User Reviews

I had the privilege of seeing this documentary at the Seattle Jewish Film Festival in 2006. It's a wonderful story of one man's journey to becoming a chazz'n, as well as the history of the chazz'n in America. Jack Mendelsohn, the narrator, hails from Boro Park, where he grew up loving chazz'n and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Alan Dershowitz, a fellow Boro Park alumni, and Jackie Mason, also make appearances, including a very funny Jackie Robinson story from Dershowitz that involves a chazz'n. The movie covers famous chazz'ns from Poland who arrived after World War II and their role in Jewish society as artists and spiritual leaders. Mendelsohn spends much of the movie returning to Boro Park and visiting old haunts while also meeting up with other chazz'ns and teaching new students at Hebrew Union College. It provides a wonderful primer on the history of the chazz'n in America, as well as a peek into the life of Boro Park in the '40s and '50s.

I want to get this when DVD is available. I want my children to view this documentary and get a flavor for what the chazzanut were. Today's children don't see it. I myself was not exposed to it directly, although I heard chazzanut on records and in movies. This movie was well done, well presented and covered a lot of subjects within the topic. I am a soloist at a Reform synagogue, and I think it is very important to keep some of the old as well as bring in some of the new. This movie points out the reasons why. I would like to show this movie someday at our small synagogue as an education to the congregation, many of whom are interfaith and in someways not involved in the greater Jewish community. I think this would give the an appreciation for what these cantors brought to America. I wish I could have been a student of Jack Mendelson!