before our next convention, is still in
need of many new songs. We are, incidentally deeply indebted to
Cantor Edgar Mills for his efforts in collecting and in examining the
manuscripts we now have at hand.
While we are often in desperate search for a new, good composition,
all too many manuscripts of Nowakowsky, Dunajevsky,
Poliakov, Zeidel Rovner, and others, lie gathering dust. May I propose
that we collect copies of these precious manuscripts, edit them where
necessary, and publish single compositions periodically. Put forth in
inexpensive form, they may even augment our treasury.
Finally, let us be conscious of the fact that our fate is linked up
with that of the Jewish Theological Seminary. We are serving in the
conservative movement and it is deserving our full allegiance. Our
budget is covered by the Seminary campaign. It is but just that we
exert every effort in helping make that campaign a success. We are
turning to the Seminary for help, it is, therefore, with justice that the
Seminary can look to us for support. As hazzanim we should feel at
home at the Seminary, for its founder and chief architect, Sabato
Morais, was essentially a hazzan and insisted on being called a hazzan.
(“Yahadut Amerika Behitpathutah, “by Dr. Moshe Davis, P. 41.)
Some of the world’s greatest scholars are now connected with the
Jewish Theological Seminary, and under the presidency of Dr. Louis
Finkelstein. form one of the greatest citadels of learning. With its incomparably
precious library, with its institutions of learning, with the
Rabbinical Assembly, with the United Synagogue, its national
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