TWO young cantors from Merseyside synagogues have won their way through to the finals of a competition to train at a renowned specialist school in Israel.
The cantor, or chazzan, is a singer who leads the congregation in sung prayer at a synagogue, and for the last two years the Jewish Musical Institute at the University of London has organised a Young Cantor of the Year competition.
Run in co-operation with Tephilharmonic, a society formed to preserve the traditional synagogue music in orthodox congregations, the competition offers the chance to spend a year at the Cantorial Institute in Tel Aviv.
All three finalists this year are from the north-west of England: Charles Chait, 21, from Childwall, who is cantor at the Childwall Hebrew Congregation; Yossi Saunders, 21, cantor at the Southport Hebrew Congregation, and Didi Chrysler, 20, originally from Prestwich, Manchester, but now living in Israel.
Mr Chait said: “Yossi is a close friend of mine, but for this competition we’re rivals.
“Music is deep within the Jewish tradition, and the way I describe my role is that while the Rabbi takes the word of God to the people, the cantor helps take the word of the people to God.”
Mr Chait is one of three brothers who have all become cantors, following on from their father, Henry, who was cantor at the Greenbank Drive synagogue in Liverpool until he retired through ill-health.
