Man Thinks His Amateurish, Formulaic ‘Chazanut’ Appealing

Congregants suppress indications they find his trite bombastic tendencies awkward or undesirable, so as not to humiliate another in public.

Teaneck, May 1 – Congregants at a local synagogue continued to lament the practice of one of the frequent leaders of the service, who burdens attendees with an almost-identical “performance” each Friday night or Saturday morning, and who nevertheless considers his mediocre talents an important attraction, when in fact the synagogue’s unusual singalong style that long preceded the man’s frequent role as cantor attracts them, and the frequency of his cantorial roles occurs in the main because he controls who fills the role.

Kehillat Asher LiShlomo – a grassroots synagogue that place emphasis on the melodies and davening style of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – boats a small roster of regular attendees with the knowledge, skill, and confidence to lead such a service. Political and demographic changes in the community have brought about attrition in the number of committed members willing and competent to serve in leadership positions such as the executive board, leaving one man in de facto control of that board, which last held elections five years ago despite bylaws mandating annual contests. He also fancies himself a chazzan and has served as sexton for years.

The same man has arrogated control of the services, selecting himself as chazzan at least one out of every three services that feature copious singing: Kabbalat Shabbat/the Sabbath evening service; the Sabbath morning service; and the additional Musaf service that follows morning liturgy and Torah-reading on the Sabbath and festivals. Congregants acknowledged they work each time to suppress indications that they find “Mister M” and his trite bombastic tendencies awkward or undesirable, so as not to violate commandments prohibiting public humiliation of another.

“It’s not like we can complain to the Vaad,” lamented one father of four, using the Hebrew term for committee or board. “He is the Vaad. In private discussion he claims there’s no one qualified to form a new Vaad, but that’s for the membership to decide. In the meantime we all have to pretend we enjoy the same old, same old that Carlebach himself specifically worked to shake up and make fresh.”

“It’s even more galling because he gets the same tunes wrong over and over again, and has no sense of pace, or even his own range,” complained a female congregant who numbers among the bare handful of founding members still willing to attend. “Fine, maybe there aren’t that many people in our talent pool. But even when he’s not chazzan he stands next to the actual chazzan and tries to ‘help’ by singing louder than the actual guy! And he sings the wrong thing sometimes. He thinks this all somehow enhances our experience. But no one wants embarrass him. He’s otherwise not a bad guy.”

The man in question was unavailable for questions, as he was still trying to extend the last Kaddish and making everyone late for their meals.

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