From the NJJN-- S. Orange temple on the run

S. Orange temple on the run

Rabbi’s regimen leads to 5k event to benefit the environment

by Rabbi Ellie Miller
Special to NJJN

October 20, 2010

Last June Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange downloaded a “Couch to 5k” application on his iPhone and began running. He mentioned to me that he had decided to train for a run. My immediate response: “I’ll do it with you,” and we began training together.

The next day, the temple’s preschool director, Carol Paster, joined in. It was then that I said, “Let’s get the whole senior staff to participate. It will be fun, and we will get in shape.”

With that, Team TSTI was born.

The entire senior staff spent the summer training. We began to tell congregants what we were doing and encouraged others to get outside and exercise. The more we talked about it, the more people wanted to run with us. We posted information about training on our recently revamped website,www.TSTI.org, listing the resources we use, some tips, and even the playlists that kept us motivated.

When we began to look for a race it soon became clear: We needed to do our own TSTI run in the streets surrounding the temple. So on Oct. 10 we held our first 5k. We had hoped to get 50 people to take part — but over 100 turned out. (Another 15 volunteered at the registration table and along the route.) The activity was multi-generational and represented a wonderful cross-section of our congregation.

We had a number of goals: We wanted to get people outside and doing something healthy. We made this a run/walk/roll so everyone could participate in their own way, especially since we are an ABLE-awarded congregation.

We wanted to stress protecting the environment and so gave each participant a reusable water bottle so they would stop buying plastic ones. We wanted to celebrate the Earth by planting trees in both the United States and Israel. And we wanted to build community.

Given our environmental concerns — especially in connection with our certification process by the New Brunswick-based Greenfaith organization — we are using half the $2,000 raised to plant trees in Israel, the other half to plant trees in the temple’s new prayer garden.

A huge mazal tov to Declan Wollard of Maplewood, the first participant to return from the run. On the staff side, Rabbi Cohen was the first of the senior staff to finish.

It really was a great day for TSTI, representing who we are: an innovative and diverse congregation devoted to Torah, learning, and the doing of mitzvot — in this case, a healthy one — and committed to our local community and to Israel.

A special thank you to Debbie Bernstein, who did an unbelievable job of arranging everything, and to the South Orange Police Department.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES: Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel Welcomes New Cantor

Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel Welcomes New Cantor

Cantor Joan Finn has worked and worshipped at the Temple for years, but in May she took on a new role.

View full size

    

PHOTOS (2)

Your photos, videos & PDFs: Add

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."