A Note from Cantor Finnley

Music Patrons Fund

Dear Friends,

At this point in the year, I bet many of you are enjoying the warmer weather and dreaming about a nice summer vacation. Well, I’ve just begun to plan for High Holy Days, believe it or not! My biggest challenge is assembling a fine choir and planning the music. As you undoubtedly know, the music at the High Holy Days is not, in many cases, music that you would hear at a Shabbat service.

Just as we use liturgy for High Holy Days that is quite a bit different in many ways, so is the music. Whereas Shabbat services are usually joyful events as we look forward to a day of rest, the focus of the High Holy Day experience is much more serious and encompasses a range of topics that bid us to re-examine our lives and renew our relationships with family, community, and with God. We hear stories of courage and healing; of despair and death. We journey from ancient times to the days of the High Priest and the Romans and then to modern times and the sacrifices of our own generation. The panorama is sweeping and helps us see that in every age our people have overcome tremendous obstacles and sacrificed much so that today we might continue to survive and renew ourselves as a people.

My challenge is to find music that blends and reinforces the moods of the services. In many cases this music is not what you might call “toe tapping” or “camp” music, but music on a larger scale. To reflect the depth of the services, composers have utilized more complex themes and settings requiring a larger choir. In many cases, to do the music justice, professional section leaders must be hired to assist the volunteers, most of whom are not trained singers.

Unfortunately, as budgets have shrunk, costs to hire section leaders have not. Rarely, in my 27 years as your cantor, have I had to ask for financial help with costs for the High Holy Day choir. This year, however, it will be almost impossible to put together sufficient funds to hire the minimal number of section leaders I need to continue to provide the quality of music during our High Holy Day services that you have told me you love.

I ask only that when you wish to remember a loved one or celebrate a simcha, you keep the Music Patrons Fund in mind. The money in that fund is used to supplement expenses for our High Holy Day choir. With your help, we can continue the tradition of fine music that we have been blessed to hear for many years during our Temple Israel High Holy Day services.

B’Shalom,
Cantor Finnley