June 1, 2018 | 18 Sivan 5778
Sanctuary
Performed by Cantor Susan Lewis Friedman
The Sanctuary of Music
by Myra Shneider

“ Can you hear the music in this room ?”

This line from the pen of Barb Wertico, Beth Emet’s accompanist for more than 10 years, hit home for me when I sang it at the farewell for Cantor Susan Lewis Friedman – two weeks before the groundbreaking for the major renovation of our sanctuary. As I looked out at the congregation, all I could think about was “if these walls could talk.” With music as my undeniable link to Judaism, I began to recall all the music I have heard in this room during my 25-plus years as a member.

Cantor Jeffrey Klepper’s music brought me to Beth Emet in the early 80’s. I had heard his music at summer camps and youth group events. Since that time, we have been treated to many types of music from classical to jazz, rock to folk, rap to gospel. We have heard Hazzan Alberto Mizrachi (at the very first Mogul concert and, twice more, with Cantors Erin Frankel and Susie Friedman), Howard Levy, the Rembrandt Chamber Players, Debbie Friedman, Julie Silver, Doug Cotler, Cantor Benjie-Ellen Schiller, Cantor Richard Cohn and professional instrumental soloists who enhance our worship on Yamim Noraim and other times throughout the year. We have enjoyed music from composers Shulamit Ran, Max Janowski, Salamone Rossi, Steven Richards, Jonathan Comisar, Robert Applebaum. Louis Lewandowski, Isadore Freed, Samuel Adler, Max Helfman and many more running the gamut of Jewish music.

The Adult Choir has sung Ernst Bloch’s Sacred Service and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms . We have been conducted by Dr. Merlin Lehman, Shana Rosen, Richard Boldrey, Dr. Klaus Georg. We were joined by Kol Zimrah, Jewish Community Singers, to sing with Cantor Arik Luck in his retrospective on the music of Moyshe Oysher.

And let’s not forget the pulpit and music exchanges with musicians from Second Baptist Church. They showed us the beauty of their musical tradition and were able to get the congregation rockin’ and dancin’ in the aisles.

We have been honored to have Jeffrey Klepper, Gershon Silins, Erin Frankel, Arik Luck and Susan Lewis Friedman as full-time certified cantors and multiple cantorial soloists who shared their arts and interests with a congregation that has come to expect great talent.

So, yes! Despite a sound system that has been redone multiple times (truly an acoustical nightmare!) and blowing up the organ and losing electrical power, I have heard the music in this sanctuary. It has been beautiful. It has been soothing. It has been challenging. It has been meaningful. It has made me laugh and made me cry. And, with God’s help, it will continue to inspire and connect with Beth Emet members for years to come.
A Beth Emet member for more than 25 years, Myra Shneider is a retired social worker still trying to figure out her next career. In the meantime, you can find her singing with Kol Zimrah (Jewish Community Singers) and Beth Emet’s Adult Choir. She can be reached at myrashneider428@gmail.com . 
Cantor Susan Lewis Friedman began her tenure as Cantor at Beth Emet the Free Synagogue in Evanston, IL in July of 2015, having previously served as Cantorial Intern at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, NJ (2011-2015), and Kehilat Ohel Avraham in Haifa, Israel (2010-11), where Susan wrote, directed, and conceived Broadway on the Carmel , a Broadway review in which she and her classmates performed to raise funds for b’nei mitzvah children with financial needs. On July 1, 2018, Susan will begin her tenure as Cantor of Temple Jeremiah in Northfield, IL.
Cantor Friedman is an avid concert artist, collaborating with other talented cantors in cantorial concerts at many American synagogues, and is a frequent soloist with Kol Zimrah Community Choir under the direction of Cantor Pavel Roytman. Prior to the cantorate, she was seen on the stages of musical theater, regional opera, and in symphonic concerts throughout the U.S. She played leading roles in the Broadway National Tour of CATS , regional productions of The Producers, Barnum, Swingtime Canteen, and Sweeney Todd, to name a few. She has sung with Des Moines Metro Opera, Nevada Opera, Phoenix Symphony, Opera Orchestra New York with Eve Queller, American Symphony Orchestra with Leon Botstein, and Brooklyn Philharmonic. She has performed with artists such as Betty Buckley, Alberto Mizrahi, and George S. Irving. She has sung with composer/musician Anthony Newman and can be heard on the World Premiere recording of Newman’s world premiere opera, Nicole and the Trial of the Century.  She is married to the love of her life, Ross Friedman, who she met on a Mississippi riverboat cruise while working as an entertainer, and he the Chief Purser. Their greatest achievements are their beloved children, Abigail (5) and Zev (3). 
In Exodus 25:8, God says to Moses, “Create for me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.” These words set the building of the Tabernacle into motion. But the verse’s ending has an interesting grammatical anomaly. Instead of telling the Israelites to create a sanctuary so God can dwell within it, the wording suggests that the dwelling may be amon g the people, or within them, suggesting that God can live within us rather than exclusively in a physical sanctuary. This year at Beth Emet we’ll explore the multiples meanings of sanctuary—as physical space to gather as a community for prayer, as spiritual space where we feel safe and whole, and as an attitude that is welcoming and accepting of everyone.

This weekly e-mail project, curated by David and Ellen Barish, allows congregants to express themselves in any of a variety of media: speechmaking, poetry, essay, story, photography, film, paint, sculpture, printmaking, textile, sound or music. If you'd like to contribute, please email Ellen and/or David .

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Beth Emet The Free Synagogue
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