I had no idea!

We take things for granted, especially when we're young.

As I've written before, I spent my adolescence in the Great Neck Synagogue, and it was during that time that I became religious. I took for granted that all rabbis were like Rabbi Wolf and all cantors sounded like Cantor Eleazer Schulman.

It's decades since, and I'm embarrassed to say that I've just discovered that Cantor Schulman was world-class. I remember hearing his recordings on the radio here in Israel about twenty years ago, but I didn't take it very seriously.

Only when we recently spent a Shabbat with some internationally acclaimed chazanim, that I got an inkling. First hint was that they had known him, and not "just in passing." The "performance/service" was so staged that it was difficult to judge and compare their voices to his. But then my husband bought some CD's, and I've been listening.

Yes, Cantor Schulman did sound very much like the chazanim on the CD's, if not better.

So, better late than never, if I ever besmirched his skills, I'd like to apologize.