The third cohort of the Cantorial Leadership Program is scheduled to start in July 2009 [view flyer]. We will be soliciting applicants in the fall of 2008. If you would like more information regarding this program and to place your name on a list to receive an application, please e-mail Pat Fettinger.
The IJS offers a program specially designed for cantors, to offer music, song and prayer as avenues for those eager to cultivate their inner life as an essential component of their Judaism. Participants will find a deeper knowledge of the profound practices and exquisite texts of the Jewish spiritual tradition.
The Cantorial Program of the IJS is a two-year program of study and practice for cantors who seek to deepen their own spiritual lives and develop their abilities as spiritual leaders and guides for others. Seventy-eight cantors have completed the program and are now members of the Hevraya.
Participants live and learn together for two five-day retreats each year. Retreats combine meditation, prayer, text study, musical study, singing, group discussion, spiritual exercises and one-one guidance with faculty members.
Cantors often pour out their spirits in leading the congregation, but sometimes experience difficulty finding adequate avenues for their own, ongoing spiritual development. This program helps cantors find structure, support and guidance for their own spiritual growth and, upon this foundation, helps them develop as spiritual guides and teachers for others.
The period between retreats is an essential part of the program. Participants continue to learn and grow through a guided program of weekly hevruta study, monthly spiritual direction, and e-conversations with other participants.
Singing is a practice that engages the whole of the body, an articulation of intention and breath. Through silence and study cantors can become aware of their inner lives and spiritual paths; the next challenge is to touch the unique way that they, as musicians, express their spiritual beings through music. Out of deepened awareness of the body and breath in meditation we will discover inner resources to translate the spiritual into song. Through study of texts we will uncover frameworks for conceptualizing the effect of song on the soul and on God. Through spiritual exercises we will seek to bring all of these to voice.
"Becoming free of others' judgment allows you to concentrate on the notes - on projecting your voice. The central focus then becomes authentically communicating with God and/or those present." —Cantorial participant
"The songs of the Soul, the song of the Nation, the song of Humankind, the song of the Cosmos blending together in us every instant, every hour. In its complete simplicity, by its very power and glory, its very truth and greatness, this song ascends to become a Holy Melody, God's song (Shirat El), Israel's song; Israel: "Shir El," a simple song, doubled, tripled, squared. The Song of Songs of Shlomo—of the King whose Being is Shalom." —Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
In addition to its emphasis on the cultivation of participants' personal awareness, insight, knowledge and skills, the program aims to help participants refine their abilities to lead others who seek a deeper spiritual life through the music of prayer, niggun and song. The first year will focus on our inner voice as a locus of spiritual experience and examine how it then comes to expression. During the second year of the program, we will explore our roles as shelichei tzibbur, leaders from within, developing our capacities to guide others in prayer while maintaining our inner focus, never losing awareness of the interdependence of leader and community. In this light, we will also study models of spiritual leadership and guidance.
The Cantorial Leadership Program is led by core staff Rabbis Jonathan Slater, Sheila Peltz Weinberg and Myriam Klotz, with Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller and Dr. Nehemia Polen. They bring experience in congregational life and in academia, with expertise in the use of music in worship, sacred composition and choral singing. They are teachers of hasidic, kabbalistic and modern Jewish texts, meditation and psycho-spiritual growth. Other skilled and knowledgeable cantors and teachers will join them over the course of the program, expanding the field of experience and approach to prayer and song.