Abraham Lopes Cardozo (1914–February 21, 2006) was '' hazzan'' of

Congregation Shearith Israel The Congregation Shearith Israel (Hebrew: קהילת שארית ישראל ''Kehilat She'arit Yisra'el'' "Congregation Remnant of Israel") – often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue – is the oldest Jewish congregation in the Unit ...

, the historic

Spanish and Portuguese Portuguese and Spanish, although closely related Romance languages, differ in many aspects of their phonology, grammar and lexicon. Both belong to a subset of the Romance languages known as West Iberian Romance, which also includes several othe ...

synagogue in New York City.

Biography

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, he was the great-grandson of the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic community in Amsterdam and son of Joseph Lopes Cardozo, musician, and leader of the boy's choir of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. Abraham read his first Haftarah at the age of seven in that same synagogue. He attended the Ets-Haim Seminary in Amsterdam, and became active in youth work and teaching. In 1939 he was appointed by

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...

to be the rabbi of the Sephardic community in Surinam, where he met his wife Irma. He became assistant ''hazzan'' at Shearith Israel in 1946, later becoming the hazzan, and continued there for 50 years to 1986. In addition, he was a faculty member of the Yeshiva University Sephardic Studies Program, where he taught Sephardic hazzanut. On June 7, 2000, he was invested as a Knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...

of the Netherlands. Rabbi Cardozo died on February 21, 2006.

References

External links

Music of Abraham Lopes Cardozo

The Western Sephardi Liturgical Tradition

Congregation Shearith Israel - The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City

Portuguese Synagoge in AmsterdamPapers of Abraham and Irma Lopes Cardozo.
ASF AR-8; American Sephardi Federation, New York, NY.

* ''As I Lived It'' by Irma Miriam Lopes Carodozo – – memoirs of Abraham Lopes Cardozo's wife 1914 births 2006 deaths Hazzans Dutch Sephardi Jews Dutch emigrants to the United States American Sephardic Jews Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Musicians from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch male singers Burials at Beth Olom Cemetery Rabbis from Amsterdam 20th-century Surinamese male singers {{Judaism-bio-stub