Meet Shirat Hayam's Cantor

For many people, music creates a path inward that welcomes a variety of experiences and emotions one would otherwise be able to block out—just think to the old song on the radio that plays and there you are, unexpectedly brought back to that point in time years ago, or that person you hadn’t thought about for ages.

This is one reason music is a part of many religious and spiritual ceremonies, and Judaism is no exception. The role of music is integral to Jewish worship, and the role of cantor is pivotal because the cantor is the person who sings the service.

For almost a year now, Elana Rozenfeld has held the cantor position at Swampscott’s , and she comes with a musical pedigree that goes back centuries.

Growing up in New York and attending services in White Plains, Rozenfeld had a “strong cantorial role model” in the cantor Jacob Ben Zion Mendelson. She explains that Mendelson was the “last link in the Golden Age of Cantors out of Borough Park, Brooklyn,” those cantors who use a traditional style, called chazzanut. This expressive style is a cross between classical music and jazz, with minor-key elements, and the singer puts “many notes on a syllable.” “Specifically eastern European,” the style was passed down over the years from one cantor to another, and Mendelson had “many famous cantors in his ears.” He was also dedicated to passing his art to younger generations.

Rozenfeld takes out her iPhone, and plays a bit of Mendelson for me. The singing is hauntingly beautiful, evocative and moving. Rozenfeld says of Mendelson, “I have kept his sound in my ears.”

As a young adult, Rozenfeld entered NYU’s Tisch School playwrights program, immersing herself in theatre, creating performances, and taking voice lessons. She says of that time, “I did every part of a show,” lighting costumes, “whatever it took.” Also at Tisch, she found the Hillel rabbi “inspiring,” and by senior year her talent, her studies and her spiritual connection to Judaism all came together, and she realized, “maybe I could become a cantor.”

From NYU, she went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York to become a cantor, a 5-year commitment, the first year of which she spent in Jerusalem.

During her second year of cantorial school, Rozenfeld discovered another passion, Yiddish folk songs.

She took an intensive Yiddish course offered during the summer at Tel Aviv University, and while she learned the language, it “didn’t feel authentic” until she returned to New York and came across a book of Yiddish folk songs. “I learned as many as I could learn and all of a sudden it was as if I’d been singing Yiddish songs my entire life.” Now, Yiddish “feels authentic to me and sounds authentic to Yiddish specialists.”  She explains that Yiddish is a very literate culture, so there are lots of songs written down, many of which began as part of opera or a musical.

So, how did this New Yorker end up in Swamspcott?

After two years as cantor at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, she and her husband, Raphael, a scientist in biomedicine, were looking for some stability. They vacationed in Rockport, and saw that the North Shore “was a great place. We said, if only we could live here, that would be great.” A short time later, the job opened up at Shirat Hayam. Rozenfeld applied and was hired, and her husband got a position in Danvers.

At Shirat Hayam, where she says she’s been “very happy,” Rozenfeld says she is involved in rituals, reading the Torah, leading services and education, teaching Bar/Bat Mitzvah students as well as classes for adults. She also leads the children’s choir, and sings plenty of Yiddish folk songs.  “Whatever it takes, I do it.” Her goal is to “get people to own Judaism and own Jewish culture and be able to access it.”

And, she and her husband have found a home in Swampscott. They take adult sailing classes from the Swampscott sailing program, love the beach, and feel the town is a “great place to raise a family.

Her only complaint? “Not enough kosher food!”