S.F. synagogue finds new cantorial soloist right in its midst

Some tunes on David Morgenstern’s iPod have that scratchy old LP sound to them. That’s because he likes rare recordings of long-dead cantors singing traditional chazzanut, the prayers of the Jewish service.

He can’t listen to them often enough. As the cantorial soloist at San Francisco’s Congregation Beth Israel–Judea, Morgenstern wants the music to sink in, bone deep.

David Morgenstern. photo/diane rieger

Morgenstern already knows the liturgy well. A trained classical singer and longtime member of Beth Israel– Judea, he had served as a substitute when previous cantors couldn’t make it to services.

Now, he’s getting his fill. He not only chants prayers during Friday night and Saturday services, but as a student cantor he also performs pastoral duties and helps train b’nai mitzvah students. Last fall Morgenstern co-led his first High Holy Day services.

“The privilege of being a cantorial soloist is being able to experience the full range,” he says. “When you look at it from a distance you say, ’Oh, you can do this because you’re a good singer.’ But it’s not about that at all. It’s about your own davening, your own connection to God, your willingness to create an acoustic spiritual space with everyone.”

It all started several years ago when the synagogue’s longtime cantor, the late Henry Greenberg, asked Morgenstern to fill in while he went on a cruise. That went well, so when Greenberg subsequently underwent heart surgery, Morgenstern again filled in.

When Cantor Ellen Schwab announced her departure in early 2008 after a three-year tenure, Morgenstern sat on the search committee for her replacement.

The committee did not have to search long and hard.

“During this time, my own spiritual journey grew in importance to me,” he says. “The passing of my mother and parents-in-law, the experience of having a child grow up, being a manager of an enterprise: Sometimes those kind of experiences can test you. For me they led back to our tradition.”

Though he has sung all his life, Morgenstern has worked as a high-tech industry journalist, having written for MacWEEK and Popular Photography and served as contributing editor for eWEEK at Ziff Davis Media. He currently blogs for the Apple Core at ZDNet.com.

But his love of Judaism goes back to his earliest days. He grew up in Moraga with parents who were among the first members of Lafayette’s Temple Isaiah. He attended Camp Swig, and later spent a year on Kibbutz Menara on the Lebanon border.

He returned to the Bay Area to study voice at San Francisco State University. That led to some local operatic roles, but soon enough, life happened. He met a piano student in college, they fell in love and married. David and Inara Morgenstern have one daughter, Ariela, a professional singer and actress now living in New York.

Morgenstern takes his professional development seriously. He participated in a program run by the Union for Reform Judaism to train congregational lay leaders in life-cycle rituals. He is also considering the ALEPH program, which would give him additional training in pastoral counseling and lead to investment as a cantor.

“One of my teachers told me: All these chazzanut practices, like chanting Torah or the nusach of the service, those are the first steps. The real thing you end up doing is Jewish pastoral care,” says Morgenstern. “I’m so grateful and privileged to be working with [Beth Israel–Judea Rabbi Rosalind Glazer].”

The gig is still part time, which allows Morgenstern to keep a toehold in the technology world. But his dual career definitely has cluttered up his desk.

“I’ve got books on WordPress blogging and Cascading Style Sheets on one side,” he says, “and on the other side, a guide to Jewish bereavement.”