Each community has its own minhagim (customs). The hazan (cantor), spokesman of his community leads the worshippers into the prayer...
We invite you here to listen to great cantors representative of the Jewish tradition of Alsace-Lorraine region.
Born in 1893 in a shtetl (small village) near Warsaw, Joseph Borin is appointed cantor in Strasbourg in 1933. He learns quickly the Alsacian liturgy, though it is very different from Eastern Europe’s liturgy, and works as a cantor after the war at the synagogue de la Paix in Strasbourg until 1964.
Albert Kirch, born in Warsaw, arrives in French town Metz ar the age of two. He become canor there in 1950, along with Salomon Binn and Jules Ptachek.
Finally, René Jasner starts in the mid-1950’s as trainee cantor at the synagogue de la Victoire (Paris), and becomes a professional in Strasbourg ten years later.
The collections of the EIJM have many audio documents, sheet music, photos and oter archives from the Alsace-Lorraine community, especially from Metz (main holdings from Salomon and Sylvain Binn given by Serge Binn, main holding from Albert Kirch, main holding from the Great syngogue of Metz, etc.)
Learn about the CD : Judeo-French music from the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries.
Learn more on the history of musical traditions from Alsace-Lorraine jewry..
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