Shlomo Mandel

Chazan Slomo Mandel was born in Novisandz, Galicia on the 13th Tishri 1909.Since Galicia was the cradle of Chassidic music, it was this that he absorbed in his childhood, and its influences can be seen in his many compositions. (A collection was issued by the Toronto Council Of Hazzanim in 1984).When he decided to become a Chazan he went to Vilna to learn with Chazan Dovid Moshe Steinberg who was Chazan in the Great Synagogue, there.

He became Chazan in Vilna in the Tohorat Hakodesh Synagogue, where he was accompanied by a choir under the direction of Chanan Glazer,

From Vilna he went to Warsaw, where the famous Chazanim Gershon Sirota and Moshe Kussevitsky were, and he was appointed Chazan in the Moriah Synagogue, where many people came to hear him. It was here in Warsaw that he started to bring out his first records.

He remained there for two years and then went to the Ahavat Reim Synagogue in Krakow. From there his fame spread and he travelled and gave concerts in England and Holland.

He was spared the Holocaust and in 1938 he went to the Berea Synagogue in Johannesburg, South Africa where he remained until he retired and went to Israel in 1974.

He died in Johannesburg in Ellul 1981 and was buried in Ranana, Israel.