As
I WRITE this blog, it’s actually over a week later. Such was the pace of the trip that I had time
to live it but not (b)log it. . .
We
began the day with a short ride over to one of the other hotels being used on
the trip. (The largest number of people
was staying at the Maritim Hotel, with others staying at the nearby
Ritz-Carlton and Scandic Hotels. This
morning’s program took place at the Ritz(y)-Carlton.
After
Professor Berk’s lecture, we received two impressive dignitaries—a German State Secretary Emily Haber, and the
American Ambassador to Germany Daniel Murphy.
She spoke movingly, acknowledging how difficult it must be for many of
us to visit Germany, and describing the many ways that Germany feels close to
Israel, works with Israel, and so on.
One of the things that the Ambassador pointed out was the irony of some
of the location of present-day buildings— they send a message that Nazism was
overcome, and succeeded by its opposite.
The strongest example of this is that the Israeli Ambadssador lives in a
building that was formerly the Nazi Officers’ clubhouse.
During
the day, we visited the Potsdam area, which provided an opportunity to see some
of the opulence of pre-state, pre-war days (the Sans Souci Palace), as well as a chance to walk
through the chambers of history—Cecilienhof, which was the location for the
agreements concluding the war.
This
may have been a good combination as a lead-in toward the magnificent Friday
evening service, conducted at Berlin Konzerthaus, a gorgeous theatre with an
elaborate and awesome organ.
I
don’t have photos of the Friday night service (because of Shabbat)—but will
always remember the beautiful davening and musical experience that took place
there. We began with the famous Ma Tovu
of Lewandowski (as we used to sing it at Tifereth Israel), with the hazzanim
leading the service processing in from the rear of the theatre. As President of the Cantors Assembly, I had
the honor of leading the procession, carrying the Cantors Assembly Torah which
also made the trip. (This Torah remains
in the congregation of the President during his or her two-year term, and has
its own story of desolation and rescue, having been hidden during the Holocaust
and recovered after and later been repaired to become once again a kosher
Torah.)
The
service featured again a significant amount of the music of Lewandowski. I sang the opening solo of Psalm 92, Tov
L’hodot—as well as the solo that leads in to the famous choral refrain Tzadik
Katamar. It was important to me to
include this in our service: this is one of the pieces that I most associate
with discovering beautiful Jewish synagogue music by singing in the choir at
Temple Emanu-El in Providence, Rhode Island—beginning my junior year in
college. The refrain is SO well-known
and quite lovely—but in the context of the through-composed work becomes even
more masterful to behold. Unfortunately,
the producer of the Friday Night service chose to abbreviate the work and NOT
include the choral sections in the beginning and middle, so I didn’t accomplish
the mission of unlocking the majesty of Lewandowski’s composition for everyone
present. That will have to wait for the
next trip or something! (This was an
understandable decision on his part.
There were many participants in the service, performing many works of
considerable length. It was the sort of
service you would probably never schedule in one week. . . but that you would
use a month or more to highlight the artistry and majesty.)
My
Long Island colleague Ofer Barnoy did a beautiful job of chanting several of
the psalms (or their beginnings and endings) according to Ashkenazic
traditions—beautifully ornamented improvisations as large as the concert hall
in which we prayed. This was
particularly notable in light of what he did the next morning—when he
accompanied himself on keyboard while leading k’dushah, playing a soulful and
contemporary melody of his own composition.
Over
a dozen colleagues participated as leaders of the service, assisted by the
professional choir once again, as well as the voices of all the cantors and
other singers (and congregants) present—and that bee-yoo-tee-ful organ masterly
played by Andrew Senn, a prominent organist we brought from the U.S. for the
Thursday and Friday night programs. The
music in the Friday night service ranged from Lewandowski and Sulzer to the
music of Carlebach, with stopping points including Israeli composer Yehezkel
Braun, German Jewish composer Eric Mandell and Isidore Freed, Max Helfman, Meir
Finkelstein and others. This fascinating
texture of old and not-so-old was woven together by David Tilman, a
distinguished colleague who recently became Cantor Emeritus at Beth Sholom
Congregation of Elkins Park, PA.
Participating colleagues included Jeff Weber, Ofer Barnoy, Dan Gross,
Henry Rosenblum, Marcia Tilchin, Murray Simon, David Lipp, Abe Lubin, Faith
Steinsnyder, Beny Maissner, Alisa Pomerantz-Boro, Avery Tracht, and Zach
Mondrow.
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