Cantor Melanie Fine was the first girl in her Los Angeles synagogue to chant from the Torah at her bat mitzvah in the 1970s. That experience fueled her desire to be a cantor despite a tradition that only allowed men to hold the position.
Fine will be in Bangor at Beth Israel, the city’s only Conservative synagogue and the oldest shul in the state, for the High Holy Days — Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It will be the cantor’s first visit to Maine.
Rosh Hashanah begins Sunday evening.
“All Jewish texts are sung, so when you have a pleasant voice, there are countless opportunities to involve yourself in Judaism and connect closer to God,” she said.
Some Conservative congregations resist hiring a woman cantor because congregants grew up hearing male voices in services, Fine said. Rabbis and lay leaders need to do more to involve women in Jewish religious rituals.
“Hiring a male cantor is inertial and far easier,” she said. “The thing is, when women are not serving in congregations, it perpetuates this inertia. When women do serve, it makes Judaism more relevant and relatable to everyone.”
Longtime members of Beth Israel know what it’s like to hear a woman sing and chant Jewish scripture. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Deborah Marlowe, a retired opera singer, was their cantor. She died in Florida in 2019 at the age of 80.
Most small congregations outside large metropolitan areas can’t afford a rabbi and full-time cantor. Many, like Beth Israel, hire a cantor for High Holiday services, but cantors “are essential in all Jewish services,” Fine said.
“What makes it essential for the High Holiday services is that the melodies of these services are some of the oldest and most beautiful in our tradition,” she said. They date back “as early as the first crusades, they evoke memories both literal and covenantial, and add unparalleled beauty and awe to the holiest days of the year.”
In addition to being a cantor, Fine is the creator of the Rocket Girls book series, which includes biographies of women in the fields of science and math that history books sometimes omit. Fine also runs her own public relations firm.
Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Sunday. Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Oct. 4.
For more information on High Holiday services in Bangor, visit https://www.cbisrael.org/ for Conservative Congregation Beth Israel, 144 York St.; https://www.jewishbangor.org/ for Orthodox Congregation Beth Abraham, 145 York St.; or https://bethelbangor.org/ for Reform Congregation Beth El, 183 French St.
