Shana Onigman, who received her MJEd degree this June and is slated to finish her cantorial ordination later in the year, will be the Cantor-Educator Program's first graduate. Yet she claims her cantorial career is more accidental than not.

"A teacher in college once told me, 'You should be a cantor,' and I said 'No way!'" she remembers. It wasn't until her father volunteered her to lead Rosh Hashanah services for their congregation that she grew accustomed to the idea—and this experience left her wanting to do more.

As a first step, Onigman created her own personal mekhinah (preparation) period. She auditioned for the Zamir Chorale of Boston and signed up for Birthright Israel; she also enrolled in adult Jewish learning and Hebrew courses in Boston, primarily at Hebrew College. Dr. Scott M. Sokol, Dean of the Jewish Music Institute and Director of the Cantor-Educator Program at HC, became her mentor and wrote her recommendations when she decided to pursue cantorial studies. Onigman studied for two years at another cantorial school, but when Sokol told her about HC's new Cantor-Educator Program, she said, "Sign me up!"

Onigman identifies the primary reason she transferred programs was the CEP's "focus on the cantor as educator"—a requirement she realized, from her field experience, is essential to working for congregations. Onigman first fell in love with teaching Hebrew school at a young age, and after graduating from Bennington College with a theater major in 2000, she taught theater, swimming lessons and was a camp counselor before pursuing her cantorial studies.

When she enrolled in HC's CEP in 2004, Onigman found a way to fuse her passions for education and the cantorate. Her thesis examines how to teach nusach—the chant cantors use when praying—to children. "If people grow up knowing how to better connect the text to the music, then they can achieve greater understanding and participation in the service," she explains.

A native of Melrose, Mass., Onigman and her sister are children of an intermarriage, and were converted to Judaism as infants. She recalls in her teens walking away from her Jewish background completely, having a Christmas tree in her house, and not stepping into a synagogue again until mid–college. The transdenominational atmosphere at Hebrew College was a welcome relief—a place where she found others with backgrounds similar to hers and where she felt accepted.

The cantorial soloist at Temple Ohabei Shalom, Brookline, Onigman will continue working there after her graduation until her contract ends in June 2007, and when her husband, a student of piano tuning and technology at North Bennet Street School in Boston, graduates. What do they and their one-year-old daughter have planned for next summer? "Who knows?" says Onigman—she's open to new possibilities.



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Article Index
Ted Cutler Elected Hebrew College Board Chair
First CEP Grad: Shana Onigman
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Publication Credits and Additional Information