Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1694

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.5 linear feet (2 boxes)

Language:

English, Hebrew, and Yiddish

Preferred Citation:

Israel and Morris Schorr collection of Jewish music material, 1906-1959, Ms. Coll. 1694, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1906-1959 (inclusive)

Creator:

Schorr, Israel, 1886-1935 and Schorr, Morris

Form:

Sheet music

Abstract:

Israel (1886-1935) and Morris (1908-1992) Schorr were cantors and composers of Jewish music who worked in synagogues in New York City and New Jersey. The Israel and Morris Schorr collection of Jewish music material consists of over 150 pieces of Jewish sheet music composed and/or arranged by Israel and Morris Schorr, as well as 29 other composers, and personal materials of Morris Schorr, dating from 1906 to 1959.

Cantor Israel Schorr was born in Chyrov, Ukraine in 1886. He sang as a boy soprano in Chortkiv, Ukraine and for the Rymanow rebbe in Poland. Schorr became a cantor at the age of sixteen and worked for congregations in Lviv (Ukraine), Brunn (Czech Republic), Kraków (Poland), Piešťany (Slovakia), and Zürich (Switzerland). In 1924, Schorr and his family immigrated to the United States. In New York, Schorr worked at a yeshiva in Harlem, Congregation Adath Jeshurun (Brooklyn), Congregation Kehilath Israel (Bronx) and Chovevei Torah (Brooklyn). During his lifetime Schorr composed many songs including: "Sheyiboneh Beis Hamikdosh," "Hateh," and "L'fichoch Anachnu Chayovim." Israel Schorr died of a heart condition in New York in 1935.

Cantor Morris Schorr was born in Austria in 1908 to Cantor Israel Schorr and his wife. He studied at an unknown yeshiva in Czechoslovakia at age 12, before immigrating to the United States with his family in 1924. In New York City, Schorr attended the Yeshiva Yitzchok Elchanan under Zavel Zilberts and Joseph Yasser. In 1928, Schorr became the hazzan at Congregation Ohab Zedek. In 1933, Schorr became the hazzan for Temple Bnai Israel until his death. While Schorr was briefly a cantor at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, he met Betty Wolovitz, his future wife. Morris Schorr was a founding member of the Cantors Assembly in 1946, was the Assembly's first recording secretary, and, as of 1959, the chairman of the Cantors Assembly's Placement Commission. According to the Cantors Assembly's former website, Schorr was one of four of its members who was honored for "outstanding efforts on behalf of the Assembly." Schorr was a member of the department of music at the United Synagogue of America. Morris Schorr died in 1992 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Works consulted:

Belskin-Ginsburg, W. "The First Twenty-Five Years - From 1947-1972, The Cantors Assembly It's Creation And Growth." Cantors Assembly, https://web.archive.org/web/20110718045020/http://www.cantors.org/ca_history1947-1972.php. Accessed 6 November 2025

"Cantor Morris Schorr." FindaGrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/248628867/morris-schorr. Accessed 6 November 2025.

Levin, Neil W. "Israel Schorr." Milken Archive of Jewish Music, https://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/view/israel-schorr. Accessed 6 November 2025.

"Voice of Devotion." Save The Music.com, https://savethemusic.com/album/the-voice-of-devotion/. Accessed 6 November 2025.

The Israel and Morris Schorr collection of Jewish music material consists of over 150 pieces of Jewish sheet music composed and/or arranged by Israel and Morris Schorr, as well as 29 other composers, and personal materials of Morris Schorr, dating from 1906 to 1959. This collection consists of two series: I. Personal materials, and II. Sheet music.

The series "Personal materials" contains multiple documents certifying Morris Schorr's role as a hazzan and sh'liah tzibbur, a leader of public prayer, by the Cantors Assembly, and a program celebrating Morris Schorr's 25th anniversary as the cantor for Congregation Bnai Israel in Elizabeth, New Jersey, dating from 1954 to 1959.

The series "Sheet music" consists of sheet music composed and arranged by both Israel and Morris Schorr, as well as 29 other composers. The music in this collection mostly consists of cantorial or synagogue music, with the majority written in Hebrew. The sheet music composed and/or arranged by the Schorrs are arranged alphabetically by song title. Half of the sheet music composed or arranged by Israel Schorr are in manuscript form, while the others are photocopies of the manuscripts. All but one piece of sheet music is undated. The majority of Morris Schorr's sheet music is in manuscript form, showcasing 24 pieces of music composed or arranged by him, all undated.

In addition to sheet music composed by Israel and Morris Schorr, this collection contains sheet music by 29 other Jewish composers. This section is arranged alphabetically by composer's last name. While there are some pieces that are by unknown or anonymous composers, it is believed that some of these pieces might be written by one of the Schorrs, based on similar handwriting, but they cannot be verified as being definitively written by one or the other. Some of the composers whose work the Schorrs' collected include: Samuel Alman, Abraham W. Binder, Eduard Birnbaum, Louis Lewandowsky, Cole Porter, Solomon Sulzer and Zavel Zilberts. All composers, except for Solomon Sulzer, have only one piece of sheet music in this collection.