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Canto

Temple Israel's new cantor brings
with her more than just music.

SHELLI DORFMAN

Editorial Assistant

funny thing happened to Lori
Corrsin on the way to syna-
gogue.
The self-described former
"quiet kid with a love of performing"
followed a dream that brought her from
Detroit to New York and back — and
onto the bima of the 3,100-family
Temple Israel.
Calling her transformation a "blos-
soming," the 44-year-old Southfield
High School graduate took her place
Friday night, July 2, as the third-ever
cantor of the West Bloomfield temple.
She joins
Harold
Orbach, the
sole cantor
since 1962,
who suc-
ceeded
Cantor
Robert
Tulman.
Lori
Corrsin left
Michigan
after meeting
her husband,
Dr. Stephen — Cantor Lori Corrsin
Corrsin,
while study-
ing for her
music degree at the University of
Michigan.
The couple moved to New York
where she worked as a freelance classical
singer. The position included church
performances, which "started to get
uncomfortable." She became a soprano

soloist and then
cantor's assistant at
Park Avenue
Synagogue in
Manhattan. She
found herself "in
the synagogue all
the time," and
asked herself why.
She discovered "a
Cantors Lori Corrsi n and Harold Orbach in Temple Israel's
need to be con-
L'Dor
V'Dor Family Garden
nected to Jewish
roots."
she received an invitation from Cantor
She thought,
Orbach to substitute for him during a
"Singing was a lot of fun, but not fulfill-
visit to the Detroit area. Unbeknownst
ing — it was only for myself"
to her, her time on the bima was actual-
The decision to become a cantor was
ly an audition, leading to her present
encouraged by
position.
her husband,
Growing up as a Conservative Jew at
who is a librar-
Congregation Beth Abraham in Detroit
ian. Becoming
and studying in the United Hebrew
a cantor meant
Schools, she says she now identifies as a
Lori Corrsin's
Reform Jew "I always loved the Temple
first year at
Israel building," she recalls. She
Hebrew Union
described Orbach as "the cantor."
College-Jewish
Cantor Orbach in turn calls her "a
Institute of
great singer," explaining that the two
Religion
will hold equal positions as co-cantors.
School of
"There is definite room," Cantor
Sacred Music
Orbach said, "and need for a new can-
was to be in
tor."
Jerusalem,
Cantor Corrsin stresses, 'A cantor
without her
here
is not just a singer." The position
husband, fol-
demands someone who is bright, with
lowed by three
people skills and the ability to talk and
more years on
listen when someone is in pain. With
the New York campus.
pastoral care training, she describes her-
She was invested as a cantor in 1992.
self as a full clergy partner, "prepared to
She missed graduation, held the day
deal with so many who come to the
after the birth of her daughter,
synagogue needing something — not
Alexandra.
always knowing what — and being able
Describing the cantorate as "a small
to help or point them."
place, where we all know each other, "

"There is no feeling in
the world like bringing
people together
through song, in God's
presence.

As the only woman in the Temple
Israel clergy, Cantor Corrsin finds her-
." self expecting to be available to women
and children who will talk to her "about
things they won't speak to a man
about." She smiled at the memory of a
teen in her New York synagogue who
referred to her and the male rabbi as
parent figures.
But her true reward comes from her
voice. The West Bloomfield resident
says, "There is no feeling in the world
like bringing people together through
song, in God's presence." She describes
the overpowering feeling resulting from
being a shaliach tzibur, a messenger of
the congregation to God.
Her husband, finishing work at
Columbia University, is preparing for his
new position as acting head of cataloging
at Wayne State University. She says his
willingness to relocate for her career
shows a great love for one another.
Cantor Corrsin has performed
throughout the United States. Her corn-
position "Shehecheyanu" will soon be
published and she is featured on the
recently released CD/cassette tape
Nashir B'Yachad.
She is a member of the
Commission on Synagogue Music
and is immediate past-president of
the HUC-JIR School of Sacred
Music Alumni Association. She was
on its advisory board, is immediate
past-president of the alumni council
and served on the board of gover-
nors.
Cantor Corrsin, a member of the
shaarey tshuvah committee of the Union
of American Hebrew Congregations, has
compiled a High Holidays congrega-
tional songbook.
Describing her farewell to 21 years of
colleagues and friendships brought tears
to her eyes. But finding the Detroit
community welcoming, she says, is
making starting over much easier. Her
new neighbors have brought dinners
and sent her family flowers for Shabbat.
Her daughter finds that "everything in
Michigan is beautiful."
Cantor Corrsin's debut at Temple
Israel included sharing portions of the
service with Cantor Orbach as well as
joining with him in three duets.
Cantor Orbach found the congrega-
tion, which included Cantor Corrsin's
parents, Dr. Coleman and Jean
Rottenberg of Southfield, warm and
very responsive. "They liked the blend
of our voices," he said.
Standing in the vast sanctuary of her
new home, Lori Corrsin can't wait until
she finds the time to turn off the lights,
stand alone in the huge room and just
sing. II

7/23
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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