JANUARY 19 • 2023 | 47

alone when going through things like infer-
tility, miscarriage or marital stagnancy, and 
it’s helpful to see those experiences actual-
ized on the stage,
” she adds. “
Apparently, we 
are the first theater in the country to stage 
Baby post-COVID, and it’s not done often, 
so it’s important to see it while you can.
”

JEWISH ROOTS IN GRAND RAPIDS
After living in Detroit and Ann Arbor, 
Kalmowitz’s family moved to Grand Rapids 
when she was 4 years old. By the time she 
was 7, Kalmowitz was acting in community 
theater productions and TV and radio com-
mercials. She sang advertising jingles and 
was in the Temple Emanuel Grand Rapids 
Junior Choir.
“The rabbi’s wife was the first person to 
say that ‘this is a very special voice,
’” said 
Kalmowitz, who is approaching her 19th 
year at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills. 
With her special voice, Kalmowitz, at age 
7, became the lead singer with her father 
on double bass and his friend, Dave Mayer 
from Detroit, on jazz piano in a band that 
Mayer named “Rachel and the Rascals.
” 
Rachel and the Rascals performed every 
year at the Grand Rapids Festival of the 

Arts until she was 12. During that time, 
Kalmowitz continued to be an active part in 
the Grand Rapids theater scene.
“That was such a fun and cool experi-
ence — those early years when I was part of 
a community of incredibly talented people 
who worked together to make a piece of art. 
I loved that process,
” Kalmowitz says.

BECOMING A CANTOR
There wasn’t a cantor at Temple Emanuel in 
Grand Rapids when Kalmowitz was grow-
ing up.
“I didn’t know they existed,
” she said. 
“During freshman year of college, I was 
feeling very surrounded by Christianity, and 
I felt I needed a Jewish outlet.
”
She went to Sam Adler, who was the 
chair of the composition department at 
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New 
York, to ask for guidance. It was beshert. 
Adler recommended her for the cantorial 
soloist position at Temple B’rith Kodesh 
in Rochester where she ultimately worked 
during her sophomore, junior and senior 
years.
After college, she had various jobs across 
the country, and Kalmowitz would contact 

the local temples to be a cantorial soloist 
sub. She even subbed at Temple Beth El 
when she was getting her master’s degree at 
the University of Michigan.
Rabbi Daniel Syme brought her to 
Temple Beth El in 2004 where she started as 
a cantorial soloist.
In 2016, Kalmowitz received her 
Cantorial Certification from Hebrew Union 
College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
“It was a lot of work. It was four years of 
a very intensive process,
” says Kalmowitz, 
who completed the cantorial program in the 
same cohort as now-Cantor Neil Michaels 
of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. “I 
became a cantor while I was working full 
time at Temple Beth El, and I had a young 
child. I was attending classes in person and 
virtually, and we spent a whole summer 
together in Jerusalem.
”
Just like that busy time for Kalmowitz, 
she’s finding a way to make it work as she’s 
about to open in Baby.
“I am incredibly grateful that my col-
leagues, particularly Rabbis Miller and 
Brudney, have been so supportive of my 
desire to do the show.
” 

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CELEBRATING THE 2023 HONOREES

JIM 
AUGUST
BARBARA 
COHEN
DENNIS 
FRANK
ROSLYN 
GARBER
DR. RICHARD 
KRUGEL
PHYLLIS 
LEWKOWICZ
JANET 
PONT
ELLIE 
SLOVIS

Jewish Senior Life’s Eight Over Eighty recognizes eight distinguished leaders in our community, all over the age of 80, 

who have demonstrated a lifetime of dedication to the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World.

SAVE THE DATE 
30TH ANNIVERSARY GALA LUNCHEON*
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023 
CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK

*Streaming option available