Much More Than the Chaz

Sherwood (Shimon) Goffin a”h, who passed away last month, was affectionately called “Chaz” (short for chazzan) by many of his friends and colleagues. However, I don’t think the title really fit him — because he was so much more than a chazzan. He was the ultimate baal tefillah, a true shaliach tzibbur. When he would finish davening, people would approach him and tell him “yasher koyach,” to which he would answer, “I hope my tefillos were accepted.”

Sherwood was the baal tefillah of the Lincoln Square Synagogue from the day it opened in 1965, and although his position was resident cantor, it was just part of what he did. He led programs, gave bar mitzvah lessons, ran shul activities, engaged in kiruv, and so much more. He felt it was his responsibility to motivate the entire congregation in davening, and he did it with all his heart and soul.

He was an expert in nusach and believed strongly that one should not change his nusach, and his tunes always appropriately matched the meaning of the words of the davening. I remember going to the studio with him to record his “Mimkomo” for Jerusalem, one of my early “all-star” albums. When it was his turn to sing, he dimmed the lights, closed his eyes, and sang from his heart. That was the only way he knew how to do it.

Sherwood, a native of Connecticut, learned in Mesivta Torah Vodaath, during which time he became a ben bayis by the Bostoner Rebbe ztz”l of Brooklyn, a relationship that endured for many years. He knew all the Rebbe’s compositions and later released an album of the Rebbe’s niggunim, in addition to six other albums he released from the 1970s and on.