Schindler's list survivor, Pittsburgh cantor Moshe Taube dead at 93

Moshe Taube, an accomplished cantor and successful recording artist who famously survived the Holocaust by having his name on Schindler’s list, died Wednesday after being hospitalized with heart problems. He was 93.

Taube, a Squirrel Hill resident, was a cantor for more than 40 years at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill and later at other area synagogues.

“In the 1990s, after the release of the film ‘Schindler’s List,’ cantor Taube began to tell his story of survival. But long before that, he lifted the community by sharing his experience through music,” said Lauren Bairnsfather, director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. “He was a vigorous participant at our center, from our annual Yom HaShoah commemoration, to our monthly meetings with survivors, and many other programs.”

Born in Krakow, Poland, in 1927, Taube was singing and studying music by age 8. In 1939, Taube and his family were consigned to the Krakow ghetto and in 1942 were sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Krakow-Plaszow. His mother, sister and dozens of extended family members were murdered. But he and his father were among 1,200 Jews who survived thanks to Schindler, a German industrialist who became dedicated to saving the lives of his Jewish employees.

Taube immigrated to the U.S. in 1957 and continued his music education at the Juilliard School in New York. He moved to Pittsburgh and became cantor at Congregation Beth Shalom in 1965. From 1971 to 1988, he was an adjunct professor of music at Duquesne University.

“In his day, he was the greatest cantor in the world,” said Judah Samet, a close friend and fellow concentration camp survivor. “He had a beautiful (tenor) voice, his voice, his style, he was among the greats.”

Samet said Taube had high-paying offers to be a cantor from synagogues in other parts of the country, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Pittsburgh.

“He was a very humble man. He had no pretension. He was really a sweet human being, a sweet, sweet guy. There are not many people like Moshe. I loved the guy,” Samet said.

Taube was also the cantor at Young Peoples Synagogue in Squirrel Hill on high holidays and the Sabbath for 13 years.

“He was a wonderful cantor who always had a smile on his face,” said Young Peoples Synagogue president Rebecca Spiegel. “He gave his whole heart to our synagogue. He was always open-hearted and greeted anybody who walked into our synagogue, always gave them a warm welcome. We really got a lot of people to come to our services because of cantor Taube.”

Despite the warmth he showed others, Samet said he knew that Taube was burdened by the past.

“There was always a sadness about him, a real sadness,” said Samet. “He was never ever too happy.”

For her part, Bairnsfather said she has been concerned about the isolation of Holocaust survivors like Taube, who had been prevented from performing in recent months by covid-19.

“If not for covid, we could gather together to mourn a remarkable man,” Bairnsfather said. “This adds a degree of sadness to the loss.”

In 1994, after “Schindler’s List” was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, the New York Times interviewed Taube for a story about “Schindler Jews” living in America. Taube had chosen not to see the film “not because he fears it will misrepresent his past, but because, from everything he has read and heard, it captures that past too clearly,” reporter David Margolick wrote. ” ‘Every frame in this movie is my personal history, and to relive it would take tremendous stamina, a special fortitude that I do not have,’ Taube said.”

An online memorial service for Cantor Taube will be held by Beth Shalom on Thursday evening, November 19, at 7:30 EST. The full details and the link to the service (which will be held on Zoom), can be found on Beth Shalom’s Homepage: http://bethshalompgh.org/