Former opera singer Shir Rozzen, whose first name means ‘song,’ has joined Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County in Delray Beach as its cantorial soloist. Photo provided
By Janis Fontaine
When Shir Rozzen sings at Rosh Hashanah services this month, it will be her first High Holy Days at her first cantorial job.
As a transplant from the opera world, she’s up to the singing challenge. As for the rest, she says, “I’m excited and I’m happy and I’ve got a lot to learn!”
Rozzen joined Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County in Delray Beach as its cantorial soloist on July 1. Sitting at her desk at the synagogue, which is covered with papers and books and sheet music, Rozzen says she never dreamed of being a cantor, but “I was always more spiritual than everybody else. I read Bible stories at bedtime.”
Born in Israel 35 years ago, she was raised on an Israeli Air Force base (her father was a fighter pilot and later base commander). Her love of music wasn’t encouraged by her mother, who once had dreams of singing, too.
But Rozzen knew her voice was special. “I would sing, and the neighbors would come with chairs to listen.”
At age 8, she took singing lessons behind her parents’ backs. At age 11 (and two years too young), Rozzen auditioned at a performing arts high school without her parents’ permission. The school made an exception and admitted her.
Rozzen’s chutzpah didn’t falter. She told her father she was using her bat mitzvah money to go to New York to audition at Juilliard, and rather than argue, he took her there. “My father and I were the closest of souls.”
With only the name and a photograph of the woman who would decide her future, Rozzen entered Juilliard’s lobby and began to sing. She performed for 45 minutes before the woman she needed to impress came down the elevator. Juilliard found a place for Rozzen.
Later, she transferred to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which brought her to Palm Beach for a performance when she was 20 years old. She says she knew from that first visit that she would live here some day.
No surprise, she did. Rozzen moved to Boca Raton eight years ago, and when COVID hit and performances were canceled, she reinvented herself.
She opened the Rozzen School of the Arts, a hybrid online and in-person private teaching program that is home to the American College Agency for Young Artists, a program that helps young musicians pursue admission to the best performing arts institutions. Student enrollment exploded and Rozzen felt blessed for her success.
Still an Israeli citizen, Rozzen qualified for a green card to stay in the United States because of her extraordinary ability in the arts. She will be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship in three years, she said.
About 18 months ago, her father got sick and Rozzen returned to Israel to care for him. While she was there, she met David Yanas, an Israeli Air Force mechanic. He offered his support as she nursed then grieved for her father. They were engaged after three months, and they married five months ago.
Now the newlyweds have a new home together and Rozzen has a new job. Yanas is pursuing a college degree that will let him continue his aviation career in the United States.
When you ask how she plans to balance all her responsibilities, she says, “On two feet,” with a wide smile, proof a sense of humor always helps. “I’ve come to the confident realization that there is so much I don’t know, and I’ve found peace with that.”
Shir means ‘song’
Performing an aria on stage and singing in the house of the Lord are similar but different, Rozzen says. “I get joy from both, but it’s a different kind of joy. In both cases, I’m singing from the heart. When I am singing at services, I get love from the first row. I feel the souls in the audience responding to me. It’s intimate.
“In opera, when I sing, I’m performing a character. The audience is there to escape and forget. At services, you deal with your problems, you confront the deepest scars on your soul. My goal with my singing is always to make them feel something.”
Rozzen felt a connection to Temple Sinai Rabbi Steven Moss the first time they met. “He opened the door for me. I saw his eyes and I knew he saw me.”
Rabbi Moss felt it too. “I’m appreciative of genuine and authentic people and she is one,” he says. He said one of the congregants asked Rozzen to sing at her birthday and requested “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis. “I saw their souls connecting. When she is singing, she’s interacting deeply with people.”
Moss has worked with many cantors in more than four decades as a rabbi. “I know what to look for,” he says. “I think her close relationship with her father gave her a determination to succeed that has served her. She needs that because she has so much to learn.”
And what a time to begin! Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are intertwined days of reflection and repentance. Rosh Hashanah has lots of beautiful songs, Rozzen says, and she and Rabbi Moss worked together to choose the music. “Our goal is to keep tradition but bring color.”
Each day of Rosh Hashanah, prayers ask for help correcting mistakes from the past year. Jews ask for assistance to become better Jews and better people.
“These are not holidays,” Rabbi Moss says. “These are Holy Days. They begin a period of self-reflection, followed by asking oneself, ‘What do you do going forward?’ Our spiritual life should follow us all year long.”
These are also days of hope, Rabbi Moss says.
“I’m very concerned about the future and our place in it. But I believe one of the core values of Judaism is hope for the future. We have to believe God has given us the ability to make the world better. We are a people of hope.”
L’shana tovah u’metukah! (“For a good and sweet year.”)
Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com
Comments