Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Sountrack of Our Spirit

Galit Dadoun-Cohen

Cantor
Temple B’nai Or
Morristown, New Jersey
Age: 42
Nominated by: Herself
Song: “Prayer for Peace,” Cantor Jonathan Comisar

“If only our mouths were as full of song as the sea, and our tongues joyful as its waves.”

Like much of our ancient Scriptures, this verse may be as ancient as the eighth century, most likely written in Babylonia. But it epitomizes, in a beautiful and poetic way, the powerful strength of music that can move us beyond words, cognitive thoughts and ideas. In a modern age of highly intellectualized messages, many transmitted through electronic devices, music, combined with our ancient Jewish ideas and poetic expressions, can lift us up and take us away from it all. It’s an opportunity to bring to our communities an enchanting language, to teach history and culture, and to connect generations with our ancient heritage and story. It is a vehicle to keep telling the story and to bring us closer to one another. — Galit Dadoun-Cohen

INFLUENCES: Rabbi Shira Milgrom, Debbie Friedman, Cantor Jacob Mendelson, Cantor Faith Steinsnyder, Cantor Noach Schall, Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller, Noah Aronson, Cantor Zoe Jacobs, Cantor Jonathan Comisar, Pedro d’Aquino, Rabbi Larry Hoffman, Cantor Alicia Stillman, Merri Arian.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.