MAZEL TOV TO OUR CANTOR!
A spceial messaage from our Rabbi who is in Jerusalem:
To Our Dearest Cantor – Sharon,
Shalom and once again, Mazel Tov – to you, your family, our Holy Congregation, the St. Louis Jewish Community, the Conservative Movement and the Jewish People!
Tonight, as we gathered around our Chanukiyot to welcome the 6th night of Chanukah and initiated the Jewish Month of Tevet, we mentioned to our children the exciting news of your formal certification as a Hazzan by the Cantors Assembly. Somewhat confused by our elevated level of exuberance, the children replied that this was really not such a big deal. “Come on…Cantor Sharon has been our Hazzan for a really long time”.
And though this is indeed an auspicious achievement - and one that you toiled long and hard to attain - there is some remarkably profound truth in their commentary. After all, for so many of us you have been – for several years now - our Minister of Sacred Music. We have relied on you and your many prodigious gifts of the spirit to teach us, inspire us, comfort us, raise us up, focus our intentions, open us up to parts of ourselves that would otherwise remain hidden and facilitate moments when our hearts and souls are drawn ever closer to the Great Fountain of Existence. So though we are most proud of you, delighted for you and join in the joy of this significant milestone, please know that we who have been touched by your Holy Work actually “certified you” long ago.
One of the most important life lessons that I learned from our beloved Rabbi Lipnick Z”L (and no one would be prouder of you at this moment than he!) is that the liminal moments of our lives – those rare moments of incredible transformation - are not only occasions for celebrating current successes (which is critically important), but they are – if viewed appropriately - also opportunities for exponential growth. For the hallmark of a life lived well, a life filled with meaning, includes the constant striving for even greater heights.
The great theologian, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Z”L, was a tremendous lover of music. In fact, throughout his ample writings, Dr. Heschel draws upon a multitude of musical images to describe the quest for, and the attainment of, transcendence. And yet, in a seminal article entitled The Vocation of the Cantor, Professor Heschel (in a way that only a mystic prophetic poet can) makes a rather jarring comment: “Great as music is, it is neither the ultimate nor the supreme. The ultimate is God, and the medium in which His guidance has been conveyed to us is the word. We have no holy music; we revere sacred Scripture, sacred words. Music is the language of mystery. But there is something which is greater than mystery. God is the meaning beyond all mystery”.
As you are welcomed formally as a Hazzan by the Conservative Movement’s accrediting body for Cantors, I want to sanctify this moment by means of an aspirational Brachah (blessing). May you ccontinue to help our people become more facile with the words of our heritage by means of your beautiful renditions of our sacred liturgy; may you provide them with greater opportunities for entrée to the mysteries that can be attained only via the hallowed and sanctified melodies of our Tradition; and may you merit the opportunity to help them access the deepest and truest meanings which reside beyond the realm of either words or music, sight or sound – the Ineffable, the Numinous, the Mysterium Tremendum, the Divine. For in the end, I have no doubt that it is for this noblest of callings that you and your holy talents have been commissioned from On-High.
Yasher Kochech (may you be ever strengthened); Chizki VeImtzi (may you be continually resolute and courageous); and Ali Vehatzlichi (may you continuously rise spiritually and enjoy many more moments of success). I eagerly look forward to joining in the celebration of your certification upon my return to St. Louis and to our continued partnership in the service of B’nai Amoona, God, Torah, Israel and the Human Family – for many years to come.
B’Chvod Rav (with great admiration and respect),
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose
Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Senior Rabbinic Chair
On Sabbatical in Jerusalem: October 2011 - August
