Meet the Conference Planning Committee…
 

Cantorial Soloist Risa Askin served as the Cantor of a congregation in South Florida for 5 years and is presently teaching Jewish Music and prayer to children of all ages around the South Florida area as well as instructing children and adults for B’nai Mitzvah and conversion, or just teaching students who love to learn.  

Risa has been teaching Hebrew, Judaic Studies, and Music for 20 years.  She has experience in every grade level from preschool through adults, teaching many subjects: Hebrew, Prayer, Torah, Holidays, Jewish History, Prophets, Recitation of Torah and Haftarah, etc.

Cantor Askin has been training through a mentorship program and is presently studying with Cantor Avshalom Zfira.

Sheila Firestone, composer ASCAP, M.S. Ed., is retired after twenty-five years of teaching in Dade County's Gifted Programs. Sheila, now a lifetime student of musical composition, has been studying since 1987.  Her teachers, Dr. Thomas McKinley and Joseph Dillon Ford, have had a profound impact on the direction of her works.  She is currently the composer-in-residence at Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County. Her Oratorio, Aliyah, is a work in progress. Other works include: sonatas, a symphony, several rhapsodies, quintets, quartets and instrumental trios as well as numerous vocal settings of sacred prayers, ballads, children's songs and meditation music.  She has received awards for her compositions, which are periodically performed in concert.

Sheila, founded Songs For A New Day in 1990, publishing an interdisciplinary /whole-language-teaching manual which thematically incorporated many of her children's songs. She has produced several CD's. She presents concerts/workshops incorporating her performance theme "Peace Works."  Sheila served as the County Chairperson for the Miami-Dade County Very Special Arts Festivals from 1990-94 and is recognized in Who's Who in American Education. In 1996 Firestone, was named Educator of Note by the Young Patronesses of the Opera in Miami,
Florida. She currently serves as patroness chapter president of the University of Miami's Sigma Alpha Iota National Music Fraternity and as the outreach state chairperson for Florida's branch of The National League of American Pen Women.

Sharon Hordes received a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Indiana University School of Music. Following graduation she spent a year at the Bureau of Jewish Education in Indianapolis preparing children for B’nai Mitvah.  She received a Masters of Arts in Jewish music as well as investiture through a joint program established by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA and Gratz College in Melrose Park, PA.  In June 2002, Cantor Hordes became the first cantor to become invested through the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  For the past 3 years, she has been serving as the full-time cantor at Ramat Shalom in Plantation, FL.  While living in South Florida, Cantor Hordes has performed in several venues, including an annual fundraising concert at B’nai Aviv in Weston and a production of “Your People are Mine,” a modern musical adaptation of the Book of Ruth, singing the role of “Orpa.”  She is an active member of the Women Cantors’ Network, Greater Hollywood Interfaith Council, and the women’s division of “Jews, Muslims and All,” an interfaith dialogue group that was formed following 9/11. 

Tali Ann Katz has been a member of WCN for over 20 years and this is her third participating in the planning of a WCN conference.  Tali was the first and only cantor to serve the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. She officiated there for 11 years from 1987-1998 and then held a pulpit for 3 years at the then newly formed Bet Aviv congregation in Columbia, MD.  She has performed with both Kol Ha Nefesh and Taste of Honey in the Baltimore Washington communities. While serving as a cantor, she also was Director of Education at the Jewish a for the public and Jewish sectors of the greater Baltimore area.

                                                                                               

Courses at the Baltimore Hebrew University and private Torah and Chassidic Kabbalah classes were the nourishment for both her mind and spirit. She continues taking Torah classes in her new home in Florida.  This spring, she will be teaching an introductory course on Kabbalah and Jewish Spirituality called Connecting to the Essence of Your Soul. She resides in Lake Worth with her husband Howard, and looks forward to visits from her daughters Lisa and Rachel who live in Boston and New York City.

 

Alanna Pike is the Cantorial Assistant at Congregation B’nai Israel.  She came to Florida after graduating from the Gallatin School at New York University, where she received a B.A. in performance studies and education in 1999.  Her experience includes teaching Hebrew to elementary, high school, and adult students. 

 

Rachel Robbins is a cantorial soloist who is currently training to be a cantor.  Rachel has a Voice degree from Florida International University, and studied in NYC and Jerusalem as well.
She was a musical comedy actress and performed Renaissance music professionally.  As a teen-ager, Rachel was a USY songleader. She has a sung as a soloist in many choirs, and her eclectic tastes and wanderlust led her to perform in the Berkshires, upstate NY and Jerusalem.

Rachel has been a massage therapist for 22 years with specialties in Holistic Health and Self-Healing.  Now she is choosing to return to leading prayers, and joining others in Jewish music. Sacred music is a balm to her soul, and awakens her spirit.

 

Lisa Segal serves as a cantorial intern at Temple Beth Am, Miami.  In her 20^th year at the temple, she is an integral part of the clergy team under the direction of Cantor Rachelle Nelson.  She co-officiates at Shabbat and holiday services and life cycle events, and is involved in programming for the day school, religious school and preschool.  Lisa is the director of the Synaplex initiative at her synagogue, under the direction of the national “STARS” – Synagogue Transformation and Renewal.   She is also an integral part of the alternative Shabbat Morning minyan. Lisa is an Associate Member of the American Conference of Cantors, pursuing investiture through the certification process.  As an artist, Lisa lectures and performs on both the local and national level at various synagogues and conventions including the URJ National and Regional Bienniel, CAJE, and NATA.  An experienced guitarist, Lisa has recorded on many artists’ CDs including Cantor Nelson’s Bless Our Days and Ivrit B'Shir-Hebrew In Song. 

A graduate of the University Of Florida, Lisa has been living in the Miami area since 1981 with her husband, Jimmy (a native Miamian who grew up at Beth Am) and their two children, Danny and Andrea.

Elaine Shapiro was the first woman cantor to be ordained in the Conservative movement.  She received her Bachelors of Sacred Music from the Cantors Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary.  For 22 years she served as a cantor in Palm Beach County at Temple Sinai of Delray Beach and Temple Beth El of West Palm Beach.  She is the mother of Orli, Gili and Ari, and is married to Michael Zimmerman for 23 years. 

 

Rita Shore ascended the pulpit and became history's first female cantor in 1968, many years before the HUC-JIR started investing woman.  She is the cantor of Temple Judea in Palm Beach Gardens, and has been serving with Rabbi Joel Levine for the last twenty five years.  Her musical training was at the Juilliard School of Music from 1959-1963.  In 1974, Rita became the first woman to open the Florida House of Representatives and Senate in prayer and song.

 

She has recorded several albums, and most recently two CDs with her daughter, Stephanie.  Rita was the recipient of the "Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award" and various other honors and awards over the last 37 years.  She is an Associate Member of the American Conference of Cantors, and a member of the Cantors Assembly of Florida and the Women Cantors' Network.

 

Stephanie Shore received her Bachelors Degree from Florida International University, majoring in voice (under full scholarship for four years).  She has entertained across the United States, and other parts of the world, including Israel and South America, since she was a teenager.

Transcontinental Music, an arm of the Union for Reform Judaism, has published several of her compositions.  You can hear Stephanie and her mother, Cantor Rita Shore, harmonize together on CD recording entitled, “My Soul”, and “Quiet Time”.  In addition, her other recordings include: “Walk Into the Light”and  “L’dor Vador”.

 

Along  with Rabbi Richard Agler, Stephanie has composed many purim shpiels and the two have affectionately become known as the King and Queen of the Purim Shpiel.  They have launched a Purim Shpiels website (www.purimshpiels.com) where all of their shpiels can be viewed, listened to and purchased.  Their shpiels are being performed at congregations all over the country.

 

Recently, the Jewish Journal took a readers’ poll to name the “Best Things In South Florida.”  Cantor Shore was named “Best Cantor.”  She was the recipient of the “Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award” presented to Florida women who make a difference, by the National Association of Women Business Owners.  She also was awarded with the “Sh’ma Yisrael Award” presented by Israel Bonds for her outstanding support of Israel.  In addition she has appeared on radio, T.V., and has been publicized in numerous newspaper articles and publications.

 

 

Meet Your Presenters…

 

Bruce Benson has been a guiding voice in Jewish music for 30 years.  Known for his innovative and exciting use of traditional chant modes, Benson has helped redefine the music scene of our generation. His albums, The Jazz Service, recorded with jazz great Kenny G, and, more recently, The Rock Service (nominated for a Grammy in 2002), have received critical acclaim and continue to bring contemporary Jewish music to a new and larger audience.

His most recent CD is The Journey Songs Along the Chai Way.  Transcontinental Music Publishers has recently begun to release a series of songs by Bruce for choral works, and a complete book of his music will be published for Chanukah 2005.

Rachel Burstein is an Acupuncture Physician of the State of Florida, National Board Certified as a Diplomat in Acupuncture, and past member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Acupuncture Society.  In private practice since 1981, Dr. Burstein specialized in the treatment of pain, addiction and stress-related disorders.  She has appeared on several radio shows including Dr. Atkins’ NY show, as well as local TV programs in Massachusetts and Florida.  Motivated by her own healing through acupuncture, Rachel Burstein made a mid-life career change, graduating from New England School of Acupuncture in 1981.  Since that time, the thrust of her practice has been to empower her patients to participate in their healing and to be able to take charge of their own health. She will be speaking on acupuncture as a catalyst for healing physically, spiritually and emotionally as well as general well being and vocal health.

 

Sara Epstein grew up in Israel and lived on a kibbutz for 10 years.  She and her husband moved to Huntington, Long Island, NY in 1960 where they raised two children.  They moved to Florida in 1996 where Sara became interested in Tai Chi. She became certified to teach Tai Chi and has been doing so for the past 3 years.

Ruth Anne Faust has a 'wandering Jew' story in careers, colleges, and residences. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, her first career was as a Montessori teacher; she has utilized her experiences in that field in all sorts of other teaching fields and synagogue work. Currently, she works with special needs children, preparing them for Bar & Bat Mitzvah and leads a variety of Shabbat morning services for families, the special needs adult community, healing, Jewish meditation, as well as Bereavement Support Groups and holiday programs. She co-led a Passover "Soul-Seder" as well as a seder for the special needs community.

Ruth Anne has been using sign language to add depth and meaning to her personal experience of prayer. She is not conversant in sign language, relying on individual sign interpreters to learn how to sign individual prayers. Studying the combination of prayer and the physical movement in signing has helped her to explore the vastness of meaning embodied in our liturgy. She hopes to share this passion with you.

Andrea Jill Higgins, nee Gersten, a native of New York City, has served as Music Director/Composer-in-Residence for Temple Solel in Paradise Valley, Arizona, since 1979 and has founded and leads their adult and junior choirs.  Jill received her B.A. in composition from Mills College in Oakland, California, where she was a protégé of the late renowned French Jewish composer, Darius Milhaud.  Jill also earned a Master of Music degree in Music Theater Direction from Arizona State University and has been involved as composer, conductor, music director or accompanist in more than 120 stage productions.  Since 1983, Jill has been an active member of the Guild of Temple Musicians and presently serves on the Executive Board of Directors of the Guild.  Jill holds both composer and publisher memberships in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.  Her 60+ liturgical compositions are published by Transcontinental Music and Shirei Chan,a and are performed in services and concerts throughout North America and in Israel.

 

Sylvia F. Goldstein is a composer, pianist and educator, bringing a new expression of Judaism to music. Her works include cantorial music for Shabbat, psalms, healing, weddings, nigunim, songs on Jewish subjects with original lyrics, a Hanukkah oratorio and a variety of classical music.  Several of her compositions have been published in Jewish music anthologies by Transcontinental Music. She has been commissioned to write new music by The American Conference of Cantors, Temple Beth El of Stamford, CT, and other groups. In 2004 she was a winner in the Shalshelet Foundation Competition for New Jewish Liturgical Music. She teaches classical piano and theory at the Hartford Conservatory of Music, where she is Chair of the Piano Department. She has served as music director of a Conservative synagogue, choir director for the Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center, and music history instructor at several community colleges. She studied at the Juilliard School of Music, Preparatory Division, Cornell University, Brandeis University and the University of California at Berkeley. She has a B.A. and M.A. in Music, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

 

Natasha J. Hirschhorn, a native of Ukraine, studied musicology, piano and composition at the Gnesin Music College in Moscow and Kiev State Conservatory.  She was ordained as Hazzan in 1999 by the Academy for Jewish Religion.  An accomplished performer and recording artist, Natasha is featured on numerous CDs as singer, pianist, arranger and composer; her first solo album of original music They Call Me, 9 meditations on Hebrew prayers, was released in 2003.  Many of her compositions are performed in congregations throughout the country, as well as at the 2001 Berkeley Jewish Music Festival, North American Jewish Choral Festivals, and WCN conferences.   She will serve as Artist-in-Residence at the Havurah Institute this summer.

In addition to serving as Music Director at Congregation Ansche Chesed in Manhattan, Cantor Hirschhorn also conducts the Brooklyn Jewish Community Chorus and teaches at the Academy for Jewish Religion.  She is the vice-president of Shalshelet: The Foundation for New Jewish Liturgical Music, an organization that seeks to foster new music for Jewish congregational use and expose wider audiences to innovations in Jewish religious music. 

 

Yonina Knoppers.  Regarded an expert in the field of motivation and communication, Yonina has presented seminars and training for numerous international companies. She has a varied academic background. Yonina is a graduate of mathematics and psychology from University of Maryland. She has also held the position of math teacher and worked as an engineer for Westinghouse Corporation Research and Development. Yonina has studied human resources and management science with renowned experts in the field of motivation and communication such as Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra. Yonina is fluent in English, Hebrew, French, Italian and Dutch.

 

In addition to her work as a motivational speaker, Yonina is also active as a professional dancer, choreographer and teacher. She is an accomplished author, having written books on motivation and dance. Her most recent book is Yonina, Oriental dance and Motivation. She is a graduate of the School of the Performing Arts in New York City, known from the movie Fame, and the Martha Graham School of Dance. Her numerous television performances and a rose and tulip named in her honor demonstrate the popularity and appreciation of the multi- talented performer and motivator.

 

Debbie Lazarovic was born and raised in Montreal. She attended Concordia University and received her RN from Vanier College in Quebec. Debbie attended Kindermusik International in Savanaugh, Georgia, where she majored in early childhood training. Her dance background was acquired through attending numerous workshops throughout Canada, United States and Israel.  Debbie moved to Florida in 1982, where she has been teaching music, movement, and Israeli dance to all ages, from newborn to nonogenarians.

 

Bea Metz has been in the fitness industry for eight years, and is certified as a personal trainer, in addition to having her primary certification.  She is engaged in Pilates-based personal training at Get Cyced in Sunrise, where she also teaches spinning.  For the past 5 years she has led her own fitness program at the Pine Island Community Center in Davie, consisting of Pilates, yoga and body sculpting.  She is currently enrolled at Polestar Pilates Education in Miami with the goal of obtaining her Pilates Reformer certification.

 

Rachelle Nelson is a native Floridian and graduate of the University of Miami in music education and composition and the Hebrew Union College in New York City-School of Sacred Music.  Cantor Nelson is skilled in voice, piano, flute and guitar. She has performed concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has taught classes at the University of Miami on the History of Jewish Music and has participated as a soloist in their festival concerts. She is a composer of Jewish music and has several compositions published through Transcontinental Music in New York City. In 1998, along with her colleague Rabbi Terry Bookman, In the Spirit music publications was created. Cantor Nelson and Rabbi Bookman have published two CDs, Bless Our Days and Bless Our Years, as well as a songbook and choral music.  They are now working on their third recording.  Canter Nelson lives in South Dade with her twin daughters Rebecca and Leah.

 

Rabbi Amy Rader, a rising star in the Conservative movement, is known for her warmth as well as her intellect and insight into Judaism.  Rabbi Rader is an Associate Rabbi at B’nai Torah in Boca Raton where she directs the B’nai Mitzvah Program, coordinates the Judaic curriculum of the Early Childhood Center and leads a popular alternative Shabbat morning service, Havurat Shabbat. Her B’nai Mitzvah Program was recently awarded the National Solomon Schechter Gold Award for Family Education.  In her five years in the Boca Raton community, Rabbi Rader has earned a reputation as a compassionate pastoral counselor, as well as an inspiring teacher and lecturer. 

 

Rabbi Rader was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City in 1999.  She served as the Rabbi for the Lakeland Hills Jewish Center in Ringwood, New Jersey, was a fellow at the National Jewish Healing Center in New York City, and was the first Jewish chaplain at Methodist Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, her hometown.  Rabbi Rader recently completed a fellowship in the STAR Peer Program – a prestigious, professional development fellowship for young, pulpit rabbis.  In 2004, Rabbi Rader was awarded the Rabbi Simon Greenberg Rabbinic Achievement Award for outstanding leadership in the pulpit.  Rabbi Rader and her husband, Kevin are the parents of four children, Caleb, Ruby, Yael and Ezra.

Harvey Saunders specializes in Rabbinic and Cantorial contracts for the last 15 years.  As the only known person to do just clergy contracts, his success rate 99.6%. He teaches that " you never get what you deserve, only what you negotiate."  He enjoys the reputation of being the "very best" by every client, and the congregation will end up loving their Cantor, even after the contract is signed.

Susan Shane-Linder is a Miami-born singer/songwriter/composer and children's recording artist, and has performed professionally for 23 years.  Susan is well known throughout South Florida in preschools, summer camps, hospitals, retirement homes and many organizations.  For 15 years, Susan served as Music Director for the Dave & Mary Alper Jewish Community Center Pre-school and 17 years with the Summer Day Camp in Miami.  Since 2001 Susan has been Music Director for the Nadel Center for Early Childhood Education and The School of Living Judaism at Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton.  She is a former director of the Temple Beth Am Singers, a choral group with which she performed for Carnival Cruise Lines and Walt Disney World in Florida and at engagements throughout the United States.  Susan is frequently found entertaining people of all ages at birthday parties, schools, bookstores, and record stores in the tri-county area.  She is also a past presenter at a number of children’s conferences around the Dade/Broward/Palm Beach area, most notably at the JCECE Conference and for the JEC of Palm Beach.  Susan also presented and performed at the National CAJE Conference and at the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children)’s Conference. Susan’s recordings are: Singin’ With Susan and Singin’ With Susan, Too! (both in CD and cassette) and   Singin’ (Shabbat) With Susan (CD only), which was a winner for Best Educational/Seasonal/ Religious Recording for Preschoolers & Younger Children for the 2003 Children’s Music Web Awards.   

Rabbi Jessica Spitalnic Brockman is Associate Rabbi at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton.  She formerly served as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was active in raising community awareness on issues including gun violence, battered women and the separation of church and state.  She received Rabbinic Ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 1999.  She is a member of the Reform Movement's Commission for Social Action.  Jessica is a native New Yorker who has worked in Jewish communities in New York, Chicago, London, and Jerusalem.  In Israel, she served as a tour educator for the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) summer program, guiding Jewish teenagers through the historical sites.  She has had works published in several books and publications, including Theological Terms in the Talmud, The Women’s Haftarah Commentary, and the website, www.myjewishlearning.com.  She is also part of a rabbinic leadership program entitled Synagogue: Transformation and Renewal (STAR) that is a leading organization in inspiring innovative Shabbat programming.  She is married to Scott Brockman and mother to Noah and Shira.

Cissy Vanderheyde is a classically trained percussionist. She has presented many drum workshops for corporate training programs and company events. Cissy has also coached many entertainers in the art of drumming. Her programs increase openness, emotional engagement, flexibility and creativity, and her sessions are entertaining and inspiring.

 

Cissy has received her training from renowned drummers in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. As a female darbuka player, she holds a unique position in a primarily male- dominated field. She has performed with Yonina Knoppers in many international festivals in Akko, Israel; Marmaris, Turkey; Venice, Italy;and the International Theatre and Music Festival in Holland.