Marcia Lane is the new cantor at Temple Beth El in Ocean Township.
Storyteller, author, recording artist, arts administrator, teacher and most recently cantor, Marcia Lane has been named Cantor at Temple Beth El (Conservative), 301 Monmouth Rd., Oakhurst.
“We are fortunate to have Marcia Lane as our cantor, said Rabbi Gordon Yaffe, Beth El’s spiritual leader. Her beautiful voice, musical talent, and breadth of knowledge, together with her warm, energetic, compassionate, spiritual and engaging personality, bring a new and exciting dimension to our congregation.
I’m so excited about the variety of musical possibilities here at Temple Beth El! We’ve started a music program with the students in the religious school, we have a new community chorus starting in November. Also, the congregation is really eager to learn new music from diverse Jewish musical traditions. Truly, this place is like a cantor’s dream come true.”
Previously, she was rabbi/cantor at Congregation Ahavath Israel, Kingston, NY; cantor at Congregation Sons of Israel, Nyack, NY, and rabbi/cantor at Beth El Synagogue, Torrington, CT. Her rabbinic and cantorial training was at the Academy for Jewish Religion where she received the Rabbi Chana Timoner Award for Creative Use of Liturgy. She also was a rabbinic fellow at the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL).
Prior to that, she was Director of Youth Volunteer Programs at DOROT, a New York City agency serving seniors’ needs; Assistant Director of Education at Carnegie Hall, and was an educator, author and storyteller at every major art museum in New York City. As a storyteller, she performed in schools, libraries, museums, and at conferences and festivals throughout the U.S. and in Canada, England and Sweden. She was creator and performer of The Amtrak Storytelling Odyssey I and II, which brought storytelling programs to 39 communities across the U.S.
Her TV appearances have included Romper Room and Kids TV. Her own radio program, “Stories From the Enchanted Loom” aired on radio station WNYE, in the New York area, and dozens of other public radio stations.
Cantor Lane’s first book, Picturing the Rose: Ways of Understanding Fairy Tales, was published in 1994 by H.W. Wilson., and the picture book, Chistoph Wants a Party, by Kane-Miller Books, 1995. Her three audio tapes, produced by A Gentle Wind, are Tales on the Wind, Stories From the Enchanted Loom and River of Stars, winner of the NAIRD “Indie” award for excellence in children’s storytelling, and the Parents’ Choice award. Her performance of “The Twelve Huntsmen” is part of H.W Wilson’s The American Storytelling (video) Series.
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