GOLDFARB, ISRAEL

GOLDFARB, ISRAEL (1879–1967), Polish-born American rabbi, cantor, and influential composer. Born in Sieniewa, Galicia, Poland, Goldfarb came to New York at the age of 14 and within a decade graduated from Columbia University. He was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York (1902). Receiving musical training at the Institute for Musical Arts, the forerunner of the famed Juilliard School, Goldfarb then began his service, his dual calling as rabbi and cantor of the Kane Street synagogue, which was founded in 1856 and is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn. Goldfarb served the congregation for more than half a century (1904–56) and was rabbi emeritus until his death. He died knowing that his grandson Henry Michelman was to be named his successor. When he came to the congregation it had just completed a merger and was moving to new quarters in a converted church on Kane Street. His music united divergent parts of the congregation and eased the many transitions. The congregation became known as mother congregation of Brooklyn and led to the formation of other Brooklyn synagogues such as Union Temple, East Midwood Jewish Center, and Flatbush Jewish Center. Goldfarb became known as the father of congregational singing.

He tested his compositions in his synagogue and at his Sabbath table where many of his compositions were first sung. From there they spread throughout the Jewish world. He formed a youth choir of boys and girls, which was rare in those days and served a social as well as a spiritual function. Many of his compositions, especially his high holiday melodies, have been so widely chanted that they have come to be regarded as traditional.

Goldfarb was also among the founders of the Cantor's Institute at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he taught for decades. He is best known for his compilation of Jewish music for schoolchildren, The Jewish Songster, and for composing the melodies to "Shalom Aleichem" (1918) and to "Magen Avot," which are sung in nearly every Ashkenazi synagogue in North America. His work continues to be performed in concerts and recorded by musicians, including Celtic guitarist Tony Mc-Manus and Jewish violinist Itzhak Perlman. Goldfarb's work can be heard in many homes and synagogues by people who acknowledge the mastery of his composition without knowing the master who composed it. At his funeral, his son-inlaw Rabbi Irving Lehman said that Goldfarb's most beautiful melody was the song of his life.

bibliography:

H. Michaelman, "The Journey of a Hebrew Melody: Rabbi Israel Goldfarb's Shalom Aleichem," in: Rayonot: A Journal of Ideas; I. Lehman, "Rabbi Israel Goldfarb, z'l," in: Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly (1967).

[Henry Michaelman (2^nd ed.)]