Cantor Gershon Sirota - Hoshana Rabbah from The Dybbuk 1937 Yiddish film

From the 1937 Yiddish film, directed by Michal Waszynski, original music by Henoch Kon. When Caruso heard Gershon Sirota sing 'Celeste Aïda' in a concert, he reportedly thanked God the cantor had chosen 'to employ his heavenly gift in a different field.' Sirota, born in Russia in 1874, officiated as cantor in Odessa, Vilna and Warsaw. He made cantorial recordings, beginning in 1903. From 1927-35, he sang concerts throughout Europe and in the U.S. He and his family perished in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943. In this film he is heard for a few minutes. The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds (Yid. דער דיבוק אדער צווישן צוויי וועלטן) is a 1914 play by S. Ansky, relating the story of a young bride possessed by a dybbuk — a malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person — on the eve of her wedding. The Dybbuk, is considered a seminal play in the history of Jewish theater, and played an important role in the development of Yiddish theatre and theatre in Israel. The play was based on years of research by S. Ansky, who travelled between Jewish shtetls in Russia and Ukraine, documenting folk beliefs and stories of the Hassidic Jews. In 1937, the play, with some changes in the plot structure, was filmed by director Michał Waszyński in Warsaw, starring Lili Liliana as Leah, Leon Liebgold as Hannan (Channon, in the English-language subtitles), and Avrom Morevski as Rabbi Azrael ben Hodos. The film adds an additional act before those in the original play: it shows the close friendship of Sender and Nisn as young men. Besides the language of the film itself, the picture is noted among film historians for the striking scene of Leah's wedding, which is shot in the style of German Expressionism. The film is generally considered one of the finest in the Yiddish language. The Dybbuk was filmed on location in Kazimierz, Poland, and in a Warsaw studio, in 1937