JSLI’s Cantorial School is a two-year online program that leads to ordination as Cantor (Hazzan) and Spiritual Leader. When you finish, you’re prepared to lead services and officiate at Jewish and interfaith holidays and lifecycle events. You join a community of more than 250 JSLI rabbis and cantors serving congregations around the world.
The four musical modules
The curriculum is divided into four modules. You work through them in order, and you need to show you can lead the services in each one.
- High Holidays: the nusach and liturgy of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
- Shabbat: Friday night and Shabbat morning services
- Weekdays: daily services and the weekday modes
- Festivals: Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot
Where the music comes from
Each module’s nusach is drawn from the cantorial textbooks of renowned hazzanim. We’ve newly recorded every selection to match the written music, so you can hear exactly how it should sound as you learn it. Our teaching follows the Reform prayerbooks Mishkan T’filah and Mishkan HaNefesh, and we also teach you to blend traditional nusach with modern congregational melodies so you can serve many kinds of communities.
How classes work
You meet online every other week from September through June with your teacher, an experienced practicing cantor, in a small hevruta-style session. Every class gives you time to sing, get feedback and show your progress. You don’t need to play an instrument, but if you do, we’ll help you arrange selections with chords.
Lifecycle and pastoral training
Cantorial students join JSLI’s rabbinical students for our lifecycle Master Classes: officiating at Jewish and interfaith weddings, funerals, b’nai mitzvah and baby namings, along with pastoral counseling. You come out ready to serve as a full spiritual leader.
Requirements
You’ll need a good singing voice, the ability to read simple music notation, and the ability to read Hebrew in a siddur and machzor. See Cantorial Admissions and Fees for the full requirements and tuition, or go back to the Cantorial School overview.