Dr. Charles Stuart Davidson, longtime cantor at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, passed away in late November. He was 94 year old.

WHYY published a summary of his life and career today, including an interview with his daughter Ilana, a classical singer and cantorial soloist in Nyack, New York.

The article notes the synagogue’s reputation as the “singing congregation” after Davidson, a world-renowned composer and arranger of music, took over as cantor. It mentions his famous 1968 song collection, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly”, which sets to music the poems of Jewish children imprisoned in Czechoslovakia in the 1940s.

The songs received worldwide acclaim with thousands of performances and have been featured on numerous commercial recordings. They were also the subject of two award-winning PBS documentaries: “The Journey of Butterfly” and “Butterfly Revisited”, his obituary said. 

An excerpt from their interview with Ilana:

JL: In the congregation in Elkins Park that you grew up in, it was a singing congregation. Tell me how unique that was.

ID: I think it’s incredibly unique. Many congregations kind of just sit there, whether they’re intimidated and they don’t feel comfortable singing, that’s a huge thing. Or maybe they don’t know what the cantor is going to do. My father really made it his mission to instill this enthusiasm for congregational singing. In our synagogue growing up, we had an organ and a professional small choir that was used not for a performance effect, but really used to inspire the congregation to sing and respond to feel moved.

For the full story, you can click here. For more on Dr. Davidson’s life, you can read his extensive obituary or watch this 2018 interview:

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