The Life of Moshele Der Zinger: How Singing Saved My Life

This memoir captures the astounding life of the hazan, teacher, sage, and storyteller the world knows as Cantor Moshe Kraus. Famous for his captivating, emotionally charged voice – respected and admired wherever he went – he traveled the globe during his long career as a world-class cantor, serving as Chief Cantor for the Israeli Defense Forces, and living in such places as Belgium, South Africa, Mexico, finally settling in Ottawa in Canada. Yet many Bergen-Belsen survivors remember him as “Moshele der Zinger” (Little Moshe, the singer), whose beautiful tenor voice and trove of Yiddish and sacred music had kept their hopes alive – and in many cases restored their faith – during the living nightmare of the Holocaust.