A Cantor's Tale directed by Erik Greenberg, USA, 2005, 95 min., Beta SP, English
      
By Donald H. Harrison 

Cantor Jacob Mendeleson, former  president of the Cantors Assembly of America, takes us into his world as the son of a delicatessen owner in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, where "Jackie" had two great passions: chazzanut and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers, of course, moved to Los Angeles, but the passionate prayers of the great cantors are a continuing part of Jewish life in New York City.  Mendelson proves this as he walks into the bakeries and delicatessens of today, challenging the counter men to join him in a hearty synagogue melody.  They do, singing the praises to God with all the gusto of an Italian belting out an aria from a favorite opera.  And you, the viewer, can't help smiling as you watch this unabashed, joyful Jewish camaraderie.

This documentary is part autobiography, part neighborhood history, part essay on the famous cantors of the past like Yossele Rosenblatt, Mordecai Hershman and Moshe Koussevitsky—and, oh, the arguments you could get over who had a better voice!  Such issues were debated the way sports fans might debate who was the better baseball player—Mickey Mantle or Duke Snyder.  And when the great ones performed in a shul, people would come from all over to hear them, some breaking prohibitions against riding on Shabbos in the process.



Throughout the documentary there are interviews with some of the luminaries from the old neighborhood—among them Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz and comedian Jackie Mason. Pitcher Sandy Koufax also grew up in the neighborhood, a living representation of that other great passion, but ever since he retired, he has been a recluse.  Additional interviews with songwriter Debbie Friedman, Cantor Alberto Misrahi of Chicago, and other cantors further shape the narrative.

Like a conversation between dear friends, the documentary wanders occasionally from topic to topic and back again, Mendelson carrying our viewing experience by the force of his voice, playful personality, and love for shtick. We follow Mendelson to the Reform Movement's  Hebrew Union College—School of Sacred Music, where his students are mostly women,  to an Orthodox congregation (Beth El) in Brooklyn, where Cantor Ben Zion Miller holds one note longer than Mendelson does, prompting the admiring mock criticism from Mendelson: "You dog!" We also visit Mendelson's home congregation, the Conservative Temple Israel Center of White Plains, where, accompanying himself on guitar, he leads little children through a charming song with lyrics like "...gefilte fish with horse radish; don't forget to take a nap on Shabbos afternoon..." As Mendelson pretends to fall asleep, the children yell in unison: "Wake Up!"

Mendelson also takes us on a brief sortie to Israel, where he sings chazzanut on the beach with as man clad only in swim trunks.

If The Cantor's Tale is to be faulted, it is because it tries to pack too much into 95 minutes.  A lengthy debate on whether or not women should be cantors could have been handled in a line or two without detracting from the overall film—nobody's mind is going to be changed on either side of this stale debate as a result of the filmed discussion.  Similarly, a short section on the Holocaust was unnecessary as  it did not add to our understanding of the event. It would have been sufficient to say that as a result of the Holocaust some of the great surviving European cantors came to New York City to make their homes—and their wonderful music.

A Cantor's Tale will be presented twice during the San Diego Jewish Film Festival: At 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 17,  in the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre at the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs Family Campus, and at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Poway Ultrastar.  Cantor Jacob (Jackie) Mendelson, subject of the film, will be the guest speaker at this event presented in partnership with Hadassah and San Diego Cantors Arlene Bernstein and Sheldon Merel of Congregation Beth Israel, Lori Frank of Adat Shalom, and Cathy Robbins of Temple Solel