BDE: Cantor Moshe Stern Passes Away At Age 87

BDE: Cantor Moshe Stern, one of the most prominent Ashkenazi Chazanim who attained fame around the world for his powerful voice and moving renditions , has passed away at age 87.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1935, Stern studied under his father, R’ Yisrael Stern who served as the chief chazan at Har Tzion in Jerusalem. His older brother, László (Benjamin) Stern, was the head cantor in Budapest for decades.

At the age of 7 he made his first appearance as a chazan but the Nazi’s entry into Hungary in 1944 curtailed his career. After surviving the Holocaust, Stern appeared at the Budapest Music Academy and at the age of 12 sang “El Maleh Rahamim” at a ceremony in memory of Herzl.

At the age of 17 Stern became a chazan in Ramle and then in Rehovot. When the Heichal Shlomo shul was opened in 1958, he became chief cantor and hundreds used to throng their weekly to hear him sing the prayers. Since the shul could not contain the crowds, the prayers were moved to the entrance hall until the Great Synagogue was completed in 1982.

Stern began his career as the head cantor in Rehovot’s Great Synagogue. Later, he served as cantor at the Heichal Shlomo synagogue in Jerusalem, as well as in South Africa and in the Beth-El synagogue in Boro Park, New York, where he became famous.

Stern later moved to Johannesburg and after the passing of cantor Moshe Koussevitzky became the cantor at the Beth El shul in Boro Park, Brooklyn. The rabbi of the shul, Rabbi Israel Schorr, said of Stern that “As rabbi of the shul I heard the chazanim Mordechai Hershman, Berele Chagy and Moshe Koussevitsky but such a masterful rendition of Malchuyos Zichronos and Shofaros as I heard from Moshe Stern I have never heard before.”

Stern served for ten years as the cantor of Beth El before returning to Israel, settling in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem. He would continue to travel for Yomim Noraim to Sao Paolo, Brazil as well as appearing at numerous concerts around the world.

During the last 20 years he had not appeared as a chazan. Stern is survived by his wife Tziporah and his children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

The levaya will be held at 3:00p.m. on Thursday, at the Shamgar funeral home in Jerusalem.