Moishe Oysher () (born March 8, 1906, Lipcani, Bessarabia, Russian Empire – died November 27, 1958, New Rochelle, New York) was an American cantor, recording artist, and film and Yiddish theatre actor. During the 1940s and 1950s he was one of the top Hazzans and his recordings continue to be appreciated due to his rich, powerful voice and creative arrangements. Biography Early life Oysher was born in Lipcani, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire on March 8, 1906. He was born to a Jewish family that traced six generations of . He told writer Khaver-Paver that his grandfather sang folk songs and workers' songs to his students when Moyshe was young, and the heartfelt tunes were in my blood, and that it was from his other grandfather "" and his father "" that he inherited his gift as a . Oysher's father departed for America when Moyshe was young, leaving him with his grandfather. He started acting in school and played a few roles in the poet Eliezer Steinberg's Der Berditchever Rov ("The Rebbe from Berdichev"). He named Steinberg as a profound influence on his life. In 1921, he traveled to Canada to join his father. On the way, his voice broke, so in Canada he worked at first as a dishwasher and later a launderer to support himself. Career Oysher was able to retrain his voice and began singing again in literary and dramatic clubs. He met actor Wolf Shumsky and traveled with him to Winnipeg, where he played Yiddish theater for three seasons. He was allowed into the Canadian Actors' Union in 1924 and played in the Montreal Yiddish theater under the direction of Isidore Hollander. He may have gone back and forth between Canada and the United States during this time. In 1928, he was on Yiddish radio in Philadelphia, where his parents had moved, and that same year he was engaged at the Hopkins Theater in Brooklyn. The manager of the Hopkins theatre, Louis Weiss, was married to the female lead, Florence Weiss; she ended up leaving Louis for Oysher. The pair left for Newark, New Jersey to work at the Lyric Theater. He married Florence Weiss in Newark in January 1929. In 1931, he was accepted into the New York Actors' Union and played in Anshel Schorr group, and lived in Philadelphia for a time. He then played with Boris Thomashevsky, then in 1932, he started his