Hazzan Shloimele

1934 - 1934
214 Duluth E.

Audio: Stephanie Schwartz, Research Director of IMJM narrates Hazzan Shloimele's story.


Perhaps Montreal’s youngest-ever cantor, Shloimele rescued a synagogue from bankruptcy with the power of his voice. Following a warning of a bank foreclosure in 1934, the president of the Beth Yehuda synagogue, Gidaliyahu Michalovsky, suggested that a cantor be hired for Saturdays and special concerts – a common fundraising practice in Montreal at the time. Often a concert was presented before the High Holidays, which would not only bring in revenue, but would also encourage the purchase of seats for the holidays. After the first two hired cantors proved to be a disappointing draw, eleven-year-old cantor Shloimele was employed to lead Beth Yehuda’s High Holiday services. The event was reported to have brought a smile to the face of every member. Cantor Shloimele’s performances also brought in a profit of $4,000, four times the amount that had been raised in their previously most successful concert!

Ultimately, fundraisers and guest cantors could not stem the tide of financial struggles for the synagogue caused by the exodus of the congregation’s wealthier members from the neighbourhood. In 1960, the Beth Yehuda amalgamated with other immigrant congregations, forming what is now called the Shomrim Laboker Beth Yehuda Shaare Tefillah Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Tifereth Israel at 6410 Westbury in Snowdon. Shloimele, the child prodigy cantor, is now just a legend. His full name and identity remain unknown.

Compiled by Stephanie Tara Schwartz, Zev Moses and Sara Tauben

Links

Liens

Cantors of Greater Montreal
Radio Shalom - Cantor's Corner with Cantor Sid Dworkin
Traces of the Past

Sources

Tauben, Sara Ferman. “Aspirations and Adaptations: Immigrant Synagogues of Montreal, 1880s-1945.” Masters Thesis. Concordia University, 2004.

Tauben, Sara Ferman. Traces of the Past: Montreal’s Early Synagogues. Montréal: Véhicule Press, 2011.

*Images courtesy of Cantor Arie Subar.

Media

Media