JSLI’s online Cantorial School trains you to lead a Jewish community in soulful, spiritual prayer and leads to ordination as Cantor (Hazzan) and Spiritual Leader. You study from home, one-on-one style with an experienced cantor, and you never have to leave your job or your community. Fewer and fewer cantors are being trained by the mainstream seminaries, while congregations still need someone to lead the High Holidays, Shabbat and lifecycle events. JSLI’s Cantorial School is our answer to that need.
Who it’s for
Maybe you’ve been leading services as a volunteer for years. Maybe you’re a musician who wants to really understand Jewish liturgy, or you simply feel called to serve a congregation through song and prayer. JSLI’s cantorial program is built for you. You don’t need to play an instrument, though if you do, we’ll help you use it.
What you’ll learn
The program is built around four musical modules, each covering the traditional nusach (prayer modes and melodies) for one part of the Jewish year: the High Holidays, Shabbat, Weekdays and the Festivals. Each module’s nusach comes from the cantorial textbooks of renowned hazzanim, newly recorded to match the written music so you can hear it and learn it.
Our nusach is taught for the Reform prayerbooks, Mishkan T’filah and Mishkan HaNefesh, which are used in Reform congregations across North America. We also teach you to blend traditional nusach with the music modern congregations love to sing, so you can serve many kinds of communities. If you play guitar, piano or another instrument, we’ll help you arrange selections with chords.
You’ll also join JSLI’s rabbinical students for our lifecycle Master Classes: officiating at Jewish and interfaith weddings, funerals, b’nai mitzvah and baby namings, plus training in pastoral care. JSLI cantors are trained to be full spiritual leaders, not only singers.
How it works
The cantorial program takes two years and ends with ordination as Cantor and Spiritual Leader at our online Ordination Shabbaton, held each June and December. Every other week, from September through June, you meet online with your teacher, an experienced practicing cantor, in a small hevruta-style session of two students. Each class gives you time to sing, get personal feedback and show your progress. That kind of focused attention is rare even at a traditional seminary.
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. You’ll also need a basic knowledge of Jewish history, texts, Shabbat, the festivals, the High Holidays, ritual and lifecycle, and support for interfaith marriage. Every applicant has a personal interview with Rabbi Steven Blane. If you need more background first, our Mechina preparatory year can help.
Tuition
Full tuition is $18,000 for the complete program, including all four musical modules, the lifecycle classes and the Ordination Shabbaton. There’s a $300 enrollment fee, and cantorial texts run about $300 to $400. Payment plans are available. Details are on the Cantorial Admissions and Fees page.
What our cantors say
“I just wanted to share with you what our Rabbi told the Congregation last night during our evening service. He said that in just this past week, three different families called him to thank him for our Zoom services. They all told him they especially look forward to singing the Mi Shebeirach prayer for healing with me. I was very moved by that. Thank you for your wonderful teaching, and JSLI.” — Cantor Marianne
“The two year cantorial was everything I was looking for. While learning cantorial classics, Rabbi Blane shares his vast experience on what it is like performing these pieces and being a cantor.” — Cantor Becky Bar-Lev Henning
Want the bigger picture first? Read What Is a Cantor? or see the Cantorial School Curriculum.