This past spring semester, the Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School offered a course in Sephardic Liturgical music, taught by Rabbi Moshe Tessone. This course was arranged in cooperation with the Belz School of Jewish Music (BJSM) at Yeshiva University, and with the foresight of Dr. Joel Wolowelsky and leadership of Cantor Bernard Beer, Director of the BSJM at YU.
Among the students who participated were Isaac Cohen, Morris Jerome, Ariel Mizrahi, Isaac Mograbi, and Charlie Shrem. These students will all be receiving college credits for this course and hope to continue in their studies of Middle Eastern Hazzanut in the immediate future.
This course examined the origins, relevant background and development of Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish liturgical music and chants. It also included a survey of different prayer modes, according to the Middle Eastern cantorial tradition followed by the Syrian community. The course was grounded in the theory and knowledge of liturgy and also provided for the development of practical skills in becoming baalei tefillah and amateur hazzanim.
