Temple Sinai features the Ashkenazi experience

Are you Ashkenazi? If you’re an American Jew, the answer is likely to be yes. The Ashkenazim trace their lineage to western Germany and northern France, where they developed into a unique community distinct in their appearance, behaviors and language (Yiddish) from other Jews. While this happened in the 11th century, for the next 200 years, Jews were moving in ever-greater numbers eastward.  Places we now know as Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine became havens, if only temporarily, for Jews fleeing the pogroms of the Crusades (1095-1291).

Who were the “other” Jews” prior to this point?  They were largely Sephardim, that is, Jews who remained in Israel and the greater Middle East, or who had settled on the Iberian peninsula (Portugal, Spain, and Southern France) and around the Mediterranean basin. They also had a distinct appearance, behavior, and language (Ladino). These populations were decimated with the decrees of the Inquisition in the 15th century, and especially, that of 1492. However, this process was less one of extermination (as it would be for Ashkenazim in the Holocaust), than it was of immigration and forced conversion. 

By the late 18th century, many Ashkenazim returned to Germany and France and the promise of a freer, more integrated life. By the middle of the 19th century, many more immigrated to America, and following the Shoah, more still.  While it was the Sephardim who were the first Jews to arrive in America (Touro synagogue), it was the Ashkenazim who truly established the American Jewish community. It is estimated that there are currently about 6 million Ashkenazi Jews in America, compared to 3 million in Israel, which remains dominated by Sephardim.

Temple Sinai in Cranston has been exploring “Jews Around the World.” Last year, the congregation devoted several weeks to learning about the Sephardim, enjoying Sephardi food, culture, and, especially, music. Now it’s the Ashkenazis’ turn.

From April 17-29, Temple Sinai will host several events called “The Ashkenazi Experience.” On April 17, the award-winning film “A Cantor’s Tale,” starring world-renowned cantor, Jackie Mendelson, was screened.

Cantor Mendelson is a master of the spontaneous, heart-wrenching, and quintessentially Ashkenazi singing called chazzanos that takes one small measure of music and turns it into a rollercoaster of vocal runs and jumps. A kind of Jewish gospel singing, it also is said to have inspired jazz singing and its derivative, scat.

Cantor Mendelson will join the Temple Sinai congregation April 27-29, beginning with Shabbat services lead by Jackie and his wife, Cantor Fredda Mendelson. On Saturday evening, April 28, Cantor Mendelson will present an original program of humor and song called “The Cantor’s Couch,” written by Jonathan Comisar. And on Sunday, the 29th, the weekend will culminate with “Cantors Sing Yiddish,” a concert headlined by the Cantors Mendelson, joined by Cantors Fred Scheff, Brian Mayer and Deborah Johnson.

The programs are free and open to the public. Noshes are included.

DEBORAH JOHNSON is cantor at Temple Sinai in Cranston.