I am gratified that, under the leadership of our Lifelong Learning chair, Carol Hanover, there is more adult learning going on at Temple Beth Am than has gone on in many years.  Adult Jewish learning is a priority of the Reform movement, part of the lifelong pursuit of Jewish literacy and intellectual growth.  Our congregation is diverse:  some members grew up with substantial Jewish education; some members did not grow up Jewish, and therefore did not have the opportunity to go to Hebrew school as children; and other members of our congregation who did grow up Jewish find that the education that they did receive was lacking in many areas.

Our Lifelong Learning program at Temple Beth Am covers a myriad of subjects, but basic to all of them is Torah.  Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the URJ, said, “We are coming home to Torah because it is the very essence of our being and because we see as our first duty and greatest joy, the teaching of those sacred texts that bind us to a shared faith and a shared way of life.”  And one of the most beautiful ways to study Torah is to learn how to chant it.  I am thrilled to be teaching a class, beginning this month, on how to chant from the Torah.  This is called trope or cantillation. 

My students often ask me how I know what melodies to put on their CD’s for their Bar and Bat Mitzvah Torah portion.  The answer lies in the little symbols that can be found underneath (or sometimes above) the Hebrew letters in the bible.  The biblical cantillation system consists of twenty-eight symbols that tell us exactly how to punctuate the verses, on which syllable to stress each word, and how to chant each word or phrase.  The Hebrew term for the cantillation symbols is ta-amei hamikra.  The Hebrew word ta-am means “taste” as well as “sense”.  The cantillation symbols literally help us make sense out of the text and give it its special “flavor.” 

There are actually six systems of cantillation.  (1) Torah, (2) Haftarah, (3) High Holy Days, (4) Esther, (5) Song of Songs, Ruth and Ecclesiastes and (6) Lamentations.  The same symbols are used for all the books of the bible, but they mean something different, depending on which book is being chanted.  Although I have learned to chant all six systems, in all honesty, I would have to brush up a little if I were asked to chant from Song of Songs or from Lamentations, since we don’t chant those as part of our regular worship tradition here.

You will be happy (or relieved) to know that the Lifelong Learning class that I will be teaching will focus on only one of those systems: Torah trope.  If you possess a basic level of Hebrew reading fluency, I encourage you to join us in this class.  It will take place on Thursday evenings, February 12^th and 26^th, and March 5^th, from 7-8:30pm.  Don’t worry about your voice.  Some of the most beautiful Torah chanting is done by people who are not singers at all.  As part of the class, you will receive a book and a CD, which will help to reinforce at home what you’ve learned in class.  Nothing would make me happier than to share my passion for this ancient art with you! 

L’shalom,

Cantor Jodi Schechtman