Dr. Mordechai Sobol, Z”l

The noted Israeli chazzan and Maestro Dr. Mordechai Sobol, z”l, passed away at a hospital in Atlanta where he was hospitalized in serious condition after a severe stroke last week, at the age of 67.

Sobol, who was in the United States for the chagim, still served as chazzan on Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah, he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with an aneurysm in the brain. The doctors tried to stabilize his condition but their efforts failed.

His close family, his wife and daughter were with him for Rosh Hashanah, his son came from Israel and another son who was in Brazil also came to be with him at the hospital in Atlanta.

Sobol was considered the reviver of chazzanus in this generation and was a world expert in the field of cantorial work. Sobol received the Education Prize from President Yitzchak Navon in 2006, and was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for his special contribution to the revival of chazzanus in Israel.

Sobol studied chazzanus and nusach hatefillah from the age of eight with the late cantor Shlomo Ravitz, who saw Sobol as a chazzan, who composed and orchestrated hundreds of works and was regularly invited to chazzanus festivals throughout the world.

Sobol trained the world’s leading chazzanim over the years, among them Yitzchak Meir Helfgott, Yaakov Lemer, Chaim Adler, Zvi Weiss, Netanel Hershtik, Shay Aberson and others.