Sholom Kalib - The Day of Rest for Cantor and SSA Treble Chorus S'fardic Hebrew Dialect - Digital PDF download

The Day of Rest was commissioned for the Beth Abraham Youth Chorale, Dayton, Ohio, and its director, Hazzan Jerome B. Kopmar, by Dr. and Mrs. Michael Jaffe in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Jaffe, Mrs. Albert Abrams, and in memory of Mr. Albert Abrams.It is a Sabbath service suitable for either concert or liturgical use and is comprised of the following sections:
 
Part I: Lël Shabat (Sabbath Evening Service)
L’chu N’ran’na
Kol ·doshem
L’cha Dodi
·doshem Malach
V’sham’ru
Shalom ·lëchem
  
Part II: Shacharit L’shabat (Sabbath Morning Service)
Shochën Ad
Titbarach
Mim’kom’cha
Ana Avda
Sh’ma Yisraël
L’cha ·doshem Hag’dula
 
Part III: Shacharit L’shabat, cont’d
Prelude
Y’hi Ratzon
Mi Sheasa Nisim
Uv’nucho Yomar
 
Part IV: Musaf L’shabat (Additional Service for the Sabbath) 
K’dushat Musaf
Naªritz’cha
Kadosh
Mim’komo
Sh’ma Yisraël
Yimloch
L’dor Vador
Yism’chu
 
Part V: Motzaë Shabat (The Conclusion of The Sabbath)
Prelude
Havdala
Hamavdil
Ëliyahu Hanavi

The Beth Abraham Youth Chorale, founded by Cantor Jerome B. Kopmar, comprised 77 young people ranging in age from nine to eighteen. From its inception in 1971 until its disbandment in 2001, the Chorale earned recognition as the foremost synagogue youth choir in the country. It toured extensively throughout the eastern United States and was the first synagogue youth choir ever to perform in Israel, traveling there twice — in 1973, and again in 1977 at the invitation of the Israeli government as a United States representative to the International Festival of Choirs (Zimriya). The Chorale also gave a series of concerts in England.

Perhaps the Chorale's most noteworthy achievement was its record of commissions and premieres. At the time of the premiere of The Day of Rest, it had commissioned and premiered eight major works of Jewish music — a record unmatched by any comparable ensemble. Its role in the development of new music for the synagogue was recognized by the United Synagogue of America with four consecutive Solomon Schechter Awards, symbolic of the most outstanding music program in the American synagogue, including a double honor when it received an award for education, making it the first group to win awards in both music and education.

Cantor Jerome B. Kopmar (1936–1996), Musical Director of the Beth Abraham Festival of Jewish Music and founder and director of the Beth Abraham Youth Chorale, served Beth Abraham Synagogue from 1969 until his retirement. A native of Hartford, Connecticut, he received his musical and cantorial training at the Hartt College of Music (University of Hartford), the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Cantors Institute — Seminary College of Jewish Music of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he graduated in 1961. Cantor Kopmar appeared as soloist and conductor throughout the United States, Israel, and England, and was frequently called upon to direct seminars and workshops on the training of young voices. A strong advocate of new music for the synagogue — especially for youth — he commissioned, premiered, and recorded twelve major works of Jewish music. Cantor Kopmar was named an honorary fellow of the Cantors Institute; his biography is listed in Who's Who in Religion and in The International Who's Who in Community Service (England).

Cantor Moshe Taubé (1927–2020) was born in Cracow, Poland, and after arriving in the United States in 1957 quickly gained a reputation as one of the outstanding cantors in America. Prior to emigrating, he lived in Israel, where he served with the Haganah before Israel's independence in 1948 and afterward with the Israeli Defense Forces. Cantor Taubé received his early musical and cantorial training in his native Poland, singing and studying with the leading cantors of Europe. He studied at the conservatory as a young child in Cracow, and after coming to America, he graduated from the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He toured throughout the world, bringing his art to thousands of listeners. Cantor Taubé served Congregation Beth Sholom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1965 until his retirement.

Sholom Kalib (1929–2026) has focused specifically on the Eastern European cantorial and synagogue music tradition — in its American phase as well as in its original forms — championing its rejuvenation and perpetuation through both historical analysis and the creation of new works rooted in its emblematic modes, stylistic idioms, and collective melos.

Kalib, whose uncle and grandfather were cantors in the traditional Eastern European mold, was born in Dallas, Texas. His father taught him biblical cantillation and the requisite skills of a baal t'filla (lay precentor), and schooled him in the rudiments of music. His initial exposure to cantorial choral repertoire came when he began singing at age eleven in a local orthodox synagogue choir, soon distinguishing himself as something of a child-prodigy cantor. When his family moved to Chicago in 1942, he joined the choir of Cantor Abraham Kipper (1900–51), a prominent cantor of that city's orthodox community. Highly impressed with the boy's talent, Cantor Kipper engaged Kalib at age fourteen to prepare and conduct his choir for the 1943 High Holiday Service at Chicago's Roumanian Synagogue (Rumeinishe shul), Shaarei Shamayim.

In addition to The Day of Rest, Kalib's larger works include Rejoice and Sing, a suite of eight Hassidic melodies, and The Days of Awe, a concert setting of High Holy Day liturgy in four sections for cantor, chorus, and orchestra (the individual sections of which may also be performed a cappella for actual synagogue use).

His five-volume historical-analytical work, The Musical Tradition of the Eastern European Synagogue — an encyclopedic discussion and documentation of virtually all aspects of the subject — represents four decades of research and investigation. The first volume was published by Syracuse University Press in 2002; the second in 2005; the first part of the third in 2017; and the second part of the third in 2023.