New cantor credits vocation to teacher at Hebrew school

Cantor Chanin Becker has a long history of performing and teaching Jewish music.

The new cantor at Lafayette's Temple Isaiah traces her career choice back to Hebrew school.

"Usually I blame it on my fourth-grade Hebrew school teacher, who found out I could play the guitar and made me play at a service," said Becker. By age 14, she was employed teaching Jewish music to younger students at her Reform synagogue in Elkins Park, a suburb of Philadelphia.

"I loved teaching Jewish music," she said. "The more I learned, the more I liked it."

The Isaiah position is Becker's first cantorial job. She finished cantorial studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in May, starting her job at Isaiah during the summer.

"I love the work I'm doing," said Becker, 27. "The congregation has been very welcoming to me." Relocating across the country and starting her first professional job amounted to "a very big move," she acknowledged.

After growing up within walking distance of her family's synagogue, Becker attended Princeton University. Having grown up in a heavily Jewish community, Becker got her first taste of being in the minority when she went to college.

She majored in English literature and drama. "I had thoughts of pursuing a career in musical theater," she said, "but this is much more rewarding for me."

Becker said she spends only 5 to 10 percent of her time singing. The rest is devoted to teaching, leading services and working with Rabbis Roberto Graetz and Judy Shanks on developing worship and synagogue activities.

Becker has had a long association with the Reform movement, beginning with her childhood synagogue. "As I explored, I felt even more comfortable in a Reform Jewish setting," she said. "The idea that an individual can make educated choices about how to practice Judaism within a community really appeals to me."s

Since relocating from New York, with its large Jewish population, Becker believes that in the Bay Area "it is more of a sacrifice for people to make Judaism a part of their lives." In Elkins Park, for example, public schools closed on the major Jewish holidays, she said. Locally, parents have to remind public school teachers of the holidays.

Temple Isaiah "is a very strong community" where members "really support each other," the cantor said. That may be because Bay Area Jews have to choose "to commit to make [Judaism] really relevant to their lives."