Location: Albers Schonberg Room, Kathleen W. Ludwig Center, 9 Suydam St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Presented by the Jewish Music Forum, a Project of the American Society for Jewish Music
- Cantor Susan Mandell, Temple Emanu-El of Edison, NJ, 1964–1978
- Cantor Kalix Jacobson, Temple Emanuel of South Hills, Pittsburgh, PA
- Gordon Dale, Dr. Jack Gottlieb Scholar in Jewish Music Studies, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, NY
A graduate of Douglass College, Susan Mandell was the cantor of Congregation Emanu-El of Edison, New Jersey, for fourteen years in a time before women were formally ordained. As a pioneering woman in the field of Jewish liturgical music, Mandell’s life tells us much about the entry of women into religious leadership roles in the 20th century, a history that is little known. In conversation with Cantor Kalix Jacobson, who discovered Mandell’s story while doing research for a master’s thesis, Mandell will share her experience as one of the only female cantors of the 1960s and 1970s. Ethnomusicologist Gordon Dale will offer historical context for her experience.
Cosponsors: The Bildner Center; Douglass Residential College; Department of Music, Mason Gross School of the Arts; Temple Emanu-El of Edison
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Presenters
A music education major at Douglass College in the class of 1964, Susan Mandell was discovered by Rabbi Paul Levinson of the newly founded Temple Emanu-El of Edison, New Jersey, at a performance she gave at Rutgers. To her great surprise, she was asked to audition for the role of cantor for this new Reform synagogue, as the Reform Movement had become open to the notion of females taking on cantorial roles. Mandell served as the cantor of Temple Emanu-El of Edison from 1964–1978.
Kalix Jacobson (they/them) is the cantor of Temple Emanuel of South Hills in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They were ordained by Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC–JIR) in New York in 2023 and received their masters in Jewish nonprofit management the same year. While doing research for their master’s thesis, Jacobson stumbled on Susan Mandell’s story in a newspaper archive. Realizing its importance, Jacobson was the first to do research on Mandell’s tenure at Temple Emanu-El of Edison, New Jersey, compiling materials such as newspaper clippings, interviews, and sheet music. It was a particular honor for Jacobson to connect with one of the first women cantors in history, as they are one of the first nonbinary cantors in history.
Gordon Dale is the Dr. Jack Gottlieb Scholar in Jewish Music Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and an assistant professor of Jewish musicology in the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. He has conducted extensive research in the Hasidic communities of New York and Israel and has lectured across the United States on topics related to Israeli popular music, Jewish music, and mysticism. His book, The Life and Complete Works of Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker (Jewish Music Research Centre, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), received the 2021 Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award. Dale is currently the executive director of the Jewish Music Forum, a project of the American Society for Jewish Music, and is a past president of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Special Interest Group for Jewish Music.
