[Page 112]

Cantors and Cantorship in Minsk

Prof. Moshe Levinson

Translated by Judy Montel

The author, a native of the town of Berzina, Minsk district, was a student of the Minsk cantor Rabbi Israel Shovalzon, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, served as a cantor in Odessa, Warsaw, Minsk, New York. Made aliya to Israel in 1935.

The following article is an edited version translated from the original Yiddish, which was published in “Zukunft”, New York, April 1947.

In 1820, the famous cantor Rabbi Sender Poliachek was made the municipal cantor of Minsk, a position he held for 45 years until his death. His prayers had the gift of heaven, improvising tunes at the prayer stand, and even though he could not read music, he composed wonderfully musical tunes. Klezmers wrote them out and played them at weddings and other such occasions. During prayer, Rabbi Sender Poliachek shook every heart, in the “Ne'ila” service [the closing service of the Day of Atonement], the entire synagogue became a “Vale of Tears”, and the entire congregation would sway and weep.

After his death, several of his compositions were written down by his son, Rabbi Moshe Poliachek, who was an excellent violinist. But most of his tunes, sadly, were lost.

He did not live from his cantor's salary; but from his large home, which functioned as a hostel for wealthy merchants from abroad who arrived to do business in the city. Rabbi Sender used to joke: “I am the best hostler of all the cantors, and the best cantor of all the hostlers.”

His son, Rabbi Moshe, was a food supplier to the Czar's government and he was granted a decoration and the title “Honorary Citizen for Generations”.

At the same time, the Gaon Rabbi Tevli worked as a rabbi in Minsk. A story circulating in Minsk was that one day, Rabbi Sender asked Rabbi Tevli: “Teach me, rabbi, what is the difference between the two of us? I also wear a “shtraimel” (fur trimmed hat) and long silk “kapote” (caftan), and I am also educated in Jewish lore, as they say. Therefore, what indeed is the difference between you and I?”

He asked and he replied: “The difference is whom we turn to in distress. When you, rabbi, have a problem making a legal decision, you go to Maimonides, the “Golden Rows” [Turei Zahav], the “New House” [Bayit Chadash – both famous commentaries on Jewish law], and the other great precedents; whereas I, when I have a difficulty in my cantorship, my assistants are Leibichke Herika, Chaim HaSandlar [the cobbler], he is my bass – these are my advisors.”

Rabbi Sender died in 5620 [1860].

After his death, Minsk looked for a substitute for a long time, and since a cantor received the position for his lifetime, groups and parties sprung up who supported one candidate or another. After five years of options, the cantor Rabbi Israel Shovalzon from Slonim was chosen, known affectionately as Reb Yisraelke. He rejuvenated the cantorship, refreshed it, and brought light, sweet melodies with him that penetrated every heart. The congregation drank in the beautiful tunes with a yearning soul, tunes that reflected the time and attitudes and Judaism. In their gentleness, as they were played, they were like healing balms to the Jewish souls, just like the folk songs of Eliakum Tzunzer (who also lived in Minsk at the time) of which people were very fond. These tunes became very popular among ordinary people. The cobbler hummed them at his bench, the tailor in his workshop, the carpenter at the lathe, the porter waiting for customers at the “Old Market”. They reminded one another's ears of the tunes for “Yechadshayhu”, “Min Hameitzar”, “Tov Lachasos BaHashem”, “Kevakaros”, and as they sang, their eyes beamed with joy. The sweet tunes sweetened their difficult lives, allowed them to forget their poverty and distress.

Cantors from the small towns in the area would come to Reb Yisraelke to learn the tunes, and these became known throughout the district of Minsk, and far beyond.

For a choir he had the sons of the householders plus a few men's voices. It was an honor to sing for Reb Yisraelke. All the inhabitants of the city knew Tzela (Bezalel) the Bass with his wonderful soft voice, Avraham Icha the hat maker with the powerful tenor and Mota the tailor, a tremendous baritone…

He would prepare new “Niguns” [melodies] for every holiday: for Passover - “Min HaMeitzar”, for Shavuos – “Krotz Mechomer”, for Rosh Hashana – “Kevakaros”. To all of his tunes must be added the wonderfully artful sung speech, “Haya Am Pipios”, from the prayers of Rosh Hashana, which was written down and arranged by the cantor Tzemachzon. Rabbi Israel died in 1900.

The leaders of the Minsk community at the time were: Wolf Rapaport, Wolf Servint, Avraham Chaim Shved, a great merchant and an author, all of these were the “Gabba'im” [synagogue managers] of the great Beit Midrash; Rabbi Zisel Korland, the gabbai of “The Cold Synagogue”. The rabbi at the time was the famous Gaon, “The Minsker Godol”. They said in Minsk that “The Godol” was once at a rabbinical conference where every rabbi delivered talks on the Torah in the name of his father, thus emphasizing that his father had also been a rabbi. Everyone knew that the “Godol's” father was a mere tailor. So “The Godol” got up and said: “My father would say: 'Never take-up the old piece of work of turning an old piece of clothing inside out [to renew it], take up something that is new to begin with. Therefore, I will bring new words on the Torah of my own…”

After the death of Rabbi Israel Shovalzon, another cantor was not appointed in Minsk, and Tzela the Bass prayed in the great Beit Midrash until he went to the United States.

The Minsk intelligentsia, which was uncomfortable with the noise that reigned in the synagogues in the “Shulhoif” [Synagogue Court], founded its own congregation for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, in the “Handicraft School” building. Doctors, lawyers, engineers and free-thinkers who considered themselves educated and were striving for a renewed and modern synagogue, like in the great cities of Western Europe, with superb choirs, order, quiet and manners. Thus Dr. Yosef Lunz, a famous doctor and community activist, had the idea of building a modern synagogue. Under Dr. Lunz's influence, a fund was established for this purpose. Coincidence also lent a hand; a wealthy man of Minsk, Michael Aharonson, left 25 thousand rubles in his will to this purpose, but on the condition that the building of the synagogue begin no later than two years after his death. In order not to lose the sum, Dr. Lunz harnessed all of his energies to raise the remaining funds, and after seven years and much labor by Dr. Lunz, the synagogue was built and called “Chor-Shul” (Choir Synagogue).

It was a splendid building, and elegant. Twelve pillars within, galleries for the women on three sides, five giant and colorful copper chandeliers which had cost a fortune at the time, 10 thousand rubles, a large hall for praying which could hold up to 400 people, with the synagogue library in it as well. The pride and glory of Minsk was based on this synagogue.

[Photograph Page 114: The Chor Shul]

In 1906, a week before Rosh Hashana, the building was consecrated with much pomp and ceremony. Women wore their fanciest clothing. Even the district governor, Prince Erdeli, and other senior officials came to the ceremony. Because the fixed pews were not ready for the opening, they ordered the famous Viennese chairs from Vienna and they made the synagogue look like a philharmonic hall.

It must be mentioned here the wrong-headed and submissive act of the synagogue's overseers, who gave the honor of opening the synagogue, that is, the key, not to a rabbi, but to a gentile, to the Minsk district governor, Prince Erdeli.

After a competition of many cantors, Moshe Levinson was accepted as the cantor of the “Chor Shul”, he was known as a talented and multi-faceted cantor, with a higher musical education, and was simultaneously a lecturing professor at the national conservatory. He set up a large choir of select, experienced singers, and performed the best compositions of Jewish liturgy, organized yearly concerts at Hanukah at the synagogue accompanied by an orchestra and wind instruments. The synagogue became an institution that broadened and developed the culture of Jewish music. The many visitors preferred to listen to the song and prayers there on Friday nights than to go to the opera which came to Minsk occasionally. It must be said, that Cantor Levinson raised the art of Jewish music to a very high level.

Dr. Lunz was the chairman of the synagogue, and was assisted by the author Yehoshua Sirkin, who was assimilated, and under the influence of Dr. Lunz became a Zionist, and was one of the founders of the “Dorshei Zion” association. Their third, the treasurer, Osip Poliak, was the son of the banker, Rabbi Moshe Poliak. Besides them, twelve gabbaim were selected from the most important householders. Of these it is worth especially mentioning some of the leaders of the Zionist movement in Minsk, who did much to disseminate the Zionist idea among the people: Chaim Churgin, Avraham Kaplan, Yehuda Nofech, the jurist Shimshon Rozenboim and Yitzchak Berger.

In this manner, the most important personalities of Minsk at that time gathered round the Choir Synagogue. The synagogue became a meeting place for all of the municipal assemblies, a center for the city of Minsk. The synagogue had a library rich in Jewish lore in various languages, antiquarian and rare books. Yehoshua Sirkin and Feinberg were the library supervisors and Levinson was the librarian.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, masses of refugees reached Minsk from the surrounding villages, especially from Smorgon. It was the eve of Shavuos. The “gabbai”s decided not to hold holiday prayers in the synagogue and to let the refugees make use of the building. Several hundreds of people were installed there with their possessions. They were given food for the holiday and for a significant amount of time after it, as well. This was done in the other synagogues as well. The Jews of Minsk proved that they were indeed merciful people, sons of merciful people.

The famous “Gaon” Rabbi Eliezer Rabinovitch was the chief rabbi of Minsk at the time, after “The Godol”, and he devoted himself to public affairs. There was not a small or big problem in the congregation of Minsk that Reb Leyzer didn't take care of. He also was occupied with international Jewish affairs. At the rabbinical assembly in Petrograd with the permission of the government, when the Minister of the Interior was Prince Swiatopolk-Mirski, Rabbi Reb Leyzer filled a most honorable role. In those days, the “Tzefira” wrote: “A rabbi has come to the assembly, a sickly and worn out man who looks as though he carried the entire Jewish Diaspora on his shoulders, with an unusual talent for speaking, educated and inspired in his ideas, a man of great understanding in Jewish affairs, who had great influence at the meeting; this is the Gaon from Minsk, Rabbi Reb Leyzer Rabinovitch.”

He understood the people very well, was familiar with all of the disagreements between the parties, was beloved by all the classes, and even by the pure left and with the grace of his mind he attracted to him also the hearts of the freethinking youth. Everyone treated him with tremendous respect, and this was a great help during the Soviet period, during the revolution, when the youth reached leadership and government positions. Reb Leyzer was a kind of “Pillar of Fire” who lit the difficult period of confusion, of darkness. In every trouble or outbreak, people would run to Reb Leyzer and he encouraged and gave hope.

The Choir Synagogue functioned during the days of the Soviet rule as well, until 1921. Cantor Levinson then left Minsk for the United States. After he left, the synagogue, under the order of the Minsk “Yevseksia”, was turned into a club. The Choir Synagogue was considered a bourgeois institution that the city could do without. The other synagogues were not touched at the time.

Cantor Levinson, the last of the cantors of Minsk over 125 years, went to New York, there he worked as a cantor for 9 years, until he moved to the Land of Israel in 1935.

[Page 148]

Minsk – Jerusalem of White Russia

by Chaim Lavshai

Translated by Jerrold Landau

The author, Chaim Lavshai (Lifshitz) was born in Minsk in 1917. He made aliyah to the Land in 1937.
He was a civil servant. He edited booklets. He translated and published poems and articles in Hebrew and Yiddish.

Minsk, a great city for G-d and people, with myriads of Jews, a prince among the cities, was overturned by aliens. The Red Revolution that overturned it and all of wide Russia, was like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. As its comrade Vilna, Minsk also merited a nickname full of meaning – Jerusalem of White Russia ^[2]. Until that revolution – fast trains went out from the wonderful Vilna pathways and formed a bridge and connection of business and culture between them.

Its Rabbis and Great Ones

In this large Jewish hearth, there were – already from the previous century – great people and famous rabbis, worthy of praise. The Gaon Yechiel Halpern, known from his historical work “Seder Hadorot” [The Order of the Generations], served as the Rabbi of Minsk in the 18^th century, and headed a famous yeshiva. At that time, the great one of the Gaonim of that generation and the following generations arrived in Minsk: Reb Aryeh Leib, the author of “Shaagat Aryeh” who also founded a large yeshiva. However, something took place between these two yeshivas and they became hostile to each other. The people of Minsk defended the author of “Seder Hadorot”, and sent the author of the “Shaagat Aryeh” away from the city on a Friday. The monument of the grave of the “Seder Hadorot” stands to this day, intact and fenced off, in the old cemetery, which was completely ploughed and paved over. All of its monuments and graves were willfully desecrated.

In the 19^th century, the following Gaonim lived and worked in Minsk: Reb David Tavli the author of “Nachalat David”; Reb Gershon Tanchum; Reb Yaakov Meir [Gorodinsky, elsewhere transliterated from the Polish as Grodzenski]; and the “Gadol” Rabbi Aryeh Leib Perlman the author of “Or Gadol” [Great Light], a commentary on the Mishna. The latter served as the rabbi of the city. The influence of these Gaonim and personalities upon Minsk and its Jews was great. They spread its fame throughout the scattered breadth of Jewry.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, the Gaon Eliezer Rabinovitch served as the Chief Rabbi of Minsk. He was the son-in-law of the “Gadol”. His death, a few years after the revolution, brought deep shock to the Jews of Minsk. Many of them participated in his funeral, including Communists and gentiles.

After the death of Rabbi Rabinovitch, his son-in-law Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gluskin, continued on in the rabbinate. He was a dear and refined soul. He died in Leningrad, to where he was exiled with his family after the

[Page 149]

Yevseki government of Minsk libeled him and confiscated all of his property. Other well-known rabbis, who dedicated their souls to the preservation of the ember of Judaism, lived and worked in Minsk during the time of Rabbi Gluskin and after him. These included Yehoshua Zimbalist, Izak Rabinovitch, Moshe Gordon, the Magid Binyamin Shakovitzki, Rabbi Asher Kershtein, and others. These people worked and risked their lives for Judaism, under the ruthless police, imprisonment, and torment. Through their power and the powers that spread from their power – Judaism flickered, whispered, and guarded its embers lest they be completely extinguished.

A City of Refuge

The Jews of Vilna, Radin, Kovno, Brisk, Vilkomir and other areas from the regions of Poland and Lithuania, who lived in these cities by the thousands along with their leaders and rabbis, uprooted themselves and for the most part came to the “Jerusalem of Reisin”, to Minsk. Minsk was a great city unto G-d ^[3], populated with myriads of Jews, and under the influence of large, splendid Jewish institutions. Indeed, the Jews of Minsk opened the doors of their homes and their reserves of money for these refugees of war. They housed them and gave of their resources and strength to absorb them. Thus, the greats of that generation gathered into the midst of the Jewish center of Minsk – in the area of the old market, that is glazed and covered with wood and iron; in the alleys near the large square around which the synagogues are centered; and in the area of the Fish Market next to the Svisloch River whose waters flow swiftly in the summer and winter.

In the large and small synagogues that were centered around the streets Nemiga, Zamkova, Hakadarim [the potters] and in the alleys of “Bitza” [the bog], between the stores, and on the long, curved Street of the Butchers – Reb Yisrael Meir Kahan the author of the “Chofetz Chaim”, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, Reb Leib of Vilkomir, and Reb Yeshayahu Kareliz who later became known as the Chazon Ish, and many others sat, learned, and engaged in didactics. These synagogues were open day and night. Thousands of holy books were stored on their shelves and tables, as is the manner of synagogues in areas of Jewish settlement.

With the outbreak of the Communist Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet government, these rabbis and people were once again exiled. Some of them fled at the risk of their lives and returned across the borders to Poland and Lithuania, which became independent states after the war and were free from Communist rule, in accordance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Torah and its Studiers

The “Cheder” Synagogue was most famous, since the people of this synagogue would gather in the middle of the day, especially on Sabbaths. Their great rabbi, Reb Isser, and after his death his son-in-law Reb Aryeh, would sit on a high and exalted chair, not next to the table, but rather in the middle of the synagogue, on the bima [platform], surrounded by the audience

[Page 150]

of the many who heeded his voice, the exalted one in a high position. Silence would pervade. Even the rustle of a fly could not be heard as he spoke.

Next to the main square of the city, “Sobor” (whose name was changed to Sboboda – that is Freedom – after the revolution), there was a large, wide courtyard – the Synagogue Courtyard. Tens of synagogues, including the large, central synagogues of the city, were located there. The large, central synagogue was known as “Hakar” (the Cold), since at its inception, it did not have a stove due to its size. It was difficult to worship there in the winter. They would hire a quorum [minyan] of men to come to worship there, so that the prayers would not be missed there in the winter. The “Hachevra” synagogue, the large Beis Midrash, the small Beis Midrash, and many others – every synagogue with its story, every Beis Midrash had its studiers. The Synagogue Courtyard had three gates on each of the three sides that led to adjacent roads. (The story of the foundations, and history of these synagogues, as well as their capture, closing, and destruction by the Communist regime, is very long, and is worthy of being told in its own right.) In addition, there were beautiful and splendid synagogues scattered throughout town. Even group of artisans or professionals had their own synagogue, called after its name: the synagogue of the butchers, of the carpenters, of the plasterers. These were located in the area of the city where the craftsmen worked. Even the streets were called by the names of the professions.

In this city that was pervaded by the Misnagdic [anti-Hassidic] Lithuanian style, there were even three Hassidic synagogues. These were among the largest and warmest: Lubavitch, Koidanov, and Slonim.

A Center for Zionism and Pioneering

A large portion of the activists of the Zionist movement lived and worked in Minsk and its environs. It is sufficient to mention Nachman Sirkin, Yehoshua Sirkin, Mania Shuchat, Eliezer Kaplan, the first treasurer Herzl Berger, Dr. Alexander Goldstein, and many others. First and foremost, there is President Shazar ^[6], who was also raised in Minsk and its environs.

Minsk was the cradle of Zionist activists, both with regard to finances and settlement, in the years prior to the revolution and even in the years following. These included “Agudat-Haelef”, which established the Jewish settlement in “Ein-Zeitim”, “Kadima”, “Hashomer Hatzair”, “Tzeirei Zion”, and others. There were natives of Minsk and its environs among the founders of Degania ^[7], and in the ranks of Bilu, as well as among the first students of the Herzliya High School in Tel Aviv. It is proper to mention in particular the convention of “The Zionist Soldiers on the Minsk Front” that was established in Minsk at the end of the First World War in the year 1918, under a Hebrew flag upon which fluttered the symbol of the Magen David.

[Page 151]

Poets and Writers

During the 1930s and later ^[8], Yiddish literature and journalism arose in Minsk. The central theater, a gathering place for Yiddish writers, ensembles and choirs, meeting places for workers, and Jewish libraries all operated in Minsk. Theatrical groups and Jewish artists from Moscow, Kiev, and other cities would visit Minsk. Those who awaited them rejoiced with their Jewish hearts to hear the Yiddish language – the language which was interwoven with the Hebrew alphabet and Hebrew expressions.

Around the 1930s, a general conference of Jewish writers took place in the central Europa Hotel in Minsk. The poets Itzik Feffer, Peretz Markish and Izzi Charik stood out there.

The Yevsekia

Even though the end of the Yevsekia came and its chief spokesmen were not vindicated for the government of Stalin liquidated them as well, Minsk, an important city in Israel, with great influence, a great center of Jews and Judaism – now lies silent. Its mouth was shut, and a Jewish desolation envelops it.

Translator's Footnotes:

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