Israel Goldfarb composer

GOLDFARB, ISRAEL (1879–1967), Polish-born American rabbi, cantor, and influential composer. Born in Sieniewa, Galicia, Poland, Goldfarb came to New York at the age of 14 and within a decade graduated from Columbia University. He was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York (1902). Receiving musical training at the Institute for Musical Arts, the forerunner of the famed Juilliard School, Goldfarb then began his service, his dual calling as rabbi and cantor of the Kane Street synagogue, which was founded in 1856 and is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn. Goldfarb served the congregation for more than half a century (1904–56) and was rabbi emeritus until his death. He died knowing that his grandson Henry Michelman was to be named his successor. When he came to the congregation it had just completed a merger and was moving to new quarters in a converted church on Kane Street. His music united divergent parts of the congregation and eased the many transitions. The congregation became known as mother congregation of Brooklyn and led to the formation of other Brooklyn synagogues such as Union Temple, East Midwood Jewish Center, and Flatbush Jewish Center. Goldfarb became known as the father of congregational singing.