The Appointment of Hazzanim in Medieval Ashkenaz: Communal Policy and Individual Religious Prerogatives

Abstract

During the pre-Crusade period in medieval Ashkenaz, a cantor or prayer leader (hazzan, shaliah tsibbur)1 was considered to be not only an important communal functionary, but also a veritable respository of prayer. The hazzan knew the prayers thoroughly and, to a large extent, by heart; he knew the traditions of the complex religious poems, piyyutim, which the community recited (and was often capable of adding to those piyyutim); and he was a source of law, practice and instruction with respect to prayer.2 Indeed, even during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and beyond, the cantor was frequently a leading rabbinic scholar of the community, who combined the necessary areas of knowledge and the requisite set of cantorial skills, together with a reputation for unassailable observance, piety and devotion to the community.3