The Jewish community lost a heavenly voice when Chazan Naftali Hershtik passed away earlier this month at the age of 77. A descendant of 13 generations of chazanim, Hershtik began singing at an early age alongside his father, Chazan Moshe Menachem Hershtik. Naftali Hershtik later was trained by famous cantors such as Moshe Kussevitzky, Leib Glantz and Shlomo Ravitz. He also attended and graduated from London’s Royal College of Music, where he further learned how to use his God-given talents. At the same time, he served as the chazan of the Finchley Synagogue in London.
In 1981, Hershtik embarked on a 30-year tenure with Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue when he was appointed as chief chazan. He frequently led services with the accompaniment of the Great Synagogue’s famous choir, one of many choirs he collaborated with throughout his career.
In addition to his role as a chazan, Hershtik also performed frequently at some of the world’s greatest concert halls and with world-renowned orchestras such as the London Festival Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic. Hershtik retired from the Great Synagogue in 2008.
According to his son, Cantor Netanel Hershtik, “My father had a golden voice with a unique DNA recognizable to the listener immediately. He had a very special ability to infuse authentic Eastern European chazanut with the Western European cantorial style, which added grace, elegance and reverence to his art. He developed his own distinct style of nusach.”
Throughout his career, Naftali Hershtik taught hundreds of students who ranged from ultra-Orthodox to conservative to reform to non-affiliated—from HUC to yeshivot. For the last nine years, he was the chazan on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in Moscow with Rabbi Goldschmidt. There too, the congregants ranged from unaffiliated to very religious. “He was a great bridge between people. He was able to bring diverse crowds together in prayer,” said Netanel.
In 1984, Naftali Hershtik co-founded a school exclusively dedicated to teaching chazanut. It opened its doors in Jerusalem but later moved to Tel Aviv and became known as the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute (TACI). In 1991 he became the Institute’s artistic director and later served as the general director. Some of the chazanim who were trained there are household names today including Yitzchok Meir Helfgot (Park East Synagogue, New York), Chaim Dovid Berson (Kehilath Jeshurun, New York), Azi Schwartz (Park Avenue Synagogue, New York) and Gideon Zelermyer (Shaar Hashamayim, Montreal).
“He produced my best competition,” son Netanel laughed. “He did not leave any trade secrets exclusively to his close family. He was very generous and philanthropic. He was not a financially wealthy man, but he shared his gifts with everyone, everywhere. And we’ve seen that through the outpouring of responses and personal obituaries written by his students and followers from all over the world. We are constantly learning about people he helped in many different ways.”
Naftali Hershtik is survived by his wife, Elka, and their five children, Kiki, Chana, Shraga, Idit and Netanel. Elka also hails from a cantorial family, with her father having served as a baal tefillah for many years.
“Zemirot in our house were a spectacle,” said Netanel. “We have such beautiful tunes and incredible harmonies which we inherited from our ancestors. Sometimes, when we had the windows open, we’d hear applause coming from nearby homes when we finished singing.”
Both Netanel and his brother Shraga have continued the Hershtik cantorial dynasty. Netanel is the chazan of the Hampton Synagogue, under the leadership of Rabbi Marc Schneier. Sharing the common goal of enhancing the tefilla with the beautiful tradition of chazanut, Rabbi Schneier and Naftali Hershtik developed a close connection. The Hampton Synagogue celebrated Naftali Hershtik’s 70th birthday in an unforgettable concert.
This upcoming Saturday night, The Hampton Synagogue’s famous Selichot service will be broadcast live to over 200,000 viewers across America on NBC Comcast-JBS TV. The service will include some of Netanel’s father’s signature pieces, such as “Shomer Yisrael,” “Lechu Neranena,” “Shema Koleinu” and more.
Shraga is a chazan for the High Holidays at Machaneh Chodosh in Forest Hills, Queens. He is also an instructor at the TACI Institute.
On the day of his passing, the eve of Rosh Chodesh Elul, six kidnapped and murdered Israeli citizens were brought to burial. Netanel reflected, “The great Shliach Tzibur was called to Beis Din Shel Maala [the Heavenly Court] with this special delegation to plead and pray for our people for a new year of peace and safety.”
In a few short weeks, we will stand in shul on Yom Kippur, and chazanim across the world will cry out, “Light is sown for the righteous; and for the upright of heart, gladness.” Our hearts will be a little less glad, but we can all gain comfort in knowing that we will have one more beautiful voice in the Heavenly Court davening for all of klal Yisroel.
