Cantors

[magid]

(inspired by an entry of Cellio's, and my comments there)

In most Reform and some Conservative congregations I've been to, there has been both a rabbi and a cantor. The rabbi usually gives a sermon during Shabbat services, while the cantor leads services, in full trained voice. This is what went on in the synagogue of my youth.

However, in almost all Orthodox congregations I've been to, there has been only a rabbi. He (yes, it's still a he, in this instance. That may change in the next decade or two, though...) may give a sermon, but may not, depending on the minyan. The services are led by one of the males of the minyan, hopefully one with a pleasant voice, but definitely one who knows the service. This is what happens in my current minyan, and I much prefer it.

I've never really understood why so many people like cantors so much. I find that, at least with the ones I've heard, the prayers tend to become soaring music that
(a) becomes more of a solo performance than one leading the rest, which
(b) tends to move the focus to the melody and away from the meaning of the words, while
(c) turning the congregation into an audience, rather than a community of people praying together. People become disconnected from the actual praying, watching/listening to the cantor's song.

I used to assume that some of this preference was congregations not having enough knowledgeable congregants, but that seems not to be it (Cellio's congregation, for one).
Her thought was that Americans in general prefer professionals to amateurs, which is probably some of it.
I think some of it is also that it does keep people comfortably spectating, not interacting with the text, active in feeling the words and the emotions, seeing which parts resonate each week. It allows someone to "do the right thing" and go to services, without thinking about what those prayers actually mean. Of course, some of this feeling is because I know just how much of the service I managed to memorize (through junior congregation, etc.), without having to think about the words at all. It's pretty easy to do when the language is not one you tend to think in, even though much of the liturgy is in fairly approachable Hebrew.

Hm. This may be turning into "critique of my religious upbringing," so time to stop.

Comments

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Data Point: My childhood (Conservative, but serving all Jews in a 30? mi. radius) synagogue never had a cantor. I, too, strongly prefer this.

[cellio]

Well, to put things in context so you don't get the idea that we're an amazing congregation (in this particular way, anyway :-) ): we have about 850 families (unsure how many people, but I think around 1700). A typical Shabbat service draws a couple hundred (sigh). Of that set, I'd guess that about a dozen could be relied upon to lead services on little notice, and another dozen or so could do it with some prep time. Of those two dozen, I'd guess that about 6-8 have particularly nice voices. This may be respectable in raw numbers, but as a percentage of members it's not so great. (On the other hand, the congregation where I occasionally lead services is about the same size as we are, and a couple months ago I was one of six recognized for doing this. So maybe we're not that far out of whack for non-Orthodox congregations. Dunno.)

For what it's worth, our rabbi leads much of the service. The cantorial intern, when she's there (maybe a third of the services?), does most of the singing but doesn't lead spoken stuff. And yeah, the rabbi almost always gives a sermon.

(For others who might be listening in (I know Magid knows this), my congregation is Reform and the other one I visit and lead some services at is Conservative.)

[ceo]

Maybe it's because Reform congregations have the same problem UU congregations do, of people reading ahead to make sure they agree with the words. :-)

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

The Orthodox shul that I grew up with had a rabbi (who split his time between two different shul locations and wasn't always there), and no chazzan.
On the other hand, EVERYBODY knew how to daven, and did, despite the friendly conversation that inevitably went on. (a wide age spread, with lots of families, and children who mostly went to orthodox day schools (two nearby - one coed and one separated (a girl's school and a boy's school))).
Kids were in and out, but when they were in, they knew what was going on.
Because of this, I'm completely spoiled - I want another congregation where people know the songs, they *sing* and don't just chant or daven semi-silently, as quickly as possible.
I loved sitting (or standing), and having everyone in the room singing (with Etz Chaim, even in harmony, somewhat), and just *feeling* the prayers surrounding me.
I don't like chazzans, because for the most part (haven't found a case yet, but it *could* happen), I can't sing along with them, you never know where their voice is going next since they don't sing the tunes straight through, and they feel mostly ornamental. I do generally get the feeling that they're there to take the place of a knowledgeable congregation.
I'll point out, for the record, that I went to a conservative day school, not one of the orthodox ones (my younger brother chose one of the orthodox ones after 6th grade, but I didn't), and mostly avoided going to shul whenever possible. But when I did go, there were really good things to make it worth it.