Rebecca Garfein was fifteen years old when the man seated in front of her turned around, at the sound of her pleasant singing voice, and offered her an opportunity that would lead her on the path to become a cantor. At the time, Garfein didn’t even know what a cantor was. Throughout her childhood, Garfein…
Jewish music meets the roaring 20’s in a new single that has just been released drawing key inspiration from jazz, klezmer and prayer. The song, Sheyibone, performed by singer and cantor, Aryeh Leib Hurwitz, expresses one of the most fundamental Jewish prayers, beseeching God to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash (Jewish Temple in Jerusalem), ushering in…
In the Jewish world, cantors are often regarded as second-class members of the clergy, if they are regarded as clergy at all. For a long time, the role of the cantor was a musician, a service-leader, and nothing more. While this is no longer the case, the stigma still exists, and female cantors tend to…
A leading group of American cantors is trying to honor American troops in a unique way: challenging its members and other Jewish musicians to come up with the best melody for a prayer for the country’s armed services. This is an initiative of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, the American Jewish War Veterans and the…
As a Cantor, I’ve sung the Sheva Berachot (seven marriage blessings) countless times and I know the words by heart. They were recited for me at my first wedding some seventeen years ago. My then-husband and I simply followed the familiar formula: place a Jewish groom and a Jewish bride under a chuppah (wedding canopy),…
It took 111 years, but Indianapolis’ beloved Shapiro’s is about to open its first location outside its hometown. The deli, whose three current sites include a mall and the Indianapolis airport, will debut in early 2017 in Blue Ash, a heavily Jewish suburb of Cincinnati, reports Cincinnati.com. Shapiro’s signatures include house-cured brisket, homemade cakes and…
It’s that time of year again when we cantors, having been hard at work for months preparing for the upcoming High Holidays, pick up the local newspaper and inevitably find articles written by our rabbinic colleagues about the trials and tribulations of rabbis preparing for this difficult occasion. And we sigh… and go back to…
On July 4, a group of about 375 people from the U.S. and Canada, including about 50 cantors, arrived in Barcelona on a historic Cantors Assembly Mission to Spain. This was the 3rd Mission of the Cantors Assembly, conceived and led by the indefatigable and visionary Nathan Lam of Stephen S. Wise Synagogue of Los…
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