Tiferet Bet Israel : From Our Cantor


	Home News About Us Staff Leadership From the Rabbi From the Cantor From the Executive Director From the President Directions Membership Services Community Education Early Childhood Education Calendars Contact Us Links Media Members Only	Home Page / Leadership / From the Cantor From Our Cantor Shalom, Welcome to our warm and vibrant congregation. There are so many things going on at TBI and so many ways in which you can satisfy your Jewish needs - through study, prayer, social activities, building friendships, or simply having a place to come to rest and renew yourself on Shabbat. I look forward to meeting you, and to meeting your children and grandchildren in the (EC)2 or Religious School classroom and as they prepare for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. I invite each of you to take part in the many musical offerings here. Challenge yourself to learn to read Torah or a selection from the Prophets, a Haftarah. Study the traditional chanting of a service and become part of our daily evening minyan. Encourage your children to participate in our Junior Congregation, Junior Choir, or in our Torah Academy, which regularly reads from the Torah during Shabbat services in the main sanctuary. Take advantage of our extraordinary Music in the Sanctuary concert series, which showcases both local and international professional musicians. And please let me know if you’re a vocal or instrumental musician; there will be many opportunities to sing and play! We’re eager to share TBI with you. My door is open, and I look forward to seeing you. B’Shalom, Cantor Elizabeth Shammash cantor@tbibluebell.org February, 2012 Ma'aseem - And the Study of Torah is the Foundation of All - 2/2/2012 One of my "little secrets" is that some of my favorite parts of our liturgy--in terms of content which allows me to deepen kavannah, my intention--are the passages we recite to ourselves before we... January, 2012 Ma'aseem - 1/6/2012 It is such a pleasure to have the opportunity to create diverse musical programming for our Music in the Sanctuary concert series each year. It gives me the chance to hear so many interesting... December, 2011 Ma'aseem - Musical Treats For You - 12/2/2011 December is our freylikh month, our joyous month of Hanukkah; and with the celebration of the Festival of Lights we have two wonderful community musical events coming our way which I would like to... November, 2011 Ma'aseem - Be Thankful; Live Longer - 10/28/2011 When I adopted my rescue dog Lenny, we attended many weeks of training classes to learn basic commands and teach him to behave like a mensch (three years later, we are still working on this). In... October, 2011 Ma'aseem - Know Before Whom You Stand - 10/27/2011 This past August, we enjoyed our third Shabbat at the Shore in Margate, NJ. My absolute favorite way to spend Shabbat is in nature: to be able to come such a magnificent outdoor space and spend... September, 2011 Ma'aseem - Sing to Adonai a New Song - 8/25/2011 I am not sure where I got this quotation--whether I read it, someone sent it to me, or whether I saw it one someone's kitchen magnet and scribbled it down--but I try to remember it daily: "God... June, 2011 Ma'aseem - Be Still And Know That You Are - 5/27/2011 As I sit to write this article, Pesach ended one week ago, we began the journey to Shavuot and three new things happened in my schedule last week. I began teaching a meditation class, the Adult... May, 2011 Ma'aseem - Be Still and Know That You Are - 5/4/2011 We are in the period of the Omer, counting the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot, which comes on Tuesday evening, June 7, June 8 and 9. Last month I wrote about the Omer period in the... April, 2011 Ma'aseem - Music & Mediatation - 3/29/2011 We have just concluded the fourth season of the Music in the Sanctuary series, and what an incredible season it was. I want to thank our Program Director, Hilary Yohlin, as well as our Music... March, 2011 Ma'aseem for Purim - "Encore for...Tefillin" - 3/16/2011 As a result of last month's article and the World Wide Wrap on February 13, many women at TBI have been approaching me to discuss tefillin -- it is very exciting! Nancy Hite's account of her... February, 2011 Ma'aseem - Spotlight on Tefillin - 2/9/2011 The connections we have to various Jewish rituals can be very personal, intense and sometimes nostalgic. Sometimes we do not even know exactly why we are drawn to certain rituals above others;... January, 2011 Ma'aseem - Spotlight On Tutors - 1/13/2011 Ase l'cha rav, uk'neh l'cha chaver. Find for yourself a teacher, and acquire a friend. -Pirkei Avot 1:6 There are so many things that go on at TBI which are hardly... December, 2010 Ma'aseem - Homegrown Miracles - 11/30/2010 Hanukkah is about miracles. I want to tell you about one that sits right in our TBI home. When I arrived at TBI in 2007, we had about 12 kids in the Junior Choir. They came to rehearsals on... November, 2010 Ma'aseem - Havdalah: The Case for Ritual - 11/3/2010 With daylight hours diminishing by minutes each day at this time of year, it's apparent that winter is soon upon us in full force. The winter solstice is one of my favorite times of year, as I'm... October 2010 Ma'aseem - Join the Yad Squad - 9/29/2010 Etz chayim hi lamachazikim ba, v'tomcheha m'ushar D'racheha darchei noam, v'chol n'tivoteha shalom. It is a tree of life to those who grasp it, and all who uphold it are... September 2010 Ma'aseem- U'netaneh Tokef Kedushat Hayom: And Let Us Tell How Holy Is This Day - 9/29/2010 The Mishna describes the first day of the month of Tishrei -- Rosh Hashanah - as the day when humanity is judged. My favorite part of the High Holy Day liturgy, hands down, is the U'netaneh tokef... June, 2010 Ma'aseem - Prayer - 7/16/2010 This month's interview is the third in a series on the topic of prayer. I am grateful to the interviewee, who wishes to remain anonymous, for the feelings and experiences shared herein. For some... May, 2010 Ma'aseem - Prayer - 5/21/2010 Art Skaroff has been a member of TBI (and its predecessor, Norristown Jewish Community Center), with his wife Debra and their daughters Sarah and Rebecca, since 1980. He was on the Board of... April, 2010 Ma'aseem - A Jew at Auschwitz - 5/18/2010 Cantor Shammash and her mother Estelle participated in Cantor's Assembly mission to Poland and Israel during the summer of 2009. In a previous issue of Ma'aseem Cantor shared highlights of the... March, 2010 Ma'aseem - Prayer & Praying - 3/17/2010 This month's article is the first part in a four-part series on prayer. I spend a significant amount of time leading prayer, preparing prayer, praying, and discussing prayer with others. I am... February, 2010 Ma'aseem - Don't Miss out on Mysticism - 1/27/2010 I would say I have been a "dabbler" in Kabbalah study over the last decade. While it is the current "in thing" on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and in many yoga circles, to truly study and... January, 2010 Ma'aseem: The Art of Song - 1/20/2010 Friends, Our third Music in the Sanctuary series begins this month! We have three incredible concerts to offer you this winter and spring: I'll kick off with a vocal... December, 2009 Ma'aseem: Expecting a Miracle - 12/4/2009 I really looked forward to lighting Hanukkah candles when I was a kid. It was the magical part of the holiday for me, standing in front of the candles, building upon light each day until we got to... November, 2009 Ma'aseem: A Conversation with our Musicians - 11/13/2009 This month I would like to highlight our Friday night musicians, who give a huge amount of their time, energy and spirit to making Kabbalat Shabbat very special at TBI. Aaron Simon... October, 2009 Ma'aseem - 10/2/2009 Sukkot is a very underrated holiday. I think many of us tend to feel that we've done a lot of hard work over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, especially with the fasting and the al chet litany... September, 2009 Ma'aseem - 10/2/2009 Here comes Rosh Hashanah, again! It always seems to creep up on us, no matter how aware we are of it. We have the month of Elul to prepare, yet unless we consciously attune ourselves to the Jewish... June, 2009 Ma'aseem - 6/4/2009 You probably have heard by now that TBI is "twinning" with Kehillat Netzach Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Ashkelon, Israel. There are various exciting projects we are taking on as a... May, 2009 Ma'aseem - 5/19/2009 If I had a nickel for every time someone has said to me over the course of my life, "You have such a talent! Oh, to be born with such a talent..." Yes, it is true that I have a talent for music,... January 2009 Messenger - What's A Cantor For? - 3/26/2009 This is a partial re-print of an article that appeared in the Winter 2008-09 publication of Kolot, the magazine of the Conservative?Masorti Movement, by Hazzan Henry Rosenblum, Dean of the HL... February, 2009 Ma'aseem - Music Comes In Many Flavors - 3/26/2009 Haverim, Our Music in the Sanctuary series is off to a wonderful start! We had two of our five concerts last month, a string quartet of students from the Curtis Institute of Music on... April, 2009 Ma'aseem - 3/26/2009 Second Avenue...Molly Picon...Abraham Goldfaden...Sholom Secunda...these names and places used to be household friends to our parents and grandparents, and could we say that our children would... December 2008 Messenger - 12/16/2008 Light Up Your Life Haverim, Who doesn't love Hanukkah? It's such an easy holiday to love: low-stress, candle-filled, oil-laden...and the presents! Hanukkah is "win-win,"... November Cantor's Corner - 10/30/2008 Haverim, Have you called TBI recently and been put "on hold"? What did you hear? Our new and improved phone system now allows us the feature of programming "hold music" for your... September 2008 - 10/7/2008 Dear Friends: L'Shana tovah tikatevu! May you and your families be inscribed for a year of health and success. I look forward to celebrating the new year with you later this... October 2008 - 10/7/2008 Haverim, I hope you have had an uplifting, fresh start to the New Year and are looking toward a meaningful Yom Kippur. I look forward to spending this month celebrating the start of... June 2008 - 5/30/2008 Haverim, We made it through the desert, through the long stretch of counting the omer, and here we are ready to receive Torah! Shavuot begins on Sunday night, June 8 with our... May 2008 - 4/30/2008 SOULMATE MUSIC Dear Friends, Am Yisrael Chai! Israel's 60th birthday, Yom HaAtzma'ut, finally arrives on May 8, the third day of Iyar. We have been celebrating this... March 2008 - 4/2/2008 C'EST TROPE!* The B'nai Mitzvah students work diligently (and complain maybe just a little) at mastering two trope (cantillation) systems: those for the chanting of Torah and... April 2008 - 4/2/2008 JAMMIN' AT TIFERET BET ISRAEL This month is packed with events! I want to highlight a few of the musical events as we look toward Pesach and Yom Ha'atzma'ut, celebrating Israel's 60th... February 2008 - 2/13/2008 WHY SHABBAT? Haverim, If you have been at Friday night services, you've noticed that we've been singing a piyyut called Yedid Nefesh, composed in the 16th century by... January 2008 - 1/8/2008 "Tu B'Shevat Higia, Hag Ha'ilanot!...." I would like to extend a warm welcome to Rabbi Sylvan and Rhoda Kamens, who join the TBI community this month--B'RUCHIM HABA'IM! I know that the... Messenger Article December 2007 - 12/4/2007 On Sunday afternoon, October 28, 2007 the Tiferet Bet Israel community honored me with a beautiful installation ceremony and reception, formalizing my appointment as your cantor. I am touched by... Messenger Article November 2007 - 10/30/2007 Haverim, I love to travel, and one thing I always try to do is visit a local synagogue. I have been to shul in London, Prague, Rome, Florence, Venice, Istanbul, Tsfat and Athens,... TBI Messenger - 10/16/2007 Haverim, We Jews have been praying our hearts out for a really long time. Imagine if we just spoke our prayers, rather than chanting and singing them, how absolutely dull that would... TBI Messenger - 9/16/2007 Haverim, First things first, I would like to thank you all so much for such a warm welcome to Tiferet Bet Israel! I feel so delighted to be a part of this vibrant community, and I...
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