The value of voice

Published on September 12, 2012

As we prepare for the High Holy Days, we often do not consider one aspect of ourselves, our voice. I’m taking about our actual vocal cords; our means of producing sound.

Sinai Temple welcomes new cantor

Published on July 11, 2012

What’s in a word? For ‘ordained’ rather than ‘invested’ cantors, a lot

Published on May 1, 2012

What’s the difference between investiture and ordination? Plenty, say officials at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, which has announced that for the first time since establishing its cantorial school in 1948, it will ordain rather than invest its graduating class of cantors.

Handy Hazzan is Hanukkah Hazzan - Making Dreydls Out of Clay Today!

By Cantor Harris Shore, The Handy Hazzan
Published on December 16, 2011

Pasadena temple gets Argentina’s first woman cantor

By Ryan E. Smith
Published on September 14, 2011

Cantor Ruth Berman Harris has been earning paychecks for leading services since she was 15, years before a cantorial school even existed in her native Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Handy Hazzan Almost Humpty Dumpty Hazzan – From A Ladder, Not a Wall

By Cantor Harris Shore, The Handy Hazzan
Published on June 23, 2011

Cantor advises Weiner to ‘come clean’ in Twitter flap

Published on June 2, 2011

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the Republican majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, called on Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) to "come clean" about a controversy over a lewd photo. Cantor made his comments in a television interview on Thursday, as Weiner endured a fourth day on the receiving end of questions about a photo of a man in his underwear that was sent from his Twitter account. The photo was sent to a 21-year-old female college student who is a Twitter follower of Weiner's.

Man who threatened Cantor gets 2 years

Published on April 8, 2011

A man who threatened to kill Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), speaking of his "final Yom Kippur," was sentenced to two years in prison. The Washington Post on Friday quoted prosecutors as saying Norman LeBoon, 33, of Philadelphia, must also complete three years of supervision after his sentence is complete, including no Internet access.

Reform cantorial school named after Debbie Friedman

Published on January 28, 2011

The Reform movement’s cantorial school has been named after the late Debbie Friedman.

Obama remark misinterpreted, Cantor spokesman says

Published on November 15, 2010

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor's promise that the new GOP majority will "serve as a check" on the Obama administration was "not in relation to U.S.-Israel relations," his spokesman said.

Giffords ekes out victory, Altschuler in play

Published on November 8, 2010

Two Jewish congressional hopefuls -- a Democratic incumbent and a Republican seeking his first term -- may have won seats by narrow margins.

Showtime is just this cantor’s day job

By Tom Teicholz
Published on October 16, 2008

Levine was in the middle of a Showtime meeting when his assistant interrupted saying "Dustin Hoffman's on the line." Hoffman was not calling to pitch Showtime; instead, he was standing on a soundstage and needed Levine to intone the Kaddish for a movie he was mixing

VIDEO: Chazzan Chaim Adler—‘Kaddish’ @  Selichot services in Tel Aviv

By The Web Guy
Published on September 21, 2008

Chazzan Chiam Adler, Chief cantor at Tel-Aviv's Great Synagogue, sings the Kaddish. Recorded at first Selichot service. September 21 2008 midnight. Great chazzanut and wonderful singing by the congregation. Towards the end, you can hear a little Kol Isha. Is that our videographer, Y227, up in the womens' balcony?

MUSIC VIDEO: Amonai Shamati—Moroccan High Holy Day Piyyut

Published on September 10, 2008

Beautiful, pleading Sephardic High Holy Day piyyut recited on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur before Amidah. Tradtional Moroccan melody sung by Eyal Bitton.

Vice President Cantor?

By Marty Kaplan
Published on August 4, 2008

Feminist cantor retires from long-term post

By Danielle Berrin
Published on July 23, 2008

If words don't come easily to Rosenbloom, it's because she has spent most of her life singing. As early as age 4, she jumped up on a coffee table at home and sang an Israeli folk song for her mother and father

AUDIO: Al Jolson stars as ‘The Jazz Singer’—Lux Radio Theatre 1947

By The Web Guy
Published on July 6, 2008

In this June 1947 production, Al Jolson reprises his most famous silver screen role as "The Jazz Singer."

Gole to lead Cantor’s Assembly

By Tom Tugend
Published on May 3, 2007

Cantor Joseph Gole of Sinai Temple will be installed as president of the international Cantors Assembly during the organization's convention in Los Angeles, at a time when the profession is facing changes and challenges.

B’nai Mitzvah: Exactly how kosher was Christy’s bat mitzvah?

By Cantor Ron Li-Paz
Published on November 16, 2006

Christy's bat mitzvah was a monumental event for her entire family. The synagogue was full, featuring out-of-towners from New York, San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C. It was the first time that many of them had been in a synagogue.I spend countless hours preparing for these days with students and their parents.

Skateboard Creator Builds Business on Performance

By Amy Klein
Published on August 31, 2006

Skateboarding runs in the Tashman family, although not on the paternal side. His mother, who also grew up religious, skateboarded when she was a kid. She was sponsored by a local Velcro company. "She took her old roller skates and nailed them to a two-by-four for her first skateboards," Tashman said. Since he was 3 years old, "she would attach me to my skateboard and pull me down hills and our neighbor's empty swimming pool," he said. "She always wanted me to be a cantor, though."

Jazz and Classical in Perfect Harmony

By Andrew Rosenblum
Published on May 18, 2006

Caine credits his successes today to a willingness to stick with his musical vision through lean times.

"Follow that instinct," he urges young musicians. "It'll happen, if you work hard, and you can keep moving somehow."

Cantor Glickman Returns to Israel

By David Finnigan
Published on November 24, 2005

"Everybody loves this guy," said Cantor Nathan Lam of Bel Air's Reform synagogue, Stephen S. Wise Temple, and dean of the Jewish academy's cantorial school. "He's a special human being. He makes a room feel good. If you're sick, he's the guy you want to come and cheer you up."

Cantor Carries on Tennis Tradition

By Tom Tugend
Published on September 29, 2005

Located at Beverly and Crescent Heights boulevards, Beth Israel was founded in 1899 as the first Orthodox congregation in Los Angeles, and was also known as the Olive Street Shul.

Four Ways to Hear the Days of Awe

By George Robinson
Published on September 15, 2005

The Days of Awe evoke many feelings, but my first thoughts invariably turn to the special music of these days. From the solemn, almost brooding melody of Kol Nidre to the lilting "High Holiday" tune that unifies the music of both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there is much in which to delight.

Perhaps because this is the only synagogue music that many Jews hear all year, there are fewer alternative versions of the High Holiday liturgy than of, say, "Lecha Dodi" or "Adon Olam." Still, these albums should help put you in a proper frame of mind.

Tale of Two Schools

By Ted Roberts
Published on September 2, 2004

Miss Smith, my third-grade teacher at Vollentine Grammar School, stood facing the class with her arm around my shoulders. She was a large woman the size of two or three of today's fashion models, with gray hair pulled back from a ruddy, round face. All I knew of her personal life was that she was unwed, but mothered 25 third-grade kids. She lived in a small, neighboring town famous for its horse farms.

She looked out to her students, her eyes focused above them. I looked down.

I had just finished reciting a poem to the class and before I could return to my desk, Miss Smith was at my side.

"Children, Teddy is Jewish. And I like Jewish kids. Teddy's people have made some major contributions to the South. How many of you know of Dr. Joseph Goldberger who cured pellagra? How many of you know about pellagra?"

A Mitzvah Is Its Own Reward

By Brendan Howard
Published on July 1, 2004

"Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward; instead be like servants who serve their master not for the sake of receiving a reward. And let the awe of Heaven be upon you." -- Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers)

Cantors Plan Charity Concerts

By Andrea Adelson
Published on May 6, 2004

With religious school winding down this month at many synagogues, some cantors will regularly seize the opportunity to produce a brief season of secular concerts with guest artists and visiting cantors.

C’mon, a Bat Mitzvah Is, Like, So Uncool

By Marlene Heller
Published on March 11, 2004

"I don't want a bat mitzvah," she told her parents. "It's just for you and your relatives. You don't even need me there. So why don't you just throw your own party?"

Off the Bimah: A Concerted Effort

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on February 19, 2004

With her slender figure, long, shining strawberry-blonde hair and big hazel eyes, Alison Wissot looks more like a stage ingénue than most people's conceptions of a cantor -- not surprising, since that's what she was 10 years ago.

Wissot's cantorial career is off to a brilliant start: Less than three years after graduating from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's School of Sacred Music in New York, she is filling the largest Reform cantorial pulpit in the San Fernando Valley, the 1,300-household Temple Judea in Tarzana and West Hills.

Dean’s Judaism Ties Span Decades

By Matthew E. Berger
Published on January 1, 2004

In the middle of a rowdy rendition of "I Have a Little Dreidel" at the Sobelson family Chanukah party in Concord, N.H., Howard Dean walked in and declared himself the cantor.

The Democratic presidential candidate recited the blessings over the candles in near-perfect Hebrew in a dining room crowded with campaign staffers.

"It's another Jewish miracle," Carol Sobelson exclaimed

Cantor Turns Rabbi to Save Synagogue

By Gaby Wenig
Published on September 25, 2003

Cantor Mark Goodman was conducting prayers for Valley Beth Israel -- an ailing Conservative congregation that couldn't afford a rabbi -- when he decided that he could make things better.

To Life, L’Chayim

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on February 27, 2003

Chayim Frenkel grew up in the Pico-Fairfax area, where his father, Uri Frenkel, was cantor for Judea Congregation on South Fairfax Avenue. With his mother, Shari, working as a kosher caterer, both parents were "servants of the Jewish community," Frenkel told The Journal, and "role models of what a mensch (good guy) should be."

Music in a Universal Key

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on September 12, 2002

A Turkish-born cantor will bring tunes of his Sephardi heritage to a festival next week celebrating Southern California's religious diversity.

Orange County County Calendar

Published on September 5, 2002

Heritage Pointe, Mission Viejo Chapter: Sun., Sept. 1, 5 p.m. Bus trip to the Hollywood Bowl to see "New York, New York."

In Cantor vs. Rabbi, Synagogue Is Victim

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on August 29, 2002

This High Holiday season, leaders of Temple Ner Maarav want people to know that they are still open for business.

Some might have thought otherwise of the Encino synagogue, which was rocked by a battle that divided members between the shul's rabbi of 19 years and its more recently hired cantor.

Malibu Music Man With Latin Groove

By Sharon Schatz Rosenthal
Published on August 22, 2002

This High Holy Day season, the congregation at Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue has something to sing about, to the lively and devoted Marcelo Gindlin.

A Cantor’s Reflection

By Julie G Fax
Published on September 13, 2001

When Binyamin Glickman looks around Los Angeles today, he sees his students. And, he is glad to say, they are doing well.

From 1962 to 1982 Glickman was cantor at Beth Jacob Congregation, a large Orthodox synagogue in Beverly Hills, and the music instructor at Hillel Hebrew Academy down the block.

As cantor, he trained countless students in his choir to lead services, and many of his students continue to do so today.

A Psalm for a Singer

Published on April 15, 1999

It's tenor time in the Borscht Belt next week. The cantors are coming to the Catskills, close to 400 of them, from Conservative synagogues across the country. With spouses and sundry fans in tow, they'll be descending on Kutsher's Country Club, one of the last of the region's great Jewish watering holes, for three days of music and prayer. It's the annual convention of the Cantors' Assembly.

Other Voices

By Sandor Slomovits
Published on June 18, 1998

My father has always revered Joe Louis. Asurprising hero, perhaps, for a man born and raised in far-awayHungary. Not the hero one might expect of a Jewish cantor, whose workall his life has been singing liturgy in synagogues. Yet, among themost vivid memories I have from my childhood in Hungary and Israel,through my teen-age years in the United States, are the stories myfather told of Joe Louis.