blogs/cantor-herschel-fox

When I was a kid in Winnipeg, as I have told you many times, we had wonderful cantors, whom I loved hearing. Jacob Koussevitsky was outstanding. Cantor Brownstone, my teacher and cantor, was unique and a world class improviser. Louie Berkel was a sweet baal t'filah as is today his nephew, Arky Berkel. There were many others- bothbaalei t'filah, and cantors. In addition we heard the world class guest cantors like, Pinchik who came to visit from New York.  Most of us absolutely adored this cantorial singing. However, over and over again, I heard this is the last generation of cantors. We will never hear another generation of cantors again. How wrong they were. A few weeks ago in Israel, in Petach Tikvah, my friend Avery Greenberg and I, heard eight new traditional cantors who along with their teachers like Israel Rand, absolutely spiritually mesmerized all of us.

Here in Los Angeles, when I arrived there were wonderful traditional cantors like, Uri Frankel and Alan Michaelson. What marvelous cantors- they poured out their hearts.  But to be honest, many people said we are never going to hear a new generation of cantors. Many of you shared with me thirty two years of the greatest living cantors in the world, in concert, here at Valley Beth Shalom. A wonderful thing happened. A generation of young cantors heard these cantors and others who became the inspiration for our new generation of cantors.

These young cantors pour out their hearts in the field of Jewish music. In the same way that I shared the older traditional cantors of yesteryear with you, it is now my pleasure to share a younger generation of cantors with you. This Friday evening, at 8:00 PM, we will all share the talents of Cantors Marcus Feldman of Sinai Temple, Rachel Goldman formerly of Beit T'Shuvah, Shira Fox of Kol Tikvah, and Sam Cohen of Kehilat Maarav. They will share with you an evening entitled, “Guys and Meidels”, including all types of Jewish music, cantorial music, and general popular music. I have seen this concert and it is outstanding. I hope you can join us and Shabbat Shalom.