A Cantorial Field of Dreams…

With the start of the baseball season, I truly feel that spring is in the air and summer is just around the corner. Pesach has come and gone and Shavuot is just a couple of weeks away. However, the world of organized sport has a different flavour than it did when I was a little boy. While athletes earn more than ever before and sporting events are the most commercialized in history, I feel that the nostalgia of organized sport has been lost.

True enough, the days of Shoeless Joe, Babe Ruth and Cy Young are far behind us. The Montreal Expos have packed their bags and moved to the American Capitol leaving us with our good old Blue Jays. Hockey has left a sour taste in the mouths of everyone who once loved the game and although I haven’t collected and traded hockey cards since I was a little boy, I still remember how much I loved putting those cards in my Hockey book.

One of my favourite movies is ‘A Field of Dreams’ because for a brief moment, a lifelong fan (Kevin Costner) recaptures the true essence of the game with a magical meeting of baseball heroes from the past. The world of the Cantorate is quite the same. The era when Yosselle Rosenblatt, Jan Peerce and the Koussevitzky brothers were household names has passed. The number of qualified, Cantors worldwide is probably at the lowest in the history of the Cantorate. This is because Jewish people with serious talent don’t want to be Cantors. The glory of being a star Cantor has lost its luster. Most congregants are happy to know the name of their own Cantor and possibly one other and the rhythm of life continues quite unabated.

In a generation where it is easy to forget those who came before us because there is so much else to look ahead to, I feel compelled to look back. If you grew up attending services at Beth Sholom, you will certainly remember the names of those who came before me – names like Rosenberg, Oppenhaim, Herscovitz, Warman and Bagley. Cantor Bagley served Beth Sholom during the late 1970’s and 1980’s. As a Cantor he composed and interpreted liturgical music like very few could. He was the Babe Ruth of Cantorial music.

When the former Soviet Union forbade organized religion, he found a way to travel to communities in soviet block countries and bring the music of his people back to those who yearned for a taste of what had been lost decades earlier.

Hazzan Bagley celebrated a career of great accomplishments as he served communities in Canada, the United States, Israel, South Africa and Mexico. Sadly, his life took a turn several years ago when he had a debilitating stroke. With a mind completely in tact but a body half paralyzed, he lives in Baycrest Hospital, completely cognizant of what he once was and weary of the terrible blow that life dealt to him.

Beth Sholom will be honouring Cantor Bagely and his Cantorial legacy on November 1st, 2005 at a gala tribute concert to be held at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. (Yonge & Shepperd) The world’s greatest Cantors will be singing – Cantor Moshe Shulhof – Aventura, Florida; Cantor Naftali Herstik – Jerusalem; Cantor Alberto Mizrahi – Chicago; Cantor Joseph Malovany – Manhattan; Cantor Benzion Miller – Brooklyn NY; Cantor Binyomin Mueller – Antwerp, Belgium; Cantor Chaim Adler – Tel Aviv; Cantor Israel Rand – Long Island, New York; Cantor Moshe Stern – Jerusalem; Cantor Benjamin Maissner – Toronto. This list of participants is a statement of the impact Cantor Bagley made as a true Shliach Tzibbur and as a “Cantorial Hall of Famer.”

Shavuot is a time of the giving of the Torah – an opportunity to learn the history of our sages by acknowledging the great minds that came before our time. In the world of Cantorial music, Hazzan Bagley has left an indelible imprint. It is with this thought that I impart this message on Shavuot – to continue looking ahead by acknowledging the importance of our past. On November 1st, 2005 Beth Sholom will experience its own “Field of Dreams.”

Chag Sameach
Cantor Eric Moses