Honor- to Orba c h and Judges
Concerti - in Light of Hazanic Traditions
BY JACOB, TBARKIN
ation
Canter of, Cngreg
Shaarey Zedek.
Last Saturday night, I was happy
to attend and privileged to parti-
cipate, in a joyous and thrilling
celebration at Temple Israel, tend-
ered in honor of- its distinguished
cantor, Harold Orbach, on the oc-
casion of the 10th anniversary of
his professional tenure.
A capacity =audience of congre-
ganto, colleagues, arti s ts
and
friends, shared he unique and di-
versified program
of the evening,
which took on
panoramic P o,
portiona of I-
form of an MI;
torie pageant.. of
a Judeo-Hebrale .
musical Monte..
From the open:-
ing words of. Ceuta.- Barkin
greeting- by ihechairinan, Milton
T. Mier, followed by the invocation
by Rabbi Leon Praia; through the
moving and inspired performance
of every participant; as with the
genuine - words that accompanied
the president's presentation, and
the truly touching tribute by Rabbi
M. Robert Syme, there was a sort
of ascending swell of warmth and
.
For an Evening of
Superb Entertainment .. -
For
Your Bar Mitzva or
Weddings, • etc. .
MRI
O LITTLE
AND HIS
ORCHESTRA
356-4745
Russia.
SCHREIBER ASSOCIATES
AGENCY OF THE SHOW WORLD
• Orchestras • Entertainment
• Speakers • Concerts
Downtown Detroit - 962-8000
affection wedded to an apprecia-
tion that seemed to grasp the entire
sanctuary in true brotherly love.
This emotional experience seemed
to sustain itself throughout the en-
tire evening, until I became ever
so conscious of the wonderful feel-
ing manifested in the words of the
ethical sayings: 'Y'hi hevod ha-
verkha haviv alekha k'shelakh"—
"Let your fellow-man's honor be as
dear to you as your own!"
This leads me to more extension
of the sayings: "Eize hu m'hu-
bad?"—Ha-tn' sliabed Hey-dell"—
"Who is honored" He who honors
his fellow-men."
As the "junior" cantor in the
Detroit area,., I was extremely ,
pleased to convey and express
the greetings of the American
Conference of Cantors, the Can-
tors' Assembly and the Detroit
Cantors Association, as well as
the musical community et al.
Ours is an old profession. Some
2,000 years old and more. Yet it
is a very unique profession,
with no parallel in any -other re-
ligious order!
Many and diverse are the ele-
ments that make up the musical
fabric of the synagogue service.
It is compounded in liturgical
traditions.
But, ancient or recent, lofty or
commonplace, subtle or naive, they
all form part of the rapidly evolv-
ing musical language of our pray-
ers. They constitute the recogniz-
able "sound mosaic" of our divine
worship, and cannot be ignored by
those of us who are charged with
the sacred duties of leading, guid-
ing, creating and interpreting
prayer to the congregation, in the
living synagogue.
"Shiro l'Adonai shir hadash!"
"Sing unto the Lord a new song!"
It is from the very depth therefore,
a culture that has a glorious his-
tory of several thousand years that
the cantorial art and position
stems, continuing to exercise its
charm and sustaining its impact
upon the masses to our own day,
when many other manifestations
of such same cultures have been
either forgotten, or are in grave
danger of becoming forgotten.
In accepting this premise, one
must necessarily agree, for it
follows that a cantor, who is to
serve his congregation and com-
munity, with any productive and
enlightening results, must be
within himself cognizant of the
changing needs which have mani-
fested themselves in recent
years, as never before. The *con-
gregation 'on the other hand,
Aliyah
MOVE TO
ISRAEL
_
.
•Worried about a job or hoUsing? Join us.in a co-operative venture in Israel.
Write: HED AVIV
Room 113
25 14th St.
New- York, N.Y. 1001 . 1
WOIVIEN'S AMERICAN ORT
- ..PRESENTS
-
A GALA--BENEFIT PERFORMANCE OF
" FIDDLER ION THE ROOF"
NOV. 17 — 7:45 PM.
NORTHLAND THEATER
BEAUTIFUL GIFTS FOR LADIES & GENTLEMEN
EXCITING AUCTION
For Tickets Coll:—
Mrs. T. Jacobson, 557-5013 or ORT Office, 557-0585
Tickets -.Alia Avaiksble sit th,eBox Office Nov. 17
Beth Hayeled Open House THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, November 5, 1971-35
Shaarey Zedek Beth Hayeled
(nursery school and kindergarten)
will hold open house 8:30 p.m. Wed-
Colored MOvies
must likewise become aware of nesday in the synagogue's school 400 ft.—$165 Comp.
such need, and lend its encour- wing.
Weddings, Bar natives
agement and support in every
(The Jewish News regrets the
and other occasions
way possible.
date was erroneously reported in Frank's Studio 414-7768
In our times we have come to last week's paper.)
hear the needs for relevance and
compatibility in the broader as-
pects of our living involvement. In
no small way, by any means, has
the younger generation made its
declaration and impact on religious
musical expression as well. Our
OWNERS OF
liturgical composers have been
quick to recognize this, and have
created and developed formats that
do give evidence of more meaning-
ful attachment, and to "a certain
extent may have reversed the
Invite you to visit
prior tendencies toward alienation,
their showroom
at least within the middle and up-
per teen-age groups. I must also
Michigan's Largest
Danny
Martin
say that to "those of us who would
Watch and Jewelry Repair Service Center
take the time and- make a deeper
study, with an open mind to more
Custom Made Jewelry
than a prime reaction, we too
would find that there is a depth of
Specializing in 14 kt. Gold and Diamonds
concept and meaningfulness that
Advance Bldg., Suite 354, 23077 Greenfield, Southfield
reaches out to fill many of our own
Mon.-Fri. 9-5; Sat. 9-3:00
needs if we would only listen and 7 557 5544
learn.
In this area, Cantor Or-
bach has been a leading figure,
by commissioning and present-
ing to his congregation and
throughout the country, even as
he did at this concert, in the
timely premiere of a moving
and translucent work by Ger-
shon Kingsley, with an admir-
ably appropriate adapted text of
Robert Larimer, unfolding the
story of "God and Abraham,"
based upon the test of Abraham's
faith, in his sacrificial offering
up of his son Isaac, about which
we shall read at services this
Sabbath in all our our syna-
gogues. I felt that Mr. Kingsley
outdid himself, and my compli-
ments to my colleague and his
congregation for bringing it to
ns!
There have been many among
us, in the cantonal profession, who
chose to aspire, and have succeed-
ETCHINGS and LITHOGRAPHS
ed in reaching higher pinnacles of
worldly fame in peripheral musi-
cal fields. There have been others
who having gained worldly recog-
nition returned to their "first
love," that of the synagogue. There
are still others, as in the case
of Cantor Orbach, who have man-
aged successfully to combine their
life interests.
I speak from a vast reservoir of
personal life experience that a
career like Cantor Orbach's is not
a half-divided one, but, believe me,
a doubly enhanced one! The home
base, as the inner heart base, is
the pupit! The inborn brand of the
"Hazzan" is the continuing in-
satiable need to fulfil that bond of
love of the synagogue, the com-
munity and the entire Jewish
people. Any lesser indication will
confine him to lesser fulfilment-
,
The Weintrattbs'
-
JUST ARRIVED
ALL ORIGINALS
Aliya Association
Schedules Meeting
The Association of Americans
and Canadians for Aliya, Detroit
Chapter, will meet 2 p.m. Sunday
at the Jewish Center.
Joseph Shadur, executive direc-
tor of the AACA, and Naftali Bar-
Giora, deputy director general of
the immigration and absorption
department of Israel, will speak.
Bar-Giora, who immigrated to
Israel from Germany in 1933, has
been active in the aliya, movement
in Europe, Africa and the Far
East.
Shadur, a graduate of the Uni-
versity of 'Minnesota, was direc-
tor of the English language pro-
gram at the College of the Negev
at Sde Boker.
-Everybody benefits f r o m the
'Torch Drive. The services it sup-
ports, make Detroit and the tri-
county area a bettei place to live
us a rli virr.ti3;how
Oi2,E av_wqms iL I
PHOENICIAN 1:0A1
Dated and Signe d
Goldberg — Weiss
European & lsraelrArtisfsi--
354-9060
TEL-TWELVE MALL SOUTHRELD
VISIT OUR BOUTIQUE SHOP