Shaindele Readable
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Page 1 of12 Ethan Goldberg, Brandeis University “Imitation as Innovation: Shaindele the Chanzante and American Meritocracy “ Page 2 of12 On Yom Kippur eve in 1980, Jean Gornish lay dying of cancer at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. Though frail from the years of smoking that brought on the illness, she knew but one way to comfort her fellow terminal patients and welcome the solemn holiday. The orderlies assembled the floor of patients, and Jean Gornish— otherwise known as “Shaindele the Chazante”—comforted them by her heartfelt and earnest rendition of “Kol Nidre,” the best known and most beloved of Jewish cantorial works (Barsky). The case of Shaindele the Chazante (1916-1981) is a curious result of conflicting American and Jewish values. Traditional Judaism since Talmudic times banned female vocal participation in worship, thus the institution of the cantorate (the trained singer who conducts Jewish worship services) had, until recently, been closed to women. When Judaism came to the United States, this value came into conflict with a strong tradition of female participation in church life and with American ideals of meritocracy and equality of opportunity. Produced out of this tension is the curious and fascinating character of Shaindele the Chazante. This paper briefly outlines these two conflicting values before giving a biography of Shaindele and a thorough musical analysis of her late 1950s album Shaindele Sings the Songs of Her People. The musical and aesthetic result of these conflicting tensions is Shaindele’s imitation of the format and style of male cantors. The simple fact that she was a woman singing cantorial music was enough of a novelty; she imitated the familiar songs and singing of notable male cantors. Why had women been silenced in the synagogue? The answer can be traced to the Talmud, the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law compiled in late antiquity. In the Tractate Brachot 24a, Samuel declares that “Kol b’isha erwah,” “a woman’s voice is a sexual incitement” (Berman). Samuel brings a proof-text from the Biblical love-poem Song of Songs (2:14) to support his statement: “’let me hear your voice because your voice is pleasant and appearance attractive,’” (Jachter). According to Samuel, if a woman’s voice is “pleasant” and related to her attractive appearance, then it could be disruptive to prayer and is thus forbidden. The interpretation of Samuel’s prohibition has been varied in time and place. As Rabbi Saul Berman explains, German Rishonim (early scholars) interpreted this ban to mean that a woman’s voice could not be heard only while a man was saying the Shema (a central prayer of most Jewish services). Rishonim of North Africa and Spain interpreted the ban not on a woman singing, but on communication between a man and a woman who was sexually prohibited to him (like a close relative) that could lead to an illicit relationship. However, Acharonim (later scholars) interpreted the ban more broadly to mean that a woman’s singing voice is a form of nudity and is prohibited under all circumstances at all times except in the private company of her husband. But Berman cites three 20th century rabbinic deciders who seem to revert back to the earlier notion that the ban was based on context (a man saying the Shema) and not a wholesale prohibition of female singing or even speaking. Rabbi Yehiel Weinberg, in particular, allows mixed singing of zmirot (semi-liturgical hymns) by students for the sake of education and to not drive away women from the fold by “depriving their rights” (Berman 64). But even these more permissive authorities stop short of allowing a Page 3 of12 woman to lead a congregation in tuneful prayer, a prohibition that exists to this day in normative Orthodox communities1. This exclusion of women from the musical life of the tradition synagogue is in deep contrast to the practice of American churches in particular. In Europe, women’s voices were rarely heard in church, either; Bach, Mozart and other notable composers of sacred music wrote for choirs of men and prepubescent boys who could affect the female voice. However, British and American Puritans, in their effort to increase congregational participation in the service, preferred mixed singing of unison tunes in English. An early observer recorded: You may sometimes see at St. Paul’s Cross, after the service, six thousand persons, old and young, of both sexes, all singing together and praising God [emphasis added] (cited in Ryken 124). The Puritans brought this policy of mixed singing to America, where it doubtless influenced the musical development of American churches. The American attitude of mixed participation and even leadership is well exemplified by a contemporary of Shaindele, the famous Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972). The daughter of a New Orleans pastor, Jackson got her start singing in Baptist churches in New Orleans and Chicago. Her success as a church singer led to recording contracts with Columbia Records in the 1940s. In the 1950s and 60s she brought Gospel music to the mainstream, performing on CBS radio and the Ed Sullivan show. An active supporter of civil rights, she sang the Gospel classic “How I Got Over” preceding Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 19632. Concurrent with American church tradition, Jackson certainly never faced any religious objection to her singing in church, in fact her singing was particularly liked by religious figures like King (“Mahalia Jackson”). Traditional Judaism’s prohibition of female cantors also conflicts with broader American ideals of equality of opportunity. This idea begins with the statement in the Declaration of Independence that “life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are unalienable rights that governments must protect. In order to best protect the pursuit of Happiness, the notion of equality of opportunity became a large part of American political culture. The idea is well summarized by the economist Milton Friedman: No arbitrary obstacles should prevent people from achieving those positions for which their talents fit them and which their values lead them to seek. Not birth, nationality, color, religion, sex, nor any other irrelevant characteristic should determine the opportunities that are open to a person—only his abilities. (Friedman 132). 1 Many 20th century authorities have ruled that listening to a woman’s voice on a recording or radio broadcast is not prohibited because it is merely a reproduction of the voice and the singer is not seen (Jachter). However, there is no indication that Shaindele attempted to use this “loophole” to be heard by Orthodox audiences, especially because she performed live to mixed audiences in addition to her recordings and broadcasts. 2 Accessible at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TALcOreZi0A Page 4 of12 As further musical analysis will show, Shaindele was certainly talented and able to perform cantorial music will great skill and affect. But the “irrelevant characteristic” of her sex stopped her from singing this music in its original context of the synagogue. This is a clear conflict between the American values of equality of opportunity and the Jewish value of “kol b‘isha erwah.” Shaindele’s background helps to explain what drove her to sing liturgical music. Born Jean Gornish in 1918 to a “glatt3” (strictly religious) family of eight children in Jewish South Philadelphia, Jean was steeped in Jewish music and relished in singing Sabbath zmirot. Throughout her childhood, Shaindele (“little pretty one,” her given Yiddish name) grew to some notoriety in the Philadelphia Jewish community. Initially unsure of how to best use her magnificent voice, she had a short career as a lounge singer in northeast Philadelphia (with the stage name “Julia Cornish”), over the objections of her parents. Her sister recalls Jean sneaking out of and into the house for these performances. But it very soon became apparent that her talent and aptitude were in the cantorial music of her childhood. Shaindele was a natural talent, never trained by any teacher or cantor. She learned by listening to the popular recordings of Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, considered by many to be the finest cantor of the so-called “golden age” in the interwar period (Barsky). Her sister recalls Shaindele sitting meticulously over the recordings, emulating every trill and note4. She was first heard on the radio in 1938 in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. By the early 1940s, she was sponsored by “Planter’s Hi-Hat Peanut Oil,” who set up regular concert and radio appearances (Barsky). A Yiddish poster from Philadelphia encouraged Jews to attend a live performance: In Person! Shaindele the Chazante who will astound you with her heartfelt prayers and Yiddish songs. It’s been five years since you’ve heard her on the radio. Five years that she has touched your hearts with her heartfelt prayers. For the first time, you will see her and hear her from a Jewish stage, performing the most beautiful prayers and songs5 (See appendix 4). The reaction to her performances was overwhelmingly positive, with rave reviews from newspapers. The Chicago American proclaimed in a concert review: La Chazente elicited tears from those familiar with the literature heard in synagogues and even reached the hearts of those who never stepped into a Jewish temple. In her field she has no competitor and must be termed the ‘Heifetz’ among cantors,” (Cited by Kelman). A program from a Chicago concert perhaps overstated the situation. 3 The term “glatt” kosher did not enter American Jewish parlance until after World War II. Still, this was the term Shaindele’s sister used to describe her family, still stalwarts of the Philadelphia Orthodox Jewish community. 4 For centuries, the only way to learn cantorial music was by apprenticeship to a cantor, which certainly was closed to women.