Music courses through cantor’s veins

SUZANNE BELLING

PHOTOGRAPH: MIGUEL

One thus favoured is Cantor Ivor Joffe, chazzan, singer, musician, composer and recording artist, who, from the tender age of eight, was drawn to liturgical music and the ambience of the choral service at the former  Tifereth Israel (Schoonder Street) Shul in Cape Town.

“While my peers would rush off to the children’s service, I preferred to stay in shul, to hear the cantor and choir. I was in awe, I was inspired,” Joffe told SA Jewish Report.

“I was a member of Bnei Akiva and, on my way to shul, used to stop off at Highlands House to conduct Kabbalat Shabbat for residents of the home.”

The then choirmaster, Les Wexler, inquired if anyone wanted to sing solo – the young Ivor Joffe did, leading to the boy soprano being chosen. He was the youngest soloist and chorister. Wexler suggested to Joffe’s “highly supportive” parents, Hilary and Tevis, that their son should have music lessons. The late famed Audrey Mantel was his organ and piano teacher for many years, followed by singing tuition under the tutorship of Lloyd Strauss-Smith.

“I had wonderful role models in my career,” he said, paying tribute to his mentors, who, at Schoonder Street, included the Av Beth Din and shul’s spiritual leader, the late Rabbi Eugene Duschinsky and the great Cantor Simcha Koussevitzky in this former “Round Shul” which was  almost akin to an opera house.

In Sea Point he was influenced musically by Cantor Philip Badash and spiritually by the late Rabbi Jack Steinhorn and currently by Rabbi Dovid Wineberg.

“Initially, I tried my hand at commerce, studying advertising and public relations. But, in spite of the commercial diplomas, I always knew in my heart I wanted to go into music.

“It’s almost as if there was a path set for me and I followed that path – my interests – and can honestly say ‘I love my work’. It is a privilege to be able to do what I enjoy.”

Joffe, who has recorded several CDs with the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation Choir, has performed in the major centres in South Africa at social events, concerts and simchas. He is even able to pre-record his own accompaniment.

In 2000, Joffe was invited to take up a position in Melbourne at the Doncaster Shul and was appointed head of music at the Leibler Yavneh School of Music.

“I did pretty much the same as in Cape Town Jewish community and remained in Australia for two years.”

Straight from Australia, Joffe returned to Sea Point where he has been the chazzan at the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation (Marais Road Shul) for nearly 15 years. He composes music for the choir, trains the choristers and sometimes steps in as choirmaster. The choir is considered one of the best in South Africa and the congregation is probably the largest in this part of the country.

The congregants love their warm, friendly cantor. He keeps them in stitches with his brilliant impersonations of well-known communal figures and has fooled many people over the telephone.

Joffe often refuses payment for charitable appearances as he did with his convening of “Bring Him Home”, a concert which raised R150 000 to help free Prof Cyril Karabus, the paediatric oncologist who was imprisoned and detained in the United Arab Emirates for nine months.