Benny Rogosnitzky and Charlie Bernhaut Sparks a Renaissance in Jewish Cantorial Music

I can still remember attending a Jewish cantorial concert at Brooklyn College in June, 1988 with my one of my closest friends, a distinguished cantor in his own right. I absolutely love Jewish cantorial music with all my heart and soul, and this concert featured six internationally renowned cantors. As we left the concert, my friend said to me, “Aryeh (my Hebrew name), in 15 years, you will not see any more concerts like this. Chazzanut (Hebrew word for cantorial music) is dying out.”

For many years that followed, it seemed that my friend’s prediction would prove accurate. I am an Orthodox Jew, and most services I attended at various synagogues in New York and New Jersey during those years had very little cantorial music in the davening (Yiddish for praying). In fact, the leader of the davening, even if he was a professional cantor, would often depart from the nusach, the traditional chanting tune, in his prayers.

Cantorial Music is truly the soul music of the Jewish people, reflecting our joys and sorrows, and our triumphs and tragedies. Yet there was an increasing trend in services towards the melodies of the late, lamented folk singer Shlomo Carlebach and even camp tunes.

You still could here top-flight chazzanim (Hebrew for cantors) at various shuls in New York and Jerusalem, but cantorial music definitely was in decline in most Jewish venues. Concerts were sparsely attended and rarely sold out.

Then there was a Sunday night concert in Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Manhattan in March, 2003. For my wife, Lynne and me, it was a life changing event.

The concert was produced by two of the world’s leading cantorial music impresarios, Charlie Bernhaut and Benny Rogosnitzky, the latter himself a top-flight cantor. They had joined together in a venture called Cantors’ World, an effort to revive cantorial music.

Benny Rogosnitzky and Charlie Bernhaut Sparks a Renaissance in Jewish Cantorial Music

There were several of the world’s leading cantors participating in the concert, but the highlight of the evening came before intermission. A young cantor from Israel, a Hasid from the Gerrer Hasidic sect arrived on stage wearing the traditional Hasidic clothing, as he always does, whether in concert or conducting services. Once he began to sing, Lynne and I were in absolute awe.

His name is Yitzchak Meir Helfgot. He has a voice that I can say, without exaggeration, is equal in quality to that of a Pavarotti, a Domingo, or a Carreras. A cantor like Helfgot comes along once every hundred years. If you don’t believe me, listen to the YouTube below of his singing Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” (yes, he can sing opera, too!)

His name is Yitzchak Meir Helfgot. He has a voice that I can say, without exaggeration, is equal in quality to that of a Pavarotti, a Domingo, or a Carreras. A cantor like Helfgot comes along once every hundred years.

Benny Rogosnitzky and Charlie Bernhaut Sparks a Renaissance in Jewish Cantorial Music

If you don’t believe me, listen to the YouTube below of his singing Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” (yes, he can sing opera, too!)

For Lynne and me, our lives would never be the same. We literally began to adjust our calendars to make sure that we could attend every service he conducted and every concert in which he appeared. Lynne and I travel to Israel often, and we would schedule our trips to correspond with the dates Helfgot would be appearing in concert in his native country.

In 2005, Cantor Helfgot signed a contract to become the Chief Cantor of Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The shul is now a magnet for Jewish tourists in Manhattan on weekends. The services on Saturday mornings are literally filled to capacity to hear Cantor Helfgot daven, accompanied by the choir conducted by the outstanding Australian musician, Russell Ger. Celebrities flock to hear Helfgot, including the television star “Dr. Ruth” Westheimer and the nationally famous attorney, Alan Dershowitz.

Benny Rogosnitzky and Charlie Bernhaut Sparks a Renaissance in Jewish Cantorial Music