By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — I suppose it’s not unusual for a cantor to be able to sing show tunes and operatic arias in addition to Hebrew prayer melodies. But when the cantor still can hit the high notes at age 93, that’s truly remarkable.
Cantor Sheldon Merel, the cantor emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, demonstrated he still has the right stuff in an autobiographical presentation before the Beth Israel Men’s Club on February 22 that was captured on video by Ken Gimbel and placed on the YouTube channel, per above.
Merel was introduced by Rabbi Jonathan Stein, a former spiritual leader of the congregation as well as a former president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The two men’s tenure at Beth Israel overlapped. Commenting that Merel is a “mensch,” Stein said as a cantor, Merel fulfilled the roles of a shaliach tzibbur, or messenger of God, through music that was able to “inspire,” “comfort,” “uplift,” and “soothe.”
In his presentation, which included live singing and video, Merel related that he was born in 1924 in Chicago but moved during the Great Depression in 1933 to New York City,where his father managed a furniture store, and he played basketball, stick ball, and street hockey. His start at City College of New York was interrupted by World War II, for which he enrolled at the Maritime Academy, later to become an officer in the Merchant Marine. This was a dangerous choice because German U-Boats lying in wait off America’s East Coast sunk ships of the Merchant Marine with alarming frequency.
One of Merel’s post-war causes was to attain for Merchant Marine seamen who served in World War II the same GI Bill benefits accorded to sailors in the U.S. Navy. This finally occurred in 1988, too late for many Merchant Marine veterans, but welcome nevertheless, Merel commented.
After the war, he returned to college, where he learned that he could sing quite well — well enough to perform with friends at the Flagler Hotel in the Catskill Mountains. He emceed various shows there, introducing such comedians at Red Buttons, Stubby Kaye, and Gary Morton (who married Lucille Ball).
Accompanied on the piano by Bob McClellan, who has been a longtime performer at Congregation Beth Israel, Merel sang an Italian aria, Mattinata (Morning), then told how he and his brother became partners in a recording studio that was commissioned to record Reform leader, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s 75th birthday in 1949, and Wise’s funeral only a month later. Merel also made tapes of prayers for bar mitzvah training.
In turn, he applied and was accepted to the newly established School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College — a decision that changed the course of his life. At that time, he said, the Reform movement recognized that although prayer service formats may change, congregants still enjoy hearing traditional, sacred Hebrew music. Additionally, he noted, because of the Holocaust, there were very few European cantors left.
Thus, in four congregations, Merel was the first ordained cantor, although some had cantorial soloists preceding him. As very few congregations had cantors, the Hebrew Union College trained its students to be both cantors and educators — two for the price of one.
Married at this point to Marcie, his wife of 64 years, Merel moved with her to South Bend, Indiana, and continued his music education in Chicago, winning first place as a lyric tenor in a contest sponsored by the Chicago Tribune.
The Merels went on to serve in Oakland, California, for 12 years, then moved to Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, with a membership so large that on High Holidays, there were four services, morning and afternoon services in the sanctuary, and morning and afternoon services in the social hall.
One of the programs that Cantor Merel organized for the congregation was “From Adam to Tevye,” in which a young congregant, the future comedian Martin Short, performed.
While music was the main occupation of his professional life, Merel also expressed his creativity in drawing, painting, and sculpting. He was particularly fond of life studies, based on poses by male and female nudes, which, he acknowledged might make some people uncomfortable, “but it is real life.”
When he held a farewell concert at Holy Blossom in 1979, in the choir was Leonard Gregory,who later became a San Diego distributor of various agricultural products including Netafim watering systems from Israel.
A young man at whose wedding he officiated in Toronto later lured him to San Diego with promises of warmer weather. Rabbi Michael Sternfield’s offer brought Merel, already 55, to San Diego, wondering whether his voice would last another 10 years. It surely did.
In San Diego, Merel teamed with David Amos, conductor of the Jewish Community Center Orchestra (today the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra) to present annual orchestral Shabbat services at Congregation Beth Israel.
Morris Wax, the late founder of Waxie Sanitary Supply, persuaded Merel to participate in an interfaith concert at Copley Symphony Hall, at which the choirs of Christian and Jewish congregations performed separately, then came together on stage for a rousing joint performance of “God Bless America.”
Merel’s late wife, Marcie, wrote a song called “Happiness is Just Being Lazy,” which Merel sang at the Men’s Club meeting, and also wrote, on their 10th anniversary, a moving poem that recalled how they met and how much she loves him. Their three children are Josh, Daniel, and Judith. Daughter of a caterer, they met “across a crowded room” at a reception.
Even though Merel has been retired since 1991, he has remained active in the congregation and as a cantor emeritus through the graciousness of Cantor Rabbi Arlene Bernstein, who has invited him to participate in High Holy Day services. Film clips during the presentation showed him chanting prayers at High Holy Day services last year and the year before.
He also recorded various songs of the Jewish people, which may be accessed on the San Diego Jewish World archival website at http://sandiegojewishworld.com/san-diego-jewish-authors/jewish-authors-merel.htm
Merel’s last song for the program was “Some Enchanted Evening” in tribute to his late wife. He clearly was moved by the congregation’s applause as the program concluded, commenting, “I feel like I am in heaven and I haven’t died!”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com