Cantor’s Report Submitted by: Donna M. Azu
This July will mark my five years serving as Cantor at Temple Shalom. I feel privileged to have such a wonderful clergy partner in Rabbi Miller, to collaborate with Caren Plotkin and Seyla Cohen and to receive support from the talented front office staff. I consider Temple Shalom my home and I look forward to many continued opportunities to serve our members as clergy, musician and Jewish educator.
B’Shira, Cantor Donna M. Azu
Worship and Music My musical choices have reflected my desire of using eclectic music that aims to please different ages and backgrounds of our congregants. I try to make the services truly upbeat, spirited and soulful at the same time. I like to combine compositions of contemporary American Jewish composers that are becoming standard repertoire of Reform services as well as traditional Jewish folk melodies and Cantorial chants (Hazannut). I also try to engage the congregants to sing a long and to create a more participatory service. As I believe that singing or praying together has a special value and is one of the ways of building a strong community, we continue to dedicate the first Friday of the month to our 6:30pm Shir Joy Shabbat service giving our Religious school students an opportunity to be involved in leading parts of the service. Jane Galler joins me in in leading this lively service. We have also continued our successful Shabbat services on the beach. Adult Choir The volunteer Choir rehearses twice a month on Thursday’s from 6:30-7:30pm under the direction of Musical Director Peter Lewis. Peter and I work closely together in choosing the music for each choir Shabbat. We currently have 18 members of the choir. High Holy Days On the High Holy Days, we engaged 8 professional singers to join the choir and we had 5 weeks of rehearsal dedicated to preparing for the holidays. In addition we had 17 of our students chant Torah during the holiday. I organized the Torah readers, made Torah recordings of what they were chanting, and met with many of them regularly to insure that they were prepared. B’nei Mitzvah This year we have 15 students in our B’nei Mitzvah program. Our tutor’s Perry Switzen, Dr. Michael Rubner, Howard Moeckler, and Hari Jacobsen are continuing to teach and contribute their time to the success of our students. Each student receives 28 one hour long tutoring sessions beginning 8 months prior to their date. Our B’nei Mitzvah program has always focused on meeting the needs of our individual students. I have loved this special time getting to know Temple Shalom’s students and families and sharing a momentous 5
