Change Agents of the Liberal Cantorate: In Celebration of the DFSSM’s 75th Anniversary: Gershon Ephros

Gershon Ephros

(1890-1978)

“For sure you can find it in Ephros!” This advice was uttered and heard many times at the DFSSM, especially in its first several decades, for the so called Ephros Anthology was THE go-to source for Jewish liturgical music.

The Cantorial Anthology of Traditional and Modern Synagogue Music, published by Bloch Publishing Company in 6 volumes during the years from 1929 to 1969, filled a deep void in the available resource literature. Those attractive sky-blue leather-like volumes contained a panoply of unknown, unused and unpublished items as well as many out of print and otherwise unavailable music to enhance the cantorial repertoire.

The Anthology was a one-stop shopping delight containing representative compositions of Eastern European choral synagogues, selections from German and other western and central European repertoires as well as simpler settings from itinerant cantors and choirs, creations by contemporary American and Israeli composers, unaccompanied cantorial recitatives. traditional responses, refrains, congregational hymns and even organ preludes.

Why was the Anthology unique and valuable and how was Ephros a change agent for the cantorate? In the words of Cantor Max Wohlberg: “(Ephros) gathered and thus rescued, little known compositions of merit, he unearthed lost manuscripts, corrected and arranged items without number, composed abundantly for the synagogue, set to music texts of our poets, composed for instruments, taught and lectured, and his contributions continue to enrich our repertoire.”

It is important to note that, until 1953, when HUC-JIR and the ACC began to issue the multi-volume Out-of-Print Classics (which was primarily devoted to 19 th century European composers), cantors had to rely on “secret material” which had to be cajoled or purchased from individual cantors and composers. This was an expensive and often hit or miss proposition.

Additionally, while Jewish music publishing firms such as Transcontinental, Metro, Bloch and Mills did publish complete shabbat and holiday services by individual contemporary composers, this too was an expensive and selective venture. Ephros’ volumes at once broadened and refined the liturgical music vistas for generations of cantors and made this wonderful material readily available and usable.

Gershon Ephros was born in Serotsk, a suburb of Warsaw, in 1890. His father, a Hebrew teacher and baal koreh, died when Gershon was 10. Soon thereafter, his mother married Moses Fromberg a hazzan and shochet. Gershon sang in Fromberg’s choir and learned the basic elements of music and nusach. He studied Talmud in Bialystok and traveled wisely throughout his teens gaining exposure to some of the famous synagogue choirs in Poland.

He emigrated to Palestine in 1909 at the age of 19 where he was introduced to Abraham Zvi Idelsohn who was the cantor of the Lemel Synagogue in Jerusalem and became Idelsohn’s assistant cantor. It was there he met Moshe Nathanson, a boy alto in Idelsohn’s choir and later Mordechai Kaplan’s cantor at the SAJ in New York City and complier of Zamru Lo. It was Ephros who Introduced the Palestinian chalutzim melodies of Admon, Nardi, Zaira and others when he came to the US, but also advocated for the great tradition of creativity in the Diaspora.

Ephros studied hazzanut, harmony, theory and musicology with Idelsohn and gained a deep knowledge of the Hebrew language and literature and taught at Idelsohn’s Machon L’Shirat Yisrael. He Emigrated to the US in 1911 and went to work for the newly organized Bureau of Jewish Education in New York City as its first music teacher for Jewish schools. He held cantorial positions in Norfolk, VA, and the Bronx while continuing his studies and research. He accepted the pulpit of Beth Mordecai in 1927 coinciding with his first publication, Birkat Kohanim No.1. He retired from the pulpit in 1957 and the years following were perhaps his most productive.

Ephros identified his greatest influences as his stepfather Moses Fromberg, from whom he learned the pure and time-honored Eastern European Jewish musical tradition; Idelsohn, who taught him that the ancient Hebrew chants were rooted in scriptural cantillation; and Joseph Achron, with whom he developed a close relationship, and who helped him find a creative and an innovative way to harmonize these ancient Hebrew chants without destroying their original character, to which Ephros declared “I stand now firmly based on the solid ground of the Hebrew tradition which is free from foreign influence.” Achron’s unique style of harmonization is clearly evident in Ephros’ original compositions and his arrangements of traditional chants.

At Eric Werner’s urging, Ephros accepted the position of instructor in nusach and hazzanut as one of the founding faculty members of the nascent School of Sacred Music, the only cantor on the original faculty.

I met Ephros in 1970 when I was a cantorial student at a concert celebrating his 80th birthday. The program consisted of his compositions for cantor and choir, as well as some of his piano works and children’s songs. He was warm, humble, gracious and unassuming. He beamed with pride hearing his compositions performed, but without any ego. He was a pioneer and a giant, a legend in his field, but he patiently took the time to talk with this young cantorial student and encouraged me to explore the depth and breadth of the treasure trove of our sacred music, old and new. He was slight in stature, but we all stand on his proverbial firm and broad shoulders. It was easy to understand why he was respected and beloved by his students, colleagues and Congregants.

His powerful charge to cantors spoken decades ago still resonates aptly and profoundly with us today:

“I would dream a dream: Jewish music of the future bringing to humanity a great spiritual message, a message of renewal, of moral and ethical purity- reflecting the vision of the Bible, our contribution to civilization- it is there that all (of us) find that ruggedness of truth and a directness of expression that will forever inspire all who are endowed with artistic sensitivity and prophetic vision.”

To which we should surely echo a hopeful kein y’hi ratson!