Cantor Lori Brock, retiring after 29 years of service, is featured in Temple Beth El’s quarterly publication. Photo provided
By Janis Fontaine
If not for a tragedy, we might be celebrating Lori Brock for her achievements on the stage. Instead, we’re celebrating her 29 years serving Temple Beth El in Boca Raton.
In 1991, the young actress was on her way to audition for a Long John Silver’s fast-food commercial with her husband, actor Larry Belkin, when a car accident on Interstate 95 killed him and left Lori a widow with two young children under 4.
“The person who helped me from my car was a retired person from the Israeli army,” she said by phone. “I remember looking up into the sky and I said, God, I am not prepared for this. Just show me what to do.”
She stood alone on the side of the road, cars whizzing by, the worst day of her life, asking for God’s help. Two thoughts came to mind: “Thank God my children weren’t in the car.” Her second thought: “I really am a woman of faith.”
Lori and Larry had joined Temple Beth El in 1991 as a young married couple. Their work as performers kept them busy on many Friday nights, but they still felt at home there. A call to the synagogue after the accident brought clergy members running.
“Rabbi Singer came off the golf course and sat with me, and Ann Turnoff, the cantor, came to the house. The sisterhood brought dinner,” Cantor Lori said. The accident “really made me dig deep and find faith. After, it seemed like a career in theater and commercials wasn’t going to be fulfilling enough.”
Cantor Ann offered her a path that would prove not just healing but life-changing. She asked Lori to sing at a bar mitzvah. Cantor Lori says she was more nervous than the student, but she knew from that moment that this was her calling. “This met my need to find purpose in my life, to find deep meaning, and to heal. To have a community like Temple Beth El was unbelievable.”
Rabbi Dan Levin remembers hearing Cantor Lori sing for the first time: “It wasn’t just the quality of her voice. It was the energy and the spirit behind it.”
Cantor Lori explains: “Music facilitates the prayer. Music is the pathway for the words. It helps people pray and it enhances their prayers. Music touches the soul where words can’t.”
She became a cantorial soloist in 1997 and served as assistant cantor soon after, learning on the job from Cantor Ann and filling in until after Stephen Dubov died in 2006. After searching for another cantor, the synagogue agreed she was the best choice. She worked closely with Rabbi Levin and studied on her own, but she didn’t become ordained or certified until 2016 when she completed her coursework at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College.
Once committed to her new vocation, Cantor Lori worked closely with the rabbis to make Temple Beth El even more welcoming and accessible, to make her congregation members an active part of prayer and worship, using music as a tool to reach them. She saw herself as a conduit for the people, helping them to establish a deeper relationship with both God and their synagogue. Cantor Lori didn’t just sing and pray for people; she encouraged them to sing and pray for themselves.
Cantor Lori encouraged Passover seders infused with music from Broadway to Billy Joel and was the force behind many of the most innovative Shabbat experiences. She created programs such as Chanukah Under the Stars, which has helped build the temple’s local reputation, along with Friends of Music and the Arts, a cultural program that uses the arts to bring people to worship.
“We feel there are a lot of portals of entry to finding spirituality. Some people like to attend services. Some people will be moved by a film or a concert or an author. We try to create a balanced season of cultural events so that people can be inspired by Judaism through the arts. We’ve had some incredible art exhibitions in the synagogue,” she said, adding that this pet project is one she’ll continue to work during retirement.
Retirement — she’s only 65 but she’s been doing this almost half her life — is a blessing for which she appears prepared.
“Mostly I will be in the congregation enjoying watching my colleagues lead worship. But I’m going to teach, and I’m going to officiate at weddings and funerals.”
She’s also going to lead kosher wine tastings at exotic locations combined with studies about Judaism in the locality. Recently in Portugal, she got to worship in centuries-old synagogues.
Michelle Auslander Cohen, senior cantorial associate, and Chris Mason, cantorial soloist, will succeed Cantor Lori, who hopes through her example she’s helped others have a more personal relationship with God.
“I walk around talking to God all day, and I feel such a sense of safety knowing that I’m not living life alone, that the Holy One is here with me, and I want to show people how to find that relationship. Even if they don’t believe in God, that there’s something beyond them to trust and have faith in,” she said.
“Each day is an opportunity to find goodness, to do something good with your life, to make your day count. You can choose to be happy. It’s just teaching people to try to look at things in an optimistic way and to have faith; to know we are part of a strong people, a people who believe in good moral choices and making the world better for other people.
“I think the lesson to be learned is that even in the darkest times, there’s a light. Let that little bit of light guide you, give you hope, and give you faith that things will get better.”
Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com.
Service to honor Cantor Lori Brock
A special Shabbat Evening Service honoring Cantor Lori Brock will take place at 7:30 p.m. May 15 at Temple Beth El’s Schaefer Family Campus, 333 SW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton. Everyone is invited to honor Cantor Lori as she transitions to Cantor Emerita and to celebrate with a special Oneg. The service is available for livestreaming; find the link at tbeboca.org/event/shabbat-evening-services-honoring-cantor-lori-brock/
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