Part-Time Cantor

Job Description: Part-Time Cantor at Columbia Jewish Congregation
30 hours per week

The Cantor is an integral part of sustaining and growing our community and the Congregation’s Jewish identity. The Cantor is a part of our clergy team, tending to the spiritual life of the Congregation through music and song. As a teacher of Torah, Hebrew and liturgy, the Cantor will imbue the love of language and text in both children and adults. The Cantor should be collaborative, innovative and creative, while showing a true understanding of and respect for our evolving Jewish civilization.
General Responsibilities

• Collaborate with clergy in creating and leading innovative and meaningful worship
• Lead or co-lead Shabbat (Friday and Saturday) High Holy Day and other holiday and festival worship
• Torah reading and/or supervision
• Participate in life cycle events of congregants, including interfaith weddings
• Perform pastoral and life cycle duties and visits to the sick

B’nai Mitzvah Program

• Tutor B’nai Mitzvah students to lead the service including reciting/singing prayers and chanting Torah (6 students 7/22-6/23)
• Work with Rabbi to ensure students are fully prepared for their B’nai Mitzvah

Musical Direction
• Supervise and direct congregational music programs, including adult choir
• Hire and coordinate accompanists
• Play guitar or other musical instrument, preferred

Education Responsibilities
• Willingness to teach a variety of ages and interest groups. This includes:
o Adult education classes (2 per year)
o Periodic classroom visits in the Hebrew school
 Tot Shabbat activities

Synagogue Leadership, Administration and Community Responsibilities
• Work within an established budget
• Participate in monthly professional staff meetings
• Create and participate in community events and concerts (Jewish and interfaith)
• Staff synagogue committees as needed
• Work collaboratively with the Rabbi, other synagogue staff and congregational leadership
• Collaborate with the Jewish Federation of Howard County, other congregations that share space with us at Oakland Mills Interfaith Center, and other religious and non-religious organizations in the
community.
• Will report to the Co-Presidents

QUALIFICATIONS
• Knowledge of nusach and prayers
• Knowledge of trope – torah, haftorah and megillah preferred
• Knowledge of prayer books (Kol HaNeshamah Series)
• Knowledge of liturgy of life cycle events
• Ability to read Hebrew and Torah
• Ability to sing and lead congregants in singing
• Ability to read music
• Ability to lead choirs
• Ability to teach children and adults
• Knowledge and competency in computer usage (including Microsoft Office, recording audio files, using Zoom and other communication tools)

About Columbia Jewish Congregation
Columbia Jewish Congregation (CJC), located in the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center in Columbia, MD is a welcoming, egalitarian community affiliated with Reconstructing Judaism (the Reconstructionist movement.) CJC was founded in the late 1960’s by residents who brought an experimental spirit and desire to create a more personal Jewish community than the synagogue life of their youth. They wanted to raise their children in a progressive environment open to all varieties of Jewish practice and learning. In 1970 CJC and the Columbia Jewish Community School (CJCS) were incorporated. Now an established congregation of 250 households, including traditional, interfaith, same‐sex families, and singles, CJC strives to be an inspirational Jewish home that lives Torah values in our congregation and the broader community.

Salary and Benefits
Columbia Jewish Congregation offers a competitive salary/parsonage range of $65,000 - $72,000 plus medical, dental, vision and disability insurance and vacation.