hazzanut

Alternative Spellings

hazanut, chazonut, hazonut, chazonus, hazonus, chazones, hazones, chazanus, hazanus, khazones, khzones, chazzanut, chazanut, chazzonut, hazzonut, chazzonus, hazzonus, chazzones, hazzones, chazzanus, hazzanus

Definitions

• "Cantorial singing" (Glinert)

Example Sentences

• "I always go to the synagogue in the next town—you get better chazanut." (Glinert)
• "Hazzanut used to be much more quiet and sad. Nowadays, we are much closer to the world of opera. And it feels amazing to sing opera with hazzanut, to pray with this music!" (https://www.jpost.com/judaism/cantor-israel-nachman-opens-up-about-the-joys-of-hazzanut-624810)
• "Between the late Middle Ages and the modern era, Ashkenazi hazzanut evolved from an orally transmitted craft to a highly cultivated art form, with its audible basis still in a sacred folk culture and with distinct western and eastern branches, styles, and predilections." (https://www.milkenarchive.org/articles/view/introduction-to-volume-14/)
• "Since hazzanut is a genuinely Jewish art form, there is a special satisfaction involved in enjoying it." (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/cantorial-music/)
• "But it’s not just about singing: at its core, chazanut is about channeling the voice of a community." (https://blogs.yu.edu/news/upholding-the-art-of-chazanut/)
• "This has been so described by Jewish composers, but, in true musical terms, it is the “PHRYGIAN MODE”, which is a minor scale with augmented seconds. With this scale of music, we frequently sing our Shabbat Morning prayers, and it is characteristic as the “AHAVA RABBA” mode in Chazanut." (https://geoffreyshisler.com/the-cantors-review/east-european-chazanut/)

Languages of Origin

Textual Hebrew

Etymology

חזנות chazanut 'cantorial-style'

Who Uses This

Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

Regions

North America

Dictionaries

The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).