Kol Nidre - Yom Kippur Music - Rosh Hashanah - High Holidays - Jewish Music - Cantorial - Chazzanut

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"Kol Nidre" is here chanted by Chazzan (Cantor) Marc Berman. In synagogue, Kol Nidre, a highlight of Yom Kippur Services, is recited before the start of the Yom Kippur evening synagogue service. The cantor chants it on behalf of the congregation. While commonly thought of as a Yom Kippur prayer, Kol Nidre is actually a legal text, written in both Hebrew and Aramaic.
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The purpose of the Kol Nidre is to release the worshiper from any vows he makes to God that he is unable to keep. (Vows made to other people, including oaths sworn in a court of law, are not encompassed by Kol Nidre and are not released.)
It is a mystery why this mundane legal text is the emotional highlight of the Yom Kippur service for Ashkenazi Jews. Some speculate that the Kol Nidre became associated with various persecutions suffered by medieval Jews , wherein they were forced to convert, on pain of death, to Roman Catholicism. By reciting the Kol Nidre, these oppressed Jews felt that they were, in effect, renouncing the vows they were compelled to make in Church.
No doubt, too, the hauntingly beautiful traditional melody plays a role in the continued emotional appeal of the Kol Nidre. Indeed, the Kol Nidre melody is as famous as any Jewish song, Jewish music, synagogue music, cantorial recitative or chazzanut.
As with many other Yom Kippur prayers, Kol Nidre has been recorded by many renowned artists, particularly chazzanim (cantors). These singers include luminaries such as Yossele Rosenblatt, ,Moshe Koussevitzky, Mordechai Hershman, Zavel Kwartin, Moyshe Oysher, Leibele Waldman, Richard Tucker and Jan Peerce. It has also served as the basis for instrumental pieces of classical music.