Draft:Joseph Altschul (2)

Rabbi Joseph “Yosha Slonimer” Altschul (1839-1908) was a Jewish cantorcomposer, teacher and thalmudic-scholar who was born in Lithuania in the town of Vilna. Altschul studied Talmud in Courland Cantorial Arts in with Yeruham Blindman. Altschul was officiated as cantor in Slonim (1870-1888) and Grodno (1888-1898). Altschul was a well-known cantor and attracted many. Only a small amount of his many compositions has been preserved (thanks to the work of Cantor and researcher Eduard Birnbaum).

Life and Work
Yosha studied music with great perseverance and is especially interested in Yeruchom’s art chants, which he tries to copy. For 18 years, Yosha stood with great honor in Slanim and was loved by all strata of the Jewish, and also non-Jewish, population, and arrived in 1888 as a cantor in Grodno.

Yosha held the chants in Grodno with great honor and after 20 years of devoted service he passed away in the year of 1908 at the age of 69 years. It is unclear when and where he is buried.

Personal life and Family
Joseph Altschul married Sarah Yocheved Bensky. Together they had the following children; Aharon, Henki Cantor (1864-1943), Rebecca Resnick (1872?-1951), Chaim, Bluma, Dora, Goldie, and Leibke.

The Altschul family migrated to America where they primarily lived in Brooklyn. Aharon Altschuler became a well known Cantor following the footsteps of his father. Altschul's son in law Solomon “Shlomo” Chaim Resnick also became a Mohel and Rabbi, including another son in law, Shmuel "Samuel" Yosef/Joseph Cantor.