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A Message from

Hazzan Bernard Savitz

Spiritual Leader

I would like to welcome you to visit our congregation, Shomrei Torah, for a Shabbat if  you are on vacation, for many Shabbtots if you are a snowbird or on temporary assignment, or to join us if you are living here permanently.  We are an egalitarian congregation where all people are welcomed and treated equally regardless of their gender or  sexual orientation. For interfaith couples both partners are welcome and we find ways for each partner to participate

 

I am the Congregation’s Hazzan  (Cantor) and its spiritual leader.  From a young age, I knew that my calling and passion was to bring people closer to Judaism through Jewish music and tradition. Being an ordained Hazzan I have been able to do this and am also an ordained Rabbi. 

 

It is with great joy and enthusiasm that I lead the Shomrei Torah Congregation and work with our congregants and their families in all of their life cycle events from birth/conversion, bar/bat mitzvot, weddings, illness, funerals and yahrzeits (remembrances). 

 

Together, in some small way, we can work Tikkum Olam, mending the world, in our times together through Shabbat services, the Jewish holidays and celebration of life cycle events.

 

Shalom,

Hazzan Bernard Savitz

About Hazzan Bernard Savitz

 

Bernard Savitz is a graduate of the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore, Yeshiva College, the James Striar School of Jewish Studies, and the Cantorial Training Institute, all in New York City. In addition, he spent a year at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, studying opera and music theory.

Hazzan Savitz is an ordained Hazzan with the Cantors Assembly, a member of the Guild of Temple Musicians, a lifetime associate member of the American Conference of Cantors, and a member of the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association.

Born in Binghamton, New York, Hazzan Savitz has been a fulltime Cantor for 25 years, having served prestigious congregations in New York, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona. He has achieved an international reputation in Torah chanting, Cantillation, Hazzanic interpretation, and creative improvisation. He has composed and arranged many Cantorial, congregational and folk melodies, including hundreds of secular and religious parodies, and he wrote original settings in Ladino for the major motion picture, Triumph of the Spirit.

Hazzan Savitz studied voice and music with renowned Metropolitan Opera coaches William Lewis, Gorgio Tozzi, and famous cantors. He also trained and sang with the Tri-Cities Opera of Upstate New York, a major training centor for scholarship winners of the Metropolitan Opera. Hazzan Savitz sings in a total of nine languages.

He is a great animal lover, and has worked for many years on behalf of pet adoption and the Humane Society. Hazzan Savitz is a member of the National Institution for the Deaf and Blind. He is an active member of the United States Association of Table Tennis, winning a Gold Medal at the World Huntsman Games, and was also involved in the Oscar-winning motion picture, Forrest Gump.

Click here to get links to Hazzan Savitz's music for listening pleasuer

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