DAVID EISENSTADT
Life and work
Conductor, educator, and composer. He was a great supporter of Jewish music and achieved fame as the director of the boys' and men's choir at the Great Synagogue on TÅ‚omackie Street. One of Warsaw's most important Jewish composers and father of Maria Ajzensztadt, known as the "Nightingale of the Ghetto."
Dawid Ajzensztadt (David Eisenstadt) was born in 1890 in Nasielsk, a small town that, at the turn of the century, began to experience long-awaited economic and social development due to the railway connection to Warsaw established three years earlier. Nasielsk's Jewish community was proud of its centuries-old traditions and history—the first wooden synagogue was built there in 1650, and a brick synagogue followed in 1880. Dawid's father was a shochet (a Jewish ritual slaughterer) and occasionally served as a cantor.
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Seeking to escape the monotony of daily life, Ajzensztadt moved to Nowy Dwor, where he studied music theory and singing and, under the guidance of Eliezer Boruchowicz, deepened his knowledge of cantorial traditions. His desire to pursue a musical path led him to Berlin, where he continued his vocal education. After his time in the West, he traveled eastward—from 1909, he was the conductor of a synagogue choir in Homel; three years later, he moved to Riga, and then toured Belarus and Ukraine with a traveling theater. In 1918, he settled in Rostov-on-Don, where he became choirmaster of the city's Great Synagogue. Friendships formed during these travels proved lasting throughout his life.
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In 1921, Ajzensztadt settled permanently in Warsaw, where he continued his artistic and pedagogical work until the end of his life. He became the director of the choir at the Great Synagogue on TÅ‚omackie Street and lived with his family in the building's rear section. This position brought him great fame and respect. The renowned Jewish choir under his direction included about 80 boys aged 9 to 13 who sang soprano and alto, along with around 20 adult men—tenors, baritones, and basses. In addition to performing during liturgies, they also gave secular music concerts and recorded for Polish Radio. In the Great Synagogue, the choir was accompanied by a harmonium, although many sources also mention the captivating sound of the organ. On various occasions, Ajzensztadt himself played these instruments. A single photograph of a choir rehearsal at the TÅ‚omackie Synagogue has survived to this day.
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In 1935, the choir performed during the world premiere of the opera "Dybuk" by composer Lodovico Rocchi. Reportedly, upon arriving in Warsaw and attending a Sabbath service at the Great Synagogue, Rocchi was so moved by the choir that he initiated their inclusion in the opera's performance. The production was a major event. Reviews praised the spectacle, impressive ballet scenes, fidelity to the dramatic style of Szymon An-ski's work, and the devotion of the performers—with Ajzensztadt acknowledged among the creators of its success.
There are also accounts that during the most important Jewish holidays, Warsaw Opera staged ballets to allow its singers to join Ajzensztadt's choir for those special days. All of this testifies to the extraordinary recognition of his work.
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As an educator, Ajzensztadt promoted musical knowledge among Jews—he was one of the founders of the Jewish Music Society and co-author of the "Algemajner muzik-leksikon," a series of booklets intended as a Jewish musical encyclopedia. Only the first three issues were published, as the outbreak of war halted further releases. In 1936, Ajzensztadt became the director of the cantorial school at the Warsaw Music Institute. According to Leon BÅ‚aszczyk, he also led choirs for the Society for the Promotion of Jewish Education and Culture ("Szul-Kult"), the Kultur-Lige, and for a time, the Grossner Choir of the Zionist Bund organization. He composed music for Halpern Leivick's drama "Golem," which premiered in 1928 at a circus on Ordynacka Street in Warsaw, presented by the Polish Theater to a massive audience.
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Ajzensztadt's most renowned contribution to the popularization of Jewish music was his annual concerts, attended by Warsaw's entire musical community, including Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Over time, these concerts were hailed as the pinnacle of vocal art in Poland. The Ajzensztadt home was steeped in European Jewish culture and national Jewish revival. Songs by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann could be heard there alongside works by Zavel Kwartin and Josele Rosenblatt.
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After the German occupation of Warsaw began, Ajzensztadt reportedly considered fleeing to the Soviet Union but remained in the capital at his wife's urging. In the ghetto, the family lived on Ceglana Street. Despite the harsh conditions, he continued his artistic activity. At the Femina Theater on Leszno Street, he founded a symphony orchestra, where his daughter Marysia Ajzensztadt (Miriam Eisenstadt) displayed her full talent. She would later be remembered as the "Nightingale of the Ghetto." As noted by Emmanuel Ringelblum, her songs in Polish, Hebrew, and Yiddish captivated the entire city, even though her talent only became widely recognized during the war: "Young, beautiful, dark-haired Marysia was the most popular person in all of Warsaw." Dawid Ajzensztadt also conducted a synagogue choir when, in May 1941, the German authorities allowed the opening of three synagogues in the ghetto.
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Although it is commonly believed that Ajzensztadt's works did not survive, several of his compositions have indeed been preserved, and new ones are still being discovered. Some were collected and published by Israel Alter, a cantor from Johannesburg, under the title "L'Dovid Mizmor." These include: "Hajom haras olom," "L'choh dodi," "Shom'oh vatismah tsiyon," "L'eineinu oshku amoleinu," and "Sh'chuloch achuloh," composed for either a cantor with keyboard accompaniment or a four-part choir. The cantor's parts are highly virtuosic, and the instrumental parts equally elaborate—demonstrating the remarkable evolution of synagogue musical language in the first half of the 20th century. The choral parts are deeply rooted in European traditions, featuring, among other elements, a beautiful fugue.
These are not the only surviving compositions. In 2011, a manuscript of Ajzensztadt's cantata "Chad Gadya" (One Little Goat), based on the Passover Seder song, was discovered in Cape Town. Ajzensztadt had sent it to Froim Spektor, who emigrated to Cape Town in 1928 to become the chief cantor of the New Hebrew Congregation and brought Ajzensztadt's music with him. The cantata consists of four movements: the first is an Allegro scherzando; the second, based on Talmudic motifs, is an Andantino; the third, a Largo, depicts a battle between the Angel of Death and the shochet; the fourth describes the triumph of righteousness over evil.
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Other known works include the cantata "Iz awek cum krig der melech" (And the King Went to War), based on a poem by Maria Konopnicka translated by Abraham Reisen, as well as choral songs in Yiddish and synagogue pieces for the Sabbath and holidays. Ajzensztadt drew inspiration both from traditional folk styles and well-known oratorio and cantata forms. He also composed orchestral works, including the "Hebrew Suite." This repertoire remains largely unknown in Poland, and it is likely that more of the greatest Jewish composer of Warsaw's works are still awaiting discovery in archives or private homes around the world.
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The final moments of the Ajzensztadt family were described by Jonas Turkow: "When German soldiers separated Miriam from her parents at the Umschlagplatz and forced Dawid Ajzensztadt and his wife into a different freight car, Miriam ran back to her parents. She did not want to be apart from them in the final hours of her life. Miriam was already at the car door when a German bullet struck her." The transport from the Umschlagplatz went to Treblinka, where Dawid and his wife were murdered in the gas chamber.
The Great Synagogue on TÅ‚omackie Street
The story of a vanished place
The Great Synagogue on TÅ‚omackie Street was one of the most important and impressive symbols of the Jewish community in pre-war Warsaw. Designed by the renowned architect Leandro Marconi, it was ceremoniously opened in 1878. The building stood on a prestigious site, at what was then Bank Square, and impressed with its monumental neoclassical architecture and magnificent interior design.
The synagogue had seating for approximately 2,000 people and quickly became the religious, cultural, and social center of Jewish life in Warsaw. It was not only a place of prayer, but also of music and encounter. Festive liturgies, classical choral works, and solemn organ accompaniments resounded within.
Particularly famous was the boys' and men's choir under the direction of Dawid Ajzensztadt, whose performances regularly attracted large audiences—including members of Warsaw's elite. In addition to services, the synagogue also hosted public concerts that resonated beyond the Jewish community. The synagogue was a vibrant center for spirituality, art, and cultural exchange.
The Great Synagogue survived the German occupation until May 1943. On May 16, 1943, it was blown up by the Germans – as a symbolic culmination of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. Its destruction also served a propaganda function: It was intended to demonstrate the complete annihilation of the Jewish presence in Warsaw.
After the war, the synagogue was never rebuilt. In the 1970s, the so-called "Blue Skyscraper" was built in its place, which today stands where the religious heart of Jewish life in Warsaw once beat. The only material evidence of the synagogue preserved in Poland is a cloakroom ticket, now housed in the POLIN Museum. Another preserved object – a candlestick from the synagogue's interior – is housed in the ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.
The Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Street is today a vanished place, but still present in the collective memory – a symbol of a violently interrupted world whose echoes live on in music, memories and the attempt to give it a voice again.
