New Cantor Search & Celebrating Cantor Croen
When Cantor Laura Croen announced her retirement after nearly 30 years at Temple Sinai, our congregation responded in several ways. We felt sad to anticipate her goodbye and happy for Cantor Croen and her family as they embrace the opportunities and excitement of their next chapter. We formed a committee who began planning events and other ways to celebrate Laura and the incredible impact she’s had on our community. We formed a task force to learn about the current state of the Reform cantorate, explore possibilities for the future of our clergy team, and engage our members to learn what you value most in your clergy in general and cantors in particular. They met for several months in the first half of 2022 and produced a report summarizing their work. Read the report here. Finally, we created a search committee to lead our efforts to recruit and select our next cantor. The participants on each of these committees are:
Celebrate Cantor Croen Team
Carole Brand
Stephanie Lebow
Lafe Solomon
Myra Weinberg
Future Cantor Task Force
Bobbe Mintz, Chair
Jeff Berger
Stacy Cantor
Katie Herman
Joshua Mintz
Sara Rosenblum
Steve Sacks
Marcie Solomon
Anita Stoll
Rabbi Hannah Goldstein
Rabbi Jonathan Roos
Cantor Search Committee
Anita Stoll, Chair
Catherine Gibson
Stephanie Lebow
Ginny Levin
Anthony Murphy
Rabbi Jonathan Roos
Deborah Smolover
Marcie Solomon
Seth Speyer
Myra Weinberg
Celebrating Cantor Croen
Welcoming Cantor Rachel Rhodes
December 28, 2022
We are incredibly pleased to announce the selection of Cantor Rachel Rhodes as Temple Sinai’s next Senior Cantor and honored that Cantor Rhodes has accepted the position. She will join our kehillah starting this July. Our congregation’s Cantorial Search Committee hosted three outstanding finalists for in-person interviews and auditions and unanimously selected Cantor Rhodes for the position. The Board of Trustees immediately confirmed her selection and we secured the Cantor’s agreement.
Cantor Rhodes quickly and deeply impressed the search committee, clergy and staff, and others who met her, learned from her, and heard her sing. She has an easy and warm spirit that draws people close, a rich and beautiful voice and musical skills, and a leadership style that is strong, grounded, and wise yet still gentle and open. She is an impressive teacher and shared a compelling vision for the cantorate and our congregation’s future. We encourage you to read Cantor Rhodes’ vision statement linked HERE. We also encourage you to plan ahead for this July to welcome Rachel and her family, pray and sing with her, and begin building a world of goodness together. Modim anachnu lach, we are grateful to You, Source of Blessing and Song, for bringing Cantor Rhodes and her family into our lives. We also extend thanks to the members of the Search Committee, the Cantorial Future Task Force, Board of Trustees and Temple Staff. It took the whole village to complete this search process.
About Cantor Rachel Rhodes
Updates from the Search Committee
November 29, 2022
We have received more applications in the past weeks and have some outstanding candidates to consider. We just hosted our first in-person interview and audition with a finalist. We expect to have others join us in the coming weeks. We are excited and energized by the process and candidates we have met so far. We do not have a firm deadline by which we must select a cantor but we expect to be able to make a recommendation to the Board by February (if not sooner) and will keep you posted as the timeline becomes more clear. These visits are critical opportunities to learn more about the candidates, introduce ourselves more fully to them, hear them sing and teach, and see how well we fit with other. For each audition, the cantors sing a variety of pieces through which they can demonstrate their talent, styles, and preferences. It’s a combination of High Holy Days, Tot Shabbat, B Mitzvah Service, and Cantor’s Concert all in 30 minutes! The auditions are kept to a limited pool of attendees who are representative of the congregation’s demographics and avenues of engagement – members of the search committee, the future cantor task force, the temple board, committee chairs, and clergy and senior staff. This group of approximately 50 people includes all ages and interests across the congregation. The names of the board and committee members are on this website. We continue to welcome your input, feedback, and questions. Contact Anita Stoll, committee chair (aks31@yahoo.com).
On behalf of the search committee, Anita Stoll and Rabbi Jonathan Roos
November 11, 2022
Our committee has received several applications so far and invited three candidates for initial interviews on Zoom. Those interviews are occurring over the next two weeks.
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