A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term also used in Christianity.
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established by Rabbi Wise are the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The current president of the URJ is Rabbi Rick Jacobs.
The Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion is a Jewish seminary with three locations in the United States and one location in Jerusalem. It is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, Ohio, New York City, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. The Jerusalem campus is the only seminary in Israel for training Reform Jewish clergy.
Deborah Lynn Friedman was an American singer-songwriter of Jewish religious music, a feminist, and lover of music. She was an early pioneer of gender-sensitive language: using the feminine forms of the Divine or altering masculine-only text references in the Jewish Liturgy to include females.
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious, legal, and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements, with varying approaches and successes, have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.
Abraham Wolf Binder was an American composer.
Milken Community School is a private Jewish high school and middle school. It is located on Mulholland Drive in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest Jewish day schools in the United States. Long affiliated with Stephen S. Wise Temple, a Reform congregation, the school is officially non-denominational, and became independent from the temple in July 2012. Despite the separation, Milken Community Schools continues to be the school in which many Stephen S. Wise students are enrolled.
The first openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clergy in Judaism were ordained as rabbis and/or cantors in the second half of the 20th century.
The Academy for Jewish Religion California (AJRCA), is a Jewish seminary in Los Angeles. It trains rabbis, cantors and chaplains to serve congregations and organizations of any Jewish denomination.
Alfred Gottschalk was a German-born American rabbi who was a leader in the Reform Judaism movement, serving as head of the movement's Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC) for 30 years, as president from 1971 to 1996, and then as chancellor until 2000. In that role, Rabbi Gottschalk oversaw the ordination of the first women to be ordained as rabbis in the United States and Israel, and he oversaw the development of new HUC campuses in Jerusalem, Los Angeles and New York City, three of the school's four campuses.
Stephen Wise Temple is a large Reform Jewish congregation in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Founded in 1964 by the late Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, with 35 families, the congregation grew rapidly. At various times in its history it has been stated to be the largest, or one of the largest, Jewish congregations in the world, at one time having a membership of approximately 3,000 families, six rabbis, two cantors and two cantorial interns, and four schools on three campuses. As of 1994, it was the second-largest synagogue in the United States. The congregation was founded as the Stephen S. Wise Temple, in honour of Stephen Samuel Wise; and 2014 it was renamed as the Stephen Wise Temple.
Angela Buchdahl is an American rabbi. She was the first East Asian-American to be ordained as a rabbi, and the first East Asian-American to be ordained as a hazzan (cantor). In 2011 she was named by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of America's "Most Influential Rabbis", and in 2012 by The Daily Beast as one of America's "Top 50 Rabbis". Buchdahl was recognized as one of the top five in The Forward's 2014 "Forward Fifty", a list of American Jews who had the most impact on the national scene in the previous year.
Betty Robbins was a notable cantor. She was one of the first female cantors. She was the first woman appointed as a cantor in the 20th century.
This is a timeline of women hazzans worldwide.
This is a timeline of women rabbis:
Temple Emanuel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 300 North Clark Drive, in Beverly Hills, California, in the United States.
Sol Zim is an American cantor. He lives in Queens, New York.
Leslie Friedlander was the first female cantor ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, which occurred in 1993. She served eight years as Cantor of Temple Emanuel in New Hyde Park and eleven years as Cantor of Riverdale Temple in the Bronx, and currently serves at Temple Isaiah in Great Neck, New York, which she joined in 2011. In 2006 she received a Commendation from the City of New York, Office of the Comptroller. In 2007 she received a Citation of Merit from the Bronx Borough President in recognition of her service and her contributions to Jewish children in the Bronx and her contributions as a leader in her role as a Jewish educator. In 2009 she received a Proclamation for special recognition of service to the community from the assembly of the State of New York and the New York City Council.
Louise Wise was a Jewish-American artist and social worker. Her husband was Rabbi Stephen S. Wise.
