CANTOR-EDUCATOR PROGRAM RE-ENVISIONS LEADERSHIP TRAINING

BY EVELYN HERWITZ
Photo by Patrick O'Connor

As an undergraduate at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Michael McCloskey dreamed of becoming an opera star. But even as he immersed himself in music education and vocal performance classes, polishing his high baritone repertoire, McCloskey was drawn in another, equally compelling direction. Invited by a friend to help facilitate an interfaith dialogue at the Catholic academic institution, McCloskey—the only Jew in a group of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists—became intrigued by Jewish texts.

Driven to understand the texts of his own faith, McCloskey began to rethink his goals and decided to combine his love of music with a career in education and service to the Jewish community. To realize his new dream, he has become one of the first students in Hebrew College's innovative Cantor-Educator Program, which opened this fall with an inaugural class of six full-time students.

Designed to prepare cantors who are educator-scholars as well as spiritual leaders, the new graduate program combines coursework leading to both a Master of Jewish Education (MJEd) and Cantorial Ordination within a transdenominational setting.

For McCloskey, the dual curriculum provides just the right synthesis of "rigorous academic pursuit and musical study." In addition, McCloskey says he deeply values Hebrew College's transdenominational philosophy. As he sorts through the decision regarding his own denominational affiliation, he looks forward to studying the history and evolution of synagogue liturgy as well as the reasons why the different movements have made changes. "In this program, we'll learn everything," he says. "I have a profound respect for the tradition of the liturgy. As I get more and more into the texts, I'll gain a deeper knowledge of the conceptions of each movement, which will help me to eventually make my decision."

When McCloskey graduates, he will become one of a new breed of cantors, prepared to step into a clerical role that goes well beyond the traditional position of pulpit artist. "Cantors nowadays are asked to do a lot more," says Dr. Scott M. Sokol, dean of the Jewish Music Institute and director of the Cantor-Educator Program. As hazzan at Kehillath Israel in Brookline, Mass., Sokol has experienced firsthand the evolution of the cantorate.

"In more enlightened congregations, cantors do more of what rabbis do," says Sokol. "They are pulpit and clergy partners." No longer do cantors have the luxury of only performing the liturgy and leading services. In addition to training bar and bat mitzvah students, they are often required to conduct community education classes, direct religious and nursery schools, or oversee adult education programs. These expanded responsibilities are becoming more common among small and mid-sized congregations that can no longer afford a full staff of rabbi, cantor and educational director at competitive salary levels.

Even as this new paradigm becomes the congregational norm, however, traditional cantorial preparation does not include extensive training in Jewish education. And the growing on-the-job demands for cantors make it difficult to study toward an MJEd or other advanced educational degree on the side.

Acknowledging that gap, Provost Barry Mesch says the Cantor-Educator Program has been designed to enable cantors to fulfill all aspects of Jewish education within the synagogue as well as to become outstanding musicians and liturgical scholars. "This program takes the role of cantor seriously as a leadership position within the Jewish community by linking it with Jewish education," says Mesch.

The intensive curriculum—offered through the College's Jewish Music Institute and the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education—combines courses in Jewish music, cantorial arts, Jewish education, Jewish studies and Hebrew language. Students will complete two professional internships, as hazzanim and as Jewish educators, as well as choral performance internships with either the Zamir Chorale of Boston or Koleinu: The Jewish Community Chorus of Boston, both based at Hebrew College. They will also be required to do a final project that combines the two fields, or separate final projects in each area of expertise. A series of professional seminars will enable students to explore the intersection between the cantorate and Jewish education.

Most students will complete the program in five years of full-time study; a rigorous part-time option requires eight years. Sokol emphasizes that the curriculum is heavily focused on texts: "We want our students to be experts in rendering Hebrew texts fluently, with proper pronunciation." The text study and courses in pedagogy are balanced by intensive voice training, performance coaching and classes in musicianship—students must demonstrate competence in piano, guitar or both.

The Cantor-Educator Program enables cantors to fulfill all aspects of Jewish education within the synagogue as well as to become outstanding musicians and liturgical scholars.

A stellar team of scholars, cantors and educators includes Sokol; Dr. Joshua Jacobson, whose book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation (JPSA, 2002), is considered the definitive work in the field; Hazzan Jeffrey Klepper, a leading composer of contemporary synagogue music; Hazzan Brian Mayer, DSM, eminent scholar of Ashkenazic nusah; and Hazzan Charles Osborne, distinguished vocal artist and composer of Jewish works. Hazzan Lori Salzman and Hazzan Jeff Stock round out the faculty.

For Brian Mayer, who assists Sokol with curriculum development and student advising, the opportunity to build a cantorial program from the ground up, realizing a shared vision, was a great draw. On the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1988 to 2002, and full-time cantor at Temple Emanuel in Providence, R.I. since 1989, Mayer brings expertise in melodies of prayer-chant; creation and leading of participatory services; adult and teen education; and training b'nai mitzvah students, including teen counseling during the stressful middle and high school years.

"Critical to the success of activating the vision of a cantor is to see oneself as a partner and colleague of the rabbi," says Mayer. "There's so much work to be done in the contemporary congregation, and we each bring our strengths to that work. I'm convinced that the work gets done better when we work in tandem."

Sokol agrees, emphasizing the importance of the program's MJEd curriculum to the realization of that vision. "We view cantors primarily as educators," he says. As to formal cantorial training, he says the program is grounded in classical tradition and enhanced by studying a full range of liturgical expression. "Our students need to understand liturgical reforms and their reasons, to be familiar with the underlying theology," he says. "To make informed choices, they need to know the tradition before they diverge from it."

Mark Dwortzan contributed to this article.

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