Obituary

The cantorial, Jewish musical and wider Jewish world mourns the passing on 1st September 2024 of one of its greatest artists.   The European Cantors Association (ECA) wishes to pay tribute in particular to a man whose contribution towards the ECA and influence over its agenda has been of immense value, and will continue to be, even after his passing.

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Naftali Hertz Herstik was born in Salgótarján in Hungary in the years following the end of World War Two and the Holocaust, and emigrated with his family to the recently established state of Israel in 1950.  He was descended from a line of cantors and rabbis, the Hungarian Jewish Community from generations past being remarkably well-endowed with cantorial and musical talent.

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Naftali learnt the basics of the cantor’s art from his father Moshe Menachem Herstik, and in Israel as a young man studied chazzanut and synagogue music with major figures such as Leib Glantz and Shlomo Ravitz.  

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Aged just 19, he was appointed to Tel Aviv’s famous Bilu Synagogue, a well-known development ground for aspiring cantors. His first major appointment outside Israel was to the Finchley Synagogue in London in the spring of 1972.  While serving that community, he took the opportunity to study voice at the Royal College of Music, graduating in 1981.  

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He returned to Israel in 1982 to take up the position of chief cantor at the newly established Great Synagogue of Jerusalem.   There, he formed a close working relationship with Eli Jaffe, who conducted the Choir of the Great Synagogue, and Raymond Goldstein, who was responsible for arranging the majority of the Choir’s repertoire.  

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The premise of this musical collaboration was to elevate the Ashkenazi cantorial art to its highest form, based at the premier synagogue location in the City of Jerusalem, at the heart of the modern Jewish world.  Herstik served in that position until 2008.

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Herstik had founded a school for cantorial training back in 1984, while still in his prime at the Great, which became the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute (on its move from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in 1987).  Herstik was formally appointed as its artistic director in 1991.  After leaving the service of the Great, his role at TACI assumed most of his energies.   He still found time to give concerts internationally, and served as cantor for the High Holidays at the Moscow Choral Synagogue.

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Substantial vocal range

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Naftali Herstik’s vocal range was substantial, enabling him to function as both a true tenor and as a baritone with tenor quality.  His lyrical style was ideally suited to music from the German and Central European traditions.  Those who attended the concert in London in November 1988 (marking the 50th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom through the performance of music of the German Synagogue tradition) may specifically recall the exceptionally moving way in which he offered the renowned cantorial solo in Louis Lewandowski’s Uv’nucho Yomar.

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Herstik leaves a substantial discography, including several recordings with the Jerusalem Great Synagogue Choir, a seminal recording from 2003 of the music of Yossele Rosenblatt, and recordings released by the Diaspora Museum based on the cantorial-choral traditions of the lost communities of Danzig and Koenigsberg.

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On a personal level, Herstik was always a friendly and approachable man.   Cantors, it is said, lead a lonely calling, and many in years gone by, regardless of their musical prowess and devotion, have offered complex or difficult personalities to their congregants.   Naftali Herstik rather stood out as being highly exceptional to this premise.

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Herstik was a patron of the European Cantors Association and very much supported its ambitions from its inception.   He attended several of the ECA’s conventions, performing, teaching or both.   The last such was in Prague in November 2018, at which a substantial representation of the TACI choir and past student chazanim in Prague, along with Maestro Raymond Goldstein, were also present.

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Alex Klein, Director of the ECA, asks that it be remembered that Naftali Herstik officiated at his own wedding at the Holy Law Congregation in Manchester in 1972, and in July 2008 at a concert in London dedicated to the memory of Alex’s late brother Julian. 

 

The ECA plans to pay tribute to Naftali Herstik’s legacy and his immense contribution to the cantorate at its forthcoming Convention in Budapest in early December 2024.

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Herstik is survived by his wife Elka, and by five children (two of whom, Shraga and Netanel, are distinguished cantors in their own right).

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As the Jewish world approaches the New Year and High Holiday season for 5785, and specifically on Yom Kippur when we plead to Hashem that there should be a meilitz yosher, an official spokesperson for the residual goodness in man consider that though we will no more hear the voice of Naftali Herstik in this world, the sound of his gifted song in the next world should make of him just such a meilitz yosher for the entire Jewish nation : those who heard him sing, or sang with him, and the many more who never had that privilege.

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ECA Executive