First Reform Cantor for UK
Monday, 12 October 2009
Zoë Jacobs, who recently received s’micha (cantorial ordination) from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York, has been leading services in her first High Holy Days as Cantor at Finchley Reform Synagogue (FRS). She recently returned to the UK to take up a full time position at the synagogue in North London and will also be coordinating Jewish music projects for the Reform Movement.
Cantor Jacobs is the first graduate from a seminary programme to work as a cantor in UK Reform synagogues. Realising she wished to follow a path into Jewish professional life, Zoë Jacobs opted to study Jewish History at the University of Southampton, where she chaired the Jewish Society. After graduation, she spent a year working for the Movement for Reform Judaism as the Reform Students chinuch (education) fieldworker as well as teaching at FRS and Southgate & District Reform Synagogue.
Whilst at HUC, she had cantorial internships at Central Synagogue in New York City and at Or Chadash in New Jersey. She took classes alongside rabbinical students in liturgy, rabbinic literature, Jewish history, TaNaKh (bible), pastoral care and community organising. But choosing a path as a cantor instead of a rabbi meant she also took classes in song-leading, choral conducting, cantillation and music education, and she gained a vast musical repertoire to bring back to the UK.
Cantor Jacobs explained: “It was growing up at FRS that I learned to love Judaism, and to love being a teacher of Judaism. Fuelled by this experience and the broader love of Jewish liturgical music I have gained while at HUC, I feel very fortunate to be involved in the dialogue that will forge new musical paths, enhancing and enriching the voice of the FRS community. Reform Judaism is a living tradition of active engagement with modern life and ever-changing circumstances. I believe FRS is reflecting the best in Reform Judaism as we look to the future to ensure our stories, our music, and our questions best reflect who we are today, while remembering where we have come from. My aim is to help create a musical tradition at FRS where each piece of music helps us understand our story, investigate our text, and deepen our prayer.”
Rabbi Miriam Berger of FRS commented: “Cantor Zoë Jacobs is introducing us to traditions we were losing, reminding us that our roots as Jews lie deep within the nusach, while our roots as Reform Jews are bound up in choral music. Zoë is showing us how it is possible to combine both these traditions, whilst also introducing us to the wealth of new material coming out of America, the UK and Israel. She is responding to new needs in terms of our prayer life, such as using music to make communal prayer an active rather than passive experience and being shaken out of our comfort zone in order to grapple with a familiar text by taking away the familiar tune. The journey through the Jewish year is already being made more accessible by using music as our guide.”
Cantor Jacobs is also contributing to a new book of Jewish music being produced by the Reform Movement. The book brings together music which is currently used in Reform synagogues, as well as new Jewish music. Members of Reform synagogues in the North will have a chance to meet Cantor Jacobs when she leads services and workshops at the Northern Weekend which will be taking place in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, in December.
For further details, please contact: Andrea Newman, Public Relations, the Movement for Reform Judaism.
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