Talk:Role of the cantor in Judaism
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Article says:
- A cantor, more properly known as a hazzan, has no formal role in Jewish law.
And then it says:
- Traditional Jewish law restricts hazzanim to be males over the age of 13; the non-Orthodox Jewish movements allow women over the age of 12 to be hazzans as well.
If the hazzan has no formal role in halakha, how is it that halakha sets requirements to be one? -- SJK
The hazzan as a formal employee of a synagogue, or the hazzan as a formal profession, has little discussion in the traditional codes of Jewish law. It was usually assumed that the job would be done by lay-people only. However, the role of the shaliach tzibur (emissary of the congregation, i.e. prayer leader, cantor) does have a detailed formal role in the Jewish codes of law. I guess you can say that the hazzan is a person hired to be a formal shaliach tzibbur. In the times I have served as a shaliach tzibuur, I did so as a lay person, informally, and the Jewish codes of law guided how I helped lead parts of the service. If I were formnally hired by a synagogue as their cantor, I just have to keep in accord with the same set of laws. There's nothing else to follow now that I would be real hazzan. It would be liker hiring an accountant, or a painter. There's no extra religious rules or significance, and the hazzan has no extra power or authority. He's just like a layperson. In contrast, the rabbi does have a few legal differences with laypeople, in that he or she has the ability and authority to decide questions of Jewish law. RK