"When Gilya Gerda Schmidt met him in 1986, Cantor Heiser had spent forty-six of his eighty-one years as a US citizen. He had assumed the cantorate at Congregation B'nai Israel in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1942. A master of the cantor's art, he was renowned for his style, arrangements, and deeply affecting voice. In this book, Schmidt melds decades of archival research, conservation efforts, family interviews, and trips to Jerusalem and Berlin into a critical reconstruction of the life and vision of Hazzan Mordecai Gustav Heiser in the multiple contexts that shaped him. Coming of age in Berlin in the afterglow of the Second German Empire, young Gustav had tasted European Jewish culture in a rare state of refinement and modernity. But by January 30, 1940, when he reached New York with his wife and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Cantor Heiser had lost nearly all of his living family relations to the extermination programs of the German Reich, and narrowly survived incarceration at Sachsenhausen himself. While Cantor Heiser's art was steeped in nineteenth-century tradition, Schmidt contends that Heiser's music was a powerful affirmation of Jewish life in the twentieth century. In a final chapter, Schmidt describes his influence on the American cantorate and American culture and society"--

When Gilya Gerda Schmidt met him in 1986, Cantor Heiser had spent forty-six of his eighty-one years as a US citizen and was well-acquainted with mourning. Heiser had assumed the cantorate at Congregation B’nai Israel in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1942. A master of the cantor’s art, he was renowned for his style, elegant choir and service arrangements, and rich, dolesome voice, which seemed to pass effortlessly into hearers’ hearts. But this book is more than a memorial to Heiser. Schmidt melds decades of archival research, conservation efforts, family interviews, and trips to Jerusalem and Berlin into a critical reconstruction of the life and vision of Hazzan Mordecai Gustav Heiser in the multiple contexts that shaped him. Coming of age in Berlin in the afterglow of the Second German Empire meant that young Gustav had tasted European Jewish culture in a rare state of refinement and modernity. But by January 30, 1940, when he reached New York with his wife, Elly, and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Judith, Cantor Heiser had lost nearly all of his living family relations to the extermination programs of the German Reich, after narrowly surviving a brief incarceration at Sachsenhausen. While Cantor Heiser’s art was steeped in nineteenth-century tradition, Schmidt contends that Heiser’s music was a powerful affirmation of Jewish life in the twentieth century. In a final chapter, Schmidt describes his influence on the American cantorate and American culture and society.

The major concerns in Jewish history throughout the ages have been assimilation, acculturation, and accommodation. The difficulties which Jews have faced in the past, the problems which they confront in the present, and the issues which will have a major implication for their future are the heart of this collection. Particular attention is paid to the subject of interfaith marriage, which stirs more intense debate than any other issue. The collection contains 16 articles reviewing different aspects of assimilation, acculturation and accommodation from the Masmonean period in the second century B.C.E. and the relationship between Judaism and Hellenism, continuing with some historical examples of Jewish asssimilation in different time periods, and finally exploring some problems of current American Jewry. The collection ends with a panel discussion about the future of world Jewry approaching the 21st century. Contributors include Uriel Rappaport, Shaye J.D. Cohen, Louis Feldman, Steven Bowman, Kenneth Stow, Gordon Bronitzky, Deborah Hertz, Suzannah Herschel, Gerda Schmidt, Sylvia Abrams, Gershon Greenberg, Michael Lawler, Paul A. Spickard, Gerald L. Showstack, Gary P. Williams, Mervin Verbit, Samuel A. Klausner, and David Gerdis. Co-published with the Center for the Study of Religion and Society.