Kol HaLev is Baltimore's new synagogue community in the making

Music of the High Holy Days

As your Hazzan (Cantor), I have the honor of helping you to experience fully the liturgy and music of the High Holy Days.  It is truly an emotional, theatrical, and spiritual time for us.  And we spend more time together at services during this ten day period than many of us do the rest of the year.  So it helps to do some preparation—I as your Cantor, and you as our congregation. 

Our Machzor is an amazing compilation of material: historical readings, prayers, and lessons; choreographed theater and moving poetry; metaphors and allegories.  And much of this material is carried by music—music that is unique to these Holy Days, far different than what we’re all used to hearing at Shabbat, for example.  But this special music carries with it the central themes and emotions of the High Holy Days, and we are the players in the cast of this musical drama.

If you are like most synagogue congregants, you’ve probably just begun to focus on how close the High Holy Days really are.  They always do seem to “sneak up on us,” don’t they?  I understand how you feel.  The feelings during these “Days of Awe” can be truly be “awesome.”  So—in order to help you to get ready, I’ve recorded some congregational melodies and other music for you and placed them on our website.  I hope you’ll find time to listen to them!  You’ll probably hear melodies and musical settings that you’ve heard before.  And when you attend our services, I encourage you to sing the melodies that are familiar to you.  Sing on key, or off key—just sing!  Although the liturgy speaks of our being judged during this period, neither I nor anyone else will be judging you on your singing. 

Rabbi Geoff and I look forward to leading you through the many elements that make these High Holy Days such a major event.  As we go through the liturgical selections,  you may find it useful to frequently refer to the text that is being chanted, either in Hebrew or in translation, or to the wonderful commentaries that appear throughout the Machzor .  Ask yourself: how does the musical setting capture the mood of the prayer being sung?  Why, for example, is the Hazzan’s Prayer, Hin’ni (Here I Am), so personal, soulful, and pleading, while “Un’taneh Tokef” (Now We Declare—the holiness of this day)is so dramatic and theatrical?  The music and the service can both come alive for you this way.

Wishing you all a sweet New Year.

From the late 1980's until 2006, George served his home congregation in Northern Virginia as lay cantor but decided to turn this avocation into a vocation.  Upon retiring from the government in 2004, he began his formal cantorial training, enrolling in the American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism to study with Sol Zim and other known Cantors.  He spent the next few years commuting weekly to New York for classes, returning home each weekend.  He received his Cantorial Certification from the ASCJ in May of 2007, and he began serving as Kol HaLev's Cantor several months later. This year marks Cantor Henschel's third High Holy Day services at Kol HaLev.

Cantor Henschel has a broad and interesting background in Jewish life.  Before becoming a Cantor, he served as a synagogue president, taught classes in Hebrew liturgy and music, served as a cantorial soloist and choir member, and participated in a Jewish folk group.  Among his other talents, he does English and Hebrew calligraphy, having inscribed many certificates to commemorate baby-namings, bar- and bat-mitzvah events, and wedding ketubot.  Outside Jewish life, he is an avid hockey fan, as well as a dedicated cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle aficionado) who has finished as high as second in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Cantor Henschel and his wife, Ricki, moved to Baltimore in September 2008 , but this is not their first connection to this area.  Their eldest daughter was married at Westminster Hall in 2006.  In addition, Ricki’s parents eloped to Baltimore over 60 years ago, and her father now lives in Baltimore.