Cantor Paltiel Greenberg Live Hineni

[@vintagepa]

Absolutely beautiful and awe inspiring.

[@hashatz]

This an outstanding rendition of Hineni. Cantor Greenberg presents us with a superb example of the East European approach to Chazzonus. His intense emotional fervor and involvement in the text plus his understanding of the religious import of the Shaliach Tzibur's function during the High Holy Days is clearly evident and carries the listener into the sublime atmosphere of this time of year in the Jewish calendar. Thoroughly engrossing!

[@BernardGreenberg]

(No known relation) This is among the most hair-raising vocal performances in any idiom, genre, or tradition that I have ever heard. The text of the _Hineni_ is a starting point: the cantor pleads unworthiness, and asks Heaven to intercede to stop the torrent of persecution and pogroms that have been the lot of the Jewish People since biblical times. If the contribution below by Michael Aylward is correct, Greenberg served in Soviet Ukraine _after the Holocaust_ : all of the horror of the centuries seems right there in his voice - while the performance, or should I say, prayer, is of extreme skill and beauty, it is written immutably in all that pain: "Please, Lord, make it stop". I think had I heard this in a synagogue as a child, I would have been traumatized for life. The minimal recorded legacy of I. L. Tkatsch is very similar, but this gets my vote for the most pain-wracked chazzonut I have ever heard. Although I still admire this repertoire and legacy (although Bach is more my metier), I posit that the basic supplicatory stance shown perfectly here, "Please, stop the pogroms", is one that has found a decreasing audience after the Holocaust. Your mileage may vary. Thank you for finding and posting this. I, too, certainly wish I knew more about the date and venue of the recording, as well as Cantor Greenberg's story, including (apparently) surviving the Holocaust.

[@yossipechenik300]

Yes, it appears that it is most likely that Greenberg was indeed a Soviet chazzan. I have heard other private recordings, and upon further inquiry to an authority in chazzonus, I found out he was living in Eretz Yisroel in his later years. When listening to his other recordings, Russian musical motifs come up, and before being aware of his location, the uniquely Russian-Eastern European style was always highly apparent in his chazzonus. I have seen a record cover of his where he is called Chazzan Greenberg Paltiel. I have no information on the record itself, whether it was a CD put together of his live recordings or whether he put together a real album. All I know is that the entire album cover is in lashon hakodesh, thus probably made in Israel. I hope this information will assist with further cracking this mystery of one of the greatest chazzonim who ever lived.

[@greatestcantor]

Hi Yossi, in regards to the record cover I think you might be referring to a cassette by Todoros Greenberg. To my knowledge there is no record of Cantor Paltiel Greenberg. We know there was a Paltiel Greenberg and yes he lived in his later years in Israel. We have a picture of his grave in Natanya and his business card but we have no proof that this recording and the others are actually Paltiel Greenberg. please email me at [e-mail]

[@yossipechenik300]

@@greatestcantor I sent you an email to that address. Looking forward to speaking.

[@samuelkassow345]

This is wonderful. I wish I knew more about him

[@יוסיקסירר]

ממש יפה יכולת ווקאלית מעולה+רגש והתאמת תוכן המילים למוסיקה!!

[@michaelaylward5849]

If Paltiel Greenberg is the same person as Paltiel Grinberg, then this may be of interest: An especially popular cantor was Paltiel Grinberg (b. 1918) who had worked as a musician in Chernovtsty's doctors' club and until mid-1948 was also a regular cantor in the city's synagogue on Barbius Street. In 1948 he left that synagogue and became cantor of the Wilson Street synagogue: a short while later, however, the administration replaced him with Mendel Malkin as cantor, sparking a dispute within the congregation. In response, Grinberg's supporters threatened-according to complainants' testimony-to use physical force against the congregation's administration. The SRA representative supported the hire of Malkin and stated that "[Malkin] is registered . . . and he has permission to conduct religious services while Grinberg isn't registered and is nothing but a fraud." Despite not being registered, Grinberg continued to work as a cantor and occasionally filled this function at the Odessa synagogue, too, as well as later in Zhitomir, where he was the synagogue's cantor from 1954 to 1957. In the late 1950's, Grinberg again found himself at the center of a dispute in which one faction, led by Rabbi Yosef Diment, wanted to continue employing Grinberg while another, led by congregation head S. P. Orach, sought to have him replaced by C. Y. Kleiner, then the permanent cantor of the Kiev synagogue. Rumours of Kleiner's pending departure from Kiev's synagogue seem to have inspired opposition there, and information was passed to the district SRA representative stating that Kleiner was set to receive large sums of money in Odessa as well as revealing that he plied his services in minyans. Using this information, the Kiev district SRA representative turned to his Odessa counterpart and sought to block Kleiner's application there. However, the security services in Odessa had an interest in advancing Orach, so they made sure Kleiner was given a residency permit (propiska) in Odessa and signed to a year's contract at 20,000 rubles. The tension between the two congregations, Kiev and Odessa, played into the authorities' desires to reduce religious activity as much as possible and to select people in the congregations who could be easily manipulated. Once Kleiner left Kiev, the congregation considered hiring Grinberg as its permanent cantor, and he was invited to lead the services for Passover 1959. But the cantor and the Kiev congregation didn't reach an agreement, and Grinberg ended up signing on with the Leningrad congregation for an annual sum of 65,000 rubles as well as 25,000 rubles for travel expenses. Mordechai Altshuler Religion and Jewish Identity in the Soviet Union, 1941-1964 (pp134-135) - Brandeis University Press, 2012

[@שלמהגנוט]

ענק

[@מרדכיליבוביץ-ל8פ]

This is the same style as Korogodsky. This is true Tefilah without the fancy shtick as other chazonim. Also I have a cassette with many other recordings of this great chazzan.

[@sholomlesches7138]

So vhy don't you upload those recordings to benefit everyone?

[@איציקרוט-י4ת]

שלום מרדכי. אפשר לקבל ממך לשמיעה עוד הקלטות שלו? זה פשוט מדהים

[@CHAZZANELKINS01]

Neshama to the Max!!!!!! Love it!!!!

[@cantorcarmen]

I studied Chazzanus with Moshe Korogodsky ע"ה, and yes it's similar. There is a lot of feeling, but he doesn't change musically to a different musical scale and stays in that minor. Because of that it becomes extremely boring. Hineni can go back and forth between the minor and Ahavah Rabbah.

[@geraldroth6233]

Wow what mediums Colataura A Zuger par excelence

[@CantorClassics]

Chazzan Greenberg may not have had the most conventionally beautiful voice, but his heartfelt interpretation more than compensated. Thanks for posting this rare recording.

[@mindy2939]

חזן נפלא מלא רגש יהודי , כמו יוסלה רוזנבלט

[@Levke604]

Can we say that he was Korogtsky's primary source of influence?

[@EricFrank1983]

Mr Shicoff the Greenberg that was chazzan in Chicago was Todres not Paltiel

[@joewer]

Is anything else available from him? How did you get this one?

[@ChabadPB]

incredible!!!!!!! I can't stop listing to it so so real. where can we get more of him?

[@shmuelrubenstein1749]

Yossel

[@mendeltiefenbrun4639]

We have 12 recordings of him

[@bluechazzan]

@@mendeltiefenbrun4639 Truly? other live recordings?

[@rosmill1]

@@mendeltiefenbrun4639 Did u ever upload the Recordings

[@user-bo8nb2mi]

@@mendeltiefenbrun4639 Would you care to share?

[@chesedofflorida]

where was this recording? are there any other recordings from this amazing Paltiel greenberger what a voice