The Voice of Tradition

The ancient art of the Jewish cantor, whose passionate solo singing enlivens synagogue services, is an endangered musical species. That makes “Cantors Live 2000” Sunday at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino more than just entertainment.

Organized by Herschel Fox, one of the few full-time cantors in the Los Angeles area, “Cantors Live” features guest cantors flown in from afar. When Fox and his wife, Judy, who is also a cantor, started the musical show 19 years ago, it focused on lighter fare, “like a vaudeville or variety show,” he said.

But a more serious program presented four years ago was a rousing success, and Fox decided to hold a cantorial festival every other year. “Before, we called the show ‘And the Cantors Sing.’ This year we call it ‘Cantors Live 2000,’ I guess because they’re not dead,” Fox joked.

Guest cantors this year are David Propis from Houston, Moshe Schulhof from Miami, Jacob Mendelson from White Plains, N.Y., Alberto Mizrahi from Chicago and Daniel Gildar from Philadelphia.

“They will do one heavy song, and then they do a comedic Yiddish song,” Fox said. “I emcee it, and in between I do comedy and lighter things. But I would say the highlight is the real heavyweight European cantorial numbers.”

The underlying agenda is to celebrate and preserve a grand tradition.

“Many people are predicting the demise of this great tradition, the European cantorial style,” Fox said. “It’s being done less and less in synagogues. I think one of the reasons it’s so dramatic now is that people are saying that this is the last generation of this kind of cantorial singers. It’s becoming more and more Westernized, more sing-along.”

Nevertheless, contemporary cantors are eager to carry on the tradition. “More and more women are becoming cantors, especially in Reform and Conservative,” Fox said. “Orthodox, which had the beginnings of this European cantorial music--very dramatic and operatic, with a lot of flourishes and passion in the singing--can’t have women because they cannot lead services in Orthodox synagogues.”

Fox’s Polish parents were Holocaust survivors who landed in Winnipeg, Canada, after the war. It was there that Fox nurtured the desire to become a cantor.

“I loved growing up in Winnipeg,” Fox said.

“In those days, there was a very traditional Jewish community and traditional cantorial community. Many people said it was like a European Jewish city because there were 24,000 Jews when I was a kid, and about half were Holocaust survivors. There still is a Yiddish radio program every Sunday.”

BE THERE

Cantors Live 2000, Sunday, 7 p.m. at Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino. $25. (818) 788-6000.