After being invested on May 13, 2010 by the Academy of Jewish Religion, South Orange resident Joan Cantor Finn joins Cantor Ted Aronson as a part-time member of the Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) clergy team.
Canton Finn, as she is now known, dreamt of being a cantor for a long time, but didn't think it possible. The cheerful grandmother achieved her goal thanks to a healthy dose of self- discipline and determination. She hopes to use her new role to inspire women in the community to pursue their dreams.
"One of the reasons I wanted to become a cantor is that I think it sends a really positive message to the young girls that I work with, and to women in general," says Cantor Finn. "Don't ever stop learning, don't ever think you're too old to try to achieve your dreams."
A cantor is an ordained member of the clergy who, Cantor Finn explains, "has the job of taking the words of both liturgy and sacred texts and putting them to music."
"The cantor actually takes the words, I think, to another level. That addition of music lifts up those words in a new way," she adds. Music can also be a device that helps you remember the words of liturgy or Torah."
As a cantor, it is also her job to hit the notes perfectly, smoothly. "If you are a really proficient singer, you can take those words to such a high level that they really affect people. That's what makes a cantor special and different from a rabbi. I hope that my voice can be used to make people feel and hear the words at a different level."
After all, she jokes, "That's why my parents spent all that money on voice lessons!"
A self-described "Army brat," she was raised all over the world, moving from Virginia to Thailand, Germany, Kansas, and Hawaii, where she attended Punahou High School. (This is the same school as another, slightly more famous alum, President Barack Obama. When she first mentions this, it takes a minute to realize that "Barack," as she refers to him, is the President. She was a few years older, and has no personal memories of the President.)
It was during her college years in Hawaii that she first started singing at Temple Emanuel, the Reform congregation in Honolulu.
"A man with whom I was working at another job at was the music director at a temple. He got me a job at the Temple, which ended up affecting my life pretty radically," she says. "When you're that age, you don't know where life is going to take you."
After working in banking and moving to South Orange 27 years ago, she started to re-discover her love of music, slowly becoming more involved with the music programs at TSTI. She started to perform as a cantorial soloist, under the guidance of Canton Aronson.
When offered the opportunity to lead High Holy Day services six years ago, Cantor Finn was honored. A wide smile spreads across her face as she recalls the experience, saying it is what convinced her to pursue professional cantorial training.
With the support of her husband and friends, Cantor Finn completed her schooling at AJR, a trans-denominational, pluralistic rabbinic and cantorial seminary in Riverdale, NY, in five and a half years. Three days a week, she left her house at 6:00 a.m. to beat the traffic. She'd arrive early, studying for nearly two hours before a full day of classes, returning to South Orange at 7:15 p.m. Throughout, Cantor Finn continued working at the Temple.
"It was much harder than my masters degree," she says, referring to the degree in music performance that she earned from the Manhattan School of Music. Cantor Finn said she never worked harder or spent more hours preparing for classes. "You learn incredible self-discipline."
She credits the friends she has made in the area with helping her stick with it.
"I made really great friends in South Orange, and at school, too. I have an incredible group of women who have been such a positive influence." Her friend, pianist Michele Mestman, of West Orange, played for her at every yearly practicum (where students demonstrate proficiency in the music of a particular service). Professional harpist Stacey Shames, of Maplewood, accompanied her at her senior recital in Three Sephardic Songs of Castelnuevo-Tedesco.
Fellow ordinee, Rabbi Enid Lader, of Cleveland, also played violin and viola in her recitals. Classmate and Hazzan Lisa B. Segal, of Congregation Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn, joined Cantor Finn in the service at TSTI in honor of her graduation.
"You don't get through things like this without really strong friendships."
The congregation and community participated in a yearlong project writing 304,805 letters in a brand new Torah scroll under the guidance of scribe Zerach Greenfield. The Torah writing will be completed and celebrated on Sunday, September 26th at 10 am by the TSTI congregation.
