When Rosalie Boxt was a young girl, she loved to sing. Her love for music led her to take up guitar, and later, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, make her way to Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion for a master’s degree in sacred music and cantorial ordination. She is now the cantor for Temple Emanuel of Maryland, a Reform congregation in Kensington. Originally from St. Louis, Boxt lives in Rockville with her husband and two daughters. She was recently selected for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s 2012 ConnectGens Fellowship for her program Kesher Shir, which aims to bring together Jewish musicians to create new music for contemporary synagogue worship. For those unfamiliar with Jewish worship, what is a cantor?
A cantor is a co-clergy person with a rabbi in a synagogue. The role of a cantor is primarily to engage the congregation in the music of the worship, to highlight and elevate pieces of the liturgy musically and work with the rabbi to create meaningful moments in worship for the Jewish community, to provide moments of gratitude and community as well as moments of reflection and introspection through music. Outside of worship, a cantor does many of the same things a rabbi does in terms of life cycle events, counseling, teaching adults and children about our history and our tradition, as well as providing musical guidance for choirs and musical training.
