Development of the Office of Hazzan Through the Talmudic Period

The specific purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between the hazzan and the shaliah tzibbut, the two major functionaries. It also examines the etymology of the term hazzan, the function of both the Temple hazzan and the synagogue hazzan during the Tannaitic and Amoraic periods, and the underpinnings of the needs that led to the eventuation of a shaliah tzibbur and the nature of his ministrations. The Talmudic sources point out their separateness. In the post-Talmudic period, the functions have already merged. The analysis treats the reasons for, and the period of time of, the merging and the communal status of either or both.