COMMUNITY
Two Detroit Cantors
Vote To Admit Women
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
D
etroit's two members
of the Cantors
Assembly executive
council, Cantors Chaim Na-
jman and Larry Vieder,
voted with the majority re-
cently to admit women to the
professional association of
Conservative cantors.
The vote, 29-1 with two
abstentions, was taken dur-
ing the council's Aug. 30
meeting, but was not made
public for two weeks in order
to notify assembly members,
according to Cantor Samuel
Rosenbaum of Rochester,
N.Y., the Assembly's exec-
utive vice president.
The vote ended a battle
that began three years ago
when the Jewish Theological
Seminary began granting
cantorial degrees to women.
This move puts the
Assembly in line with the
egalitarian philosophy es-
poused by the Seminary, but
comes after the entire mem-
bership of the Assembly fail-
ed to pass the issue by a two-
thirds majority vote last spr-
ing, for the third year in a
in the Detroit area who were
planning to resign.
"It (admitting women to
the cantorate) is not a black-
and-white issue of whether
we are for or against wo-
men," he said. "It's a much
deeper problem."
He said that, after a com-
promise effort between the
liberal and traditional wings
of the Assembly fell through,
the Assembly's legal counsel
advised that the Assembly
was "vulnerable to legal
problems," including poten-
tial lawsuits charging
unlawful discrimination
which might be filed by some
of the women who had
graduated from the JTS
Cantors Institute but had
been refused admittance to
the Cantors Assembly. The
TOW.
Cantor A. Eliezer Kir-
shblum of Toronto, the sole
dissenting council member,
resigned in protest immedi-
ately after the vote was
taken. Another cantor from
the 400-member Assembly,
Cantor Vieder:
Originally opposed.
Cantor Baruch Cohon of
Temple Emanuel in Beverly
Hills, Calif., has resigned as
a result of the decision and
more are believed to be con-
sidering the same response.
Cantor Najman, of Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek,
said he did not know of any
other Conservative cantors
Cantor Najman:
"Not black-and-white."
counsel recommended wo-
men be admitted.
"There also was talk of
forming another cantors
organization for women
only," he added.
"The Assembly was at a
point where, no matter how
sensitive people from the
traditional point of view
were — and the Assembly
didn't want to offend them —
the other problems were
much more severe."
The executive council felt
it had to act and did so, he
said. The Assembly had
"tried to be Mr. Nice Guy"
with various committees and
reports over the past five
years. "We tried very hard
to accommodate everyone,
but it was getting drawn out
longer and longer."
Last year, the Cantors
Council of Detroit, whose
membership is open to can-
tors from all three branches
of Judaism, voted Cantor
Gail Hirschenfang of Temple
Beth El, the area's first
woman cantor, as its secre-
tary. "If we accepted her as
our colleague, how could we
refuse to accept others?"
said Cantor Larry Vieder of
Adat Shalom Synagogue.
During the last two annual
Assembly conventions, held
in May, motions to admit
women had won by simple
majorities of the Assembly's
membership. At the last
convention, the vote was
100-68, 12 votes short of the
two-thirds majority required
for a constitutional
admendment — a vote
margin which Cantor Na-
jman said had been in-
stituted by the council out of
a concern for fairness.
But because the organiza-
tion's bylaws require that
candidates be admitted on
the basis of their qualifica-
tions and do not mention
gender as a requirement, the
executive council decided
that a constitutional
amendment was un-
necessary and that the issue
could be decided by the 32-
member leadership body.
Cantor Najman said it was a
question of "How can it (the
Assembly) not recognize the
phenomenon of women in ac-
tive, participatory roles in
the services" of Conser-
vative synagogues, consider-
ing that women have been
ordained as pulpit rabbis for
a number of years now. "All
of a sudden, we realized we
also had an obligation to
those in the Asembly favor-
ing the admission of women
cantors."
He said there is "nothing
in the (executive council's)
decision which compels syn-
agogues to hire women can-
tors. What the Cantors
Assembly wants to do is
secure" the qualifications,
guidelines and standards for
cantors, including specifying
their training.
He said some congrega-
tions would hire women who
do not possess the training,
adding this is becoming
"very prevalent on the West
Coast."
The council vote was "a
step to not only go along
with the Seminary and to
avoid any problems with the
Conservative movement in
the community, but also to
make sure that certain stan-
dards be maintained" — the
same standards for women
as for men.
❑
Debra Nussbaum of the Jew-
ish Telegraphic Agency con-
tributed to this story.
Affixing the mezuzah to the doorpost of the Harriett and Ben N. Teitel
Federation Apartments at the building's dedication are Patricia Milner,
building administrator; Gerald Cook, nephew of the late Mr. Teitel;
Jeanette Cook, Mr. Teitel's sister; Barbara Cook, Beth Cook.and Oscar
Cook.
Allied Campaign
Names Division Heads
Division chairmen will
carry new and expanded
responsibilities on the Allied
Jewish Campaign leadership
team, it was announced by
general chairmen Lawrence
Jackier and Joseph orley.
Heading up the Mercantile
sections are Dr. Maurice Op-
perer, a former Hadracha
young leadership co-
chairman and past new gifts
chairman, and Steven Trons-
tein, a member of the Fur-
niture and Floor Coverings
Section.
The Professional Service
division is headed by Austin
Kanter, last year's co-
chairman and a past In-
surance Section chairman;
Michael Kramer, a past At-
torneys Section chairman;
and Alan Gilman, a leader in
the Accountants Section.
David Aronow and Douglas
Bloom were named chairmen
of the Industrial and
Automotive Division for a se-
cond year.
Continuing Real Estate
Division Chairman Paul
Zlotoff will be joined by
Lawrence Lax and Levi
Smith, past associate
chairmen.
Suzi Alterman, 1990 Young
Bar-Han Dinner
To Buy Computers
In honor of Bar-Ilan Univer-
sity's thirty-fifth anniversary,
this year's annual dinner will
focus on providing esential
computer equipment. The
dinner, Oct. 2 at Adat Shalom
Synagogue, will be raising
funds to provide two fully
equipped computer labs, each
of which will contain ten
Macintosh SE30 computers,
Adult Division Campaign
chairman, and David Victor,
a member-at-large of the 1990
Campaign team, will work to
reach out to more workers
and contributors through
YAD.
Continuing as chairman of
the Metropolitan Division is
Robert Dunsky. Penny
Blumenstein is chairman of
the Woman's Division
Campaign.
Dr. Eli Berger, Hadar
Granader and Dr. Sheldon
Stern are continuing as
chairmen of the Professional
Health Division.
Diane Ash, a Sylvia Simon
Greenberg Young Leadership
awardee; Dr. David Harold, a
1990 Campaign committee
member-at-large; Mark
Kahn, past Community Ser-
vices Division associate chair-
man; and Allan Steinmetz, ,a
member of the Advertising
Section, will work with
synagogues and temples in
their efforts to support the
Campaign.
Federation Vice President
David Hermelin is organizing
the past Campaign chairmen
to enlist their experience for
this year's Campaign.
In addition, members-at-
large of the 1990 Campaign
Management Committee are
Norman Beitner, Lester Bur-
ton, Joseph B. Colton, Sidney
D. Feldman, Benjamin Frank,
Dr. Darryl Goldberg, William
Lakritz, David Lebenbom,
Phillip Levin, Beth Lowens-
tein, Myron Milgrom, David
Page, Dr. Owen Perlman,
Herbert Rechter, Benjamin
Rosenthal, Joel Shapiro, Lisa
Sommers, Bernard Stollman,
Bruce Thal and H. James
Zack.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 49