Cantor sings anthems at Canadiens home game

MONTREAL — History may have been made at the Bell Centre Nov. 16 when Cantor Gideon Zelermyer sang the two national anthems before the game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Cantor Gideon Zelermyer’s image is projected on the giant video screen in the Bell Centre as he sings the national anthems.

As far as anyone can remember, it was the first time a Jewish cantor had sung the anthems at an NHL match in Montreal. Zelermyer didn’t hide his affiliation – he wore a kippah as he stood at centre ice.

“I took a little bow so it could be seen,” he said.

It was a thrilling moment for a lifelong hockey fan, but what has struck him most is the swell of pride among Jewish Montrealers. “It’s amazing. I don’t think I ever received so many calls, e-mails and texts in one week,” Zelermyer said. Even retired senator Leo Kolber called from Florida.

Here was someone clearly representing Judaism carrying out this quasi-sacred rite in Quebec’s temple of sport.

The 35-year-old native of West Hartford, Conn., grew up devoted to the Whalers. “I hated the Canadiens because they always beat the Whalers in the playoffs.”

Zelermyer was bereft when the team moved south and became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997. “I was a fan without a team,” he said.

That’s until he came to Montreal in 2001 to take a post as cantor at Shaare Zion Congregation. Three years later, he went to Congregation Shaar Hashomayim where he remains today.

Zelermyer’s appearance at the Bell Centre came about through his friendship with one-time Shaar Hashomayim choir member Joseph Kaiser, who went on to become an opera singer of international stature, based in New York. He is also an ardent Canadiens fan and has sung the anthems at the Bell Centre a few times.

Last spring, when Kaiser was in town to perform with Zelermyer at a concert in tribute to Richard Tucker at the Shaar, he suggested to the cantor he might find it fun to do the anthems at the Bell Centre.

“I corresponded with [the club] over the summer, and finally they invited me to audition during chol hamoed Sukkot. They turned on the lights in the centre and I sang to 21,000 empty seats. They said, ‘We’ll get back to you.’”

He was hired, and Nov. 16 was the mutually convenient date, allowing for Zelermyer’s inability to perform on Shabbat.

Zelermyer is no stranger to the Bell Centre. He is a season-ticket holder. Ever so slowly, he came to embrace his hometown team’s former nemesis as his own team. He even wore a navy suit, white shirt and red tie to echo the bleu, blanc et rouge.

He wasn’t really nervous, except until the last 15 minutes before going on. “If you can sing Kol Nidre at the Shaar, you can do this. There’s no pressure,” he joked. Anyway, the great Guy Lafleur happened to be in the wings as Zelermyer made his way to the ice, and wished him good luck.

From where he stood, Zelermyer could see Shaar member Joseph Paperman in the third row behind the penalty box. Zelermyer’s wife, Michelle, and two-year-old son Max were behind him. “He keeps saying, ‘Poppy sang for the Canadiens.’” So was the Shaar’s Rabbi Adam Scheier and his wife, Abby.

Zelermyer, a rich lyric tenor, grew up on opera, and had considered a career in classical singing, before opting for the synagogue. He graduated from the renowned Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute. He first sang The Star-Spangled Banner and then O Canada, mostly in French, before thunderous applause. It seemed like most of the Shaar membership and a good portion of the Jewish community were in the stands.  (The performance can be heard on the Shaar’s website.)

“He was extraordinary in his role,” Rabbi Scheier wrote in the synagogue newsletter. “I have encountered so many members of our community who are bursting with pride because of our cantor’s achievement.

“Aside from the fact that this is a great personal accomplishment for the cantor, this was a moment that will remain etched in the memories of the many who saw it in person and the many who heard the broadcast on the radio.

“Most of all, however, I was struck by the kiddush HaShem of the moment. To see our cantor standing on centre ice, proudly wearing his kippah, was a moment of great Jewish pride.”

Not being a native Montrealer, Zelermyer said he is not so familiar with the nuances of relations between the Jewish and the greater Quebec population, so the full import eludes him to some degree.

One thing he is sure of, though, is that the Canadiens beat the Flyers 3-0 that night.