Dear Friends and Fellow Congregants,

 

          The past few weeks have been very difficult for our congregation. It is impossible to put into words the pain we have experienced in losing our beloved Cantor, Ilan Mamber. Many of you have expressed concern about finding someone to step into Ilan's shoes in time for the High Holidays, which are coming up in just a few short weeks. We will never be able to replace Ilan. He had a unique gift and was a force to be reckoned with. That said, your Clergy, Administrative Board, and Board of Trustees has been hard at work looking for a Cantor to carry us through this crucial time in the life of TBR and we believe we have found just that person.

          On behalf of our Board of Trustees, Officers, Clergy, I would like to invite you to attend an emergency Congregational Meeting on Tuesday, August 28th at 7:30 PM to vote on the appointment of Cantor Faith Steinsnyder as our Interim Cantor for the remainder of our fiscal year (through 6/30/19), commencing immediately.

          Born in Philadelphia and raised in Miami by music-loving parents, Cantor Steinsnyder is a Cantor par excellence and was a dear friend and colleague of Cantor Mamber. Many of you are already familiar with her work, as she has both performed in concert at TBR as well as filled in for Cantor Mamber on occasion. Cantor Steinsnyder was the first woman to teach Chazzanut at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Academy for Jewish Religion, and at the School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She currently serves as Instructor of Chazzanut at HUC, teaching courses in traditional and contemporary synagogue repertoire. She has led master classes at Hebrew College in Boston and has presented workshops at annual conventions of the Cantors Assembly and the American Conference of Cantors. Cantor Steinsnyder has served congregations from Massachusetts to Oklahoma, most recently at Temple Israel in Tulsa, where she spent 4 years as the Cantor in Residence. She has concertized extensively in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Curacao. I am confident that Cantor Steinsnyder is the woman for the job and we would be very lucky to have her as our Interim Cantor.

          A quorum of our temple membership, which consists of fifty members in good standing is required to vote on this appointment. A presentation on Cantor Steinsnyder's contract will be given prior to opening the floor for questions and a vote. If anyone has any questions before the meeting, please feel free to contact me or Alyson Cohn.

          This is an extremely important time for our community, so I strongly encourage you to join us on August 28th at 7:30 PM.

 

L'Shalom.

Michael Goldberg

President