SOBOL, MORDECHAI

SOBOL, MORDECHAI (1951– ), ḥazzan. Born in Ḥaderah, Sobol's musical abilities were evident at an early age. When only eight, he was accepted as a pupil by the venerable cantor Solomon Rawitz, who considered him one of his best pupils. In addition to the basics of the prayer services, Cantor Rawitz taught him the principles of sight-reading, harmony, and counterpoint. Sobel was the lead soloist of the Oneg Shabbat choir of Ohel Shem in Tel Aviv. At the age of 12 he began to study with the conductor Samuel Rivlin and sang in his choir, gaining fame throughout Israel for his renditions of cantorial works, particularly those sung by Cantor Mordecai Hirschman. When 16, for the first time he led High Holiday services accompanied by a 40-person choir conducted by Cantor Solomon Rawitz. He served in the Israeli army as a member of the choir of the Army Chief Rabbinate. He arranged and orchestrated melodies for choir and orchestra and wrote original works for passages from the prayer services. Sobol established the Yuval ensemble for cantorial and Jewish music, which had 50 singers and 30 instrumentalists. In 1985 he began a special series of concerts in which the greatest cantors of the world participated. These concerts proved so popular that subscription series were offered to the public annually. The Yuval ensemble also promoted recordings of their concerts. (Akiva Zimmerman)