kol nidre
by tobybee
When my mum’s dad, my zaida, was alive and well, he’d return from the kol nidre service every year and play various recordings that he had of the kol nidre prayer. His favourite, I’m sure you’re keen to know, was the cello version by Max Bruch. So this story has become a bit of a family tale of mirth: one of the many amusing and quirky things that we can remember my zaida by, and which we repeat every time we come home from the kol nidre service.
This year the service that we attended, I must say, was a somewhat disappointing one. The rabbi doesn’t have the best voice – he does the best that he can with what he has, but, alas, it’s not great. Plus he seemed to be going at a bit of a snails pace (the rabbi is leaving the congregation in a couple of weeks, which led my brother to ingeniously label it ‘doing an Oakeshott‘), which made it incredibly difficult to sing along to: for those of us with sub-standard voices (and I’d definitely put myself in that category!) it’s embarrassing singing in public at the best of times, but when each note is being drawn out it becomes a bit too much to take. Plus his slowness meant that the service went an hour over what it usually would. oy vey!
But then I got to listen today to the most recent shtetl on the shortwave podcast, called kol nidre, where Tamara presented many a lovely version of the kol nidre prayer, coupled with some discussions about what yom kippur, and kol nidre can mean to different people. You can find it here.
And I’ll leave you with the dulcet tones of Perry Como, bringing the overwrought instrumentals and backing choir to the prayer…
Any favourite versions that any of you want to share?
Thank you for this Como link…a bit over-the-top but at least it makes the gorgeous melody very clear, a tune that is sometimes hard to follow when sung a capella by someone more religious than musical.
Thanks Susan, suppose it’s true that we can’t expect all our rabbis to be Moishe Oyshes…
Dear Jew on This,
I am so glad that you enjoyed the kol nidre show of Shtetl on the Shortwave. Thanks for mentioning it and for making me aware of your thoughtful blog. Some very interesting conversations here. All the best to you! Tamara
thanks tamara, we’re fans of shtetl on the shortwave too. keep up the good work 🙂
Moishe Oyshe wins hands down in my book – really, he’s incredible. This is from the Yiddish film ‘Overture t Glory’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vkpsFwsQY4
same experience this year. The guy leading Kol Nidrei at my shul has a pretty bad voice; I’d like to say that I could spiritually transcend that. But I couldn’t, really.
Thanks for the link deuslovolt, that’s a pretty incredible scene and the music’s beautiful! there’s something about the way they made those old black and white films…
I checked out your blog too- great stuff! 🙂