Renewal

Over the years, I have shared with you the great joy I experience working at Temple Beth El. The moments of teaching, leading worship services and providing pastoral care to members of our community make my life rich and full. Serving as your Cantor is a privilege I cherish.

Serving as Cantor also makes for a very challenging and hectic life. In the midst of the many immediate demands of the job, it is sometimes difficult to find quiet moments for reflection that allow my creative juices to flow, or pursue other activities that complement my work and allow me to keep growing, both personally and professionally. Growing and changing — accepting new challenges — are what keep me fresh and vital. I’ve often said that if I stop growing, it’s time to get a new job.

Fortunately, the Board of Directors has given me a wonderful opportunity to keep growing. I will be going on sabbatical this summer, spending most of June, July and the first part of August
in Seattle finishing a textbook. My Master’s project at Hebrew Union College was writing a basic music theory textbook to teach the Jewish prayer modes. The chanting of traditional Jewish prayers has been passed down from one generation of Cantors to the next for hundreds of years; one learned this oral tradition by apprenticing with a Cantor. While the School of Sacred Music still provides an opportunity to work one-on-one with some of the great Cantors of our day, the reality is that we now go to school to learn to be cantors. And if you go to school, you need to have textbooks.

Despite the fact that this is a centuries-old tradition, it has never been systematically written down. Previous attempts assume that the reader already has a basic understanding of the synagogue modes. And to complicate matters, these modes have as much in common with Eastern (Arabic or Indian) music as they do with the Western music most of us are trained in. The textbook I wrote is designed for the beginning cantorial student or experienced church organist playing for synagogue services, and, using Western theory as a jumping off point, leads the student to an understanding of the Jewish prayer modes. The project was so successful that it is already in use at Hebrew Union College in New York — despite the fact that it’s not in final form.

In my absence, I am thrilled that Mary Thomas, our Cantorial Assistant, will be stepping in. Mary will lead summer services and take charge of the B’nei mitzvah program. If you have had the privilege of hearing her lead services in the past, you know what a beautiful voice and wonderful presence she has. She has been at my side working with B’nei mitzvah students for more than a year now, and I have complete confidence that the program will continue to run smoothly and successfully under her guidance. About Mary Thomas

I look forward to returning in plenty of time for High Holy Day preparation renewed and re-energized. And who knows what wonderful new ideas I’ll bring back with me. In the meantime, my books, my laptop and I will be in residence at my favorite Seattle coffee shops.

L’shalom,
Andrew Bernard
Cantor