Cantor/Musical Clergy Leader

This is an exciting time at Bet Torah! Completing a year-long celebration of our 75th Anniversary, the congregation has established itself as a leading synagogue and voice committed to the principles and values of Conservative Judaism. Located in New York’s beautiful Northern Westchester County, with a membership of over 600 families and over 300 students in our Nursery Pre-School and Kulanu Religious School, Bet Torah continues to grow and thrive. The synagogue is currently undertaking a significant Capital Building Program to update our facilities, accommodate future growth, and enhance adaptability, as we continue to seek additional ways to engage the community in all facets of Jewish life. With open arms, we are excited to begin the next chapter of our journey by enhancing the transformative power of our spiritual music and song to our congregation. If you are looking to join the clergy in leading the continuing journey of such a vibrant community, Bet Torah offers the unique opportunity to further your career in directing the community’s future in Tefillah and Music, in partnership with a dynamic Rabbinic leadership, led by our distinguished Senior Rabbi, Aaron Brusso, who has served Bet Torah since 2009, as well as a highly credentialed professional staff and lay leadership. Bet Torah is second to none in offering this path for meaningful professional growth! We offer a caring and warm environment within which to advance professionally and personally, to live Judaism, and to impact thousands of lives righteously. If this is the environment that fits your talents and aspirations, please read our Musical Clergy Leader job description to learn more about this wonderfully inspiring, innovative, creative, joyful, inclusive, collaborative and, of course, musical House of Torah – Bet Torah. We hope you will consider applying to join the Bet Torah family and help lead us as we continue to dream and build to even higher heights our jewish traditions, prayer, song and community. Executive Summary of Responsibilities: The Musical Clergy Leader will work in close partnership with the rabbis to enrich the congregation’s existing spiritual music and close communal life. This role combines liturgical expertise, tefillah and musical leadership, as well as respecting and encouraging community participation in all aspects of services in order to further our long tradition of meaningful and communal worship experiences. Our ideal candidate is a gifted Shaliach Tzibur whose presence, both on and off the Bimah, in and outside the sanctuary, honors and is passionate about Jewish life. You must be halachically knowledgeable, warmly and authentically engaging personally with congregants of all ages, thereby fostering deep personal connections across all the congregation’s constituencies. The position will allow you to further meaningful organizational and substantive changes in synagogue life while still honoring our central traditions. All with the objective of growing our values and continuing our 75-year journey on the path of being a vibrant center of prayer, learning and community. Core Responsibilities: Worship & Music Leadership: Plan and lead engaging Shabbat, holiday, and life-cycle services that integrate music and prayer to inspire participation. Oversee Torah readers, prayer leaders, and lay participants. Ensure readiness and quality of ritual performance, Vision & Innovation: Develop and implement a creative vision for tefillah and music that deepens spiritual engagement. Incorporate best practices and expand musical initiatives (e.g., bands, congregational singing), B’nei Mitzvah Leadership: Partner with tutors, families, and the rabbis to guide students through preparation and service participation. Continuously improve the B’nei Mitzvah experience, Community & Pastoral Engagement: Build strong, caring relationships throughout the congregation. Participate in synagogue programs, visit congregants in times of need, and represent Bet Torah within the broader Jewish and interfaith community, Education: Teach and inspire learners of all ages—youth, teens, and adults—through formal classes and special programs that connect Torah, prayer, and music. Collaborate closely with educational leadership and continue personal study & Collaborative Leadership: Serve as a full partner with Rabbis Brusso and Sacks in advancing Bet Torah’s vision. Take initiative, follow through on commitments, and be a model of professional excellence within a collegial, creative clergy team. Full Job Description: A. Spiritual Leader: As a spiritual leader, fundamental skills, such as vocal resonance, a charismatic presence on the Bimah, liturgical and halachic knowledge, standing as a community role model, the ability to energize a service, and a working knowledge of computer programs that help organize service functions (e.g. Webparsha, Digital Recordings, etc.) are required, but are not sufficient. In order to maximize your collaboration with the Rabbis in creating and leading meaningful worship and musical opportunities, you will also need to demonstrate a high level of competence, creativity, and congregational savvy in other sacred tasks such as: Planning, developing, initiating, and executing on a vision for Tefillah and Music that engages the congregation and widens the circles of participation by the lay community, Taking the lead, from the Bimah and in every other forum, in providing Tefillah and Musical leadership for all Shabbat, High Holidays, and other holiday services, including working closely with the Ushers and the High Holy Days Committe, Assuring that congregants participating in services (leading parts of the prayers or reading from the Torah and Haftarah or other sacred texts, e.g., the Purim Megillah), are ready to perform at an acceptable level, by coaching them and monitoring their progress well before their assigned dates, Being an integral part of the B’nei Mitzvah Program: engaging in the tutoring/preparation process, working closely with the congregation’s current tutor; interfacing with parents and overseeing family service participation; officiating with the Rabbis at every Bar or Bat Mitzvah, and reimagining the B’nei Mitzvah experience by recommending to the Rabbis, Religious Affairs Committee, and the Board Executive as to how the Bar/Bat Mitzvah process can improve, Exploring “Best Practices” (B.O.B –”Best of the Best”) and your experience with diverse models from other congregations and institutes focusing on Tefillah & Music, seeing how they can be incorporated at Bet Torah, Reaching out to members, adult and youth, who are interested and experienced in music to consult and “dream” together about ways to enhance and expand music into the life of the congregation (e.g.,singing groups, bands), including, most importantly, of the prayers themselves. Creating space for congregants to engage in meaningful ways to pursue their interest in music and singing through involvement with the synagogue, Attending regularly, and sometimes leading, morning and evening minyanim during the week, as well as working with those responsible to increase attendance and participation & Working with the Gabbais in overseeing the maintenance of our Torahs and to ensure that they are correctly aligned for their next use & Relationship Builder: Through relationships, we build community and encounter the sacred. Your ability to be a relationship builder–cultivating and creating strong, active, and personal relationships across the congregation– is of the utmost importance. You will be expected to extend yourself to members involved not only in Tefillah and Music, but also in all other areas of synagogue life. In short, you should love being Jewish and a leader of a Jewish community as much, if not more, than you love being a Jewish professional, You must be an approachable, emotionally aware, caring, warm, empathetic, and joyful person, a lover of people, endowed with a sense of humor. We view these as indispensable traits in serving as a relationship builder. This demeanor will need to be one that goes beyond the walls of the sanctuary, including actively building relationships by regularly attending events organized and led by various parts of the Bet Torah community, such as synagogue events sponsored by Board Committees (Israel Affairs, Lifelong Learning, Social Justice, Cultural Affairs), as well as Sisterhood, Men’s Club, the Kulanu Religious School, the Nursery School, and Teen Programming. As such, your presence and the extension of yourself to those in attendance at such events are vital functions of this position. This includes the more difficult, but critically important, pastoral duties of counseling bereaved families, visiting ailing members at home, rehab centers, nursing homes, in the hospital and hospices, as well as leading services at burials and Shivas. Finally, as a member of our clergy, and at the direction of Rabbinic and Board Leadership, you will serve as an emissary of the congregation to those outside Bet Torah. It is expected that you will be able to represent and engage on our behalf with Jewish and other denominational groups in Northern Westchester, Educator: We embrace Torah and Tefillah in all its dimensions as enduring sources for inquiry, introspection, self-discovery, and inspiration. We explore spirituality and seek to innovate our traditions of ritual and prayer. We are a pluralistic and highly participatory congregation united in a commitment to live a vital, passionate, meaningful, and enduring Judaism. As such, along with our Rabbinic leadership, Director of Education and Board of Education, you must be able to serve as a teacher. Learning is a major priority of Bet Torah. Teaching, learning, and working with the youth and adults should fill your heart and soul with joy and excitement. This role extends beyond your responsibilities regarding the preparation of B’nei Mitzvah students or enabling congregational participation in services through member-led prayers or Torah and Haftarah reading. These include: Teaching designated Kulanu (Religious School) classes in coordination with the Director of Education, Offering at least one Adult class during the year as faculty for our Lifelong Learning Program, Involvement in Teen programs that do or could pertain to or incorporate Jewish Tefillah and Music, Offering a Drasha/D’Var Torah on Tefillah and Music at various times during the year, including during Shabbat and Holiday services, that educate the congregation on the background of an important prayer, or series of prayers, and the origins and intent of the musical liturgy that accompanies the prayer, Developing one community evening a year that focuses on Jewish music and singing, Taking an active role as a member of the Religious Affairs Committee in sustaining and improving religious engagement by adults, teens, and Kulanu students & Continuing your own learning in Liturgical and Halachic matters & Full Partner with Rabbinic Leadership: As a full partner with Rabbis Brusso and Sacks, you will be a key driver of their efforts to make Bet Torah’s vision a success. As a full and reliable partner, you will be allowed to imagine, create and fully implement your role as Musical Clergy Leader with full authority. Bet Torah has a high-powered and busy agenda, which is to be expected for a synagogue with over 600 families. As a result, you must have the focus and discipline that will instill the Rabbis with the confidence that all roles and tasks that come under your portfolio will be completed fully and professionally. The Rabbis are extraordinary, highly collaborative colleagues who will support your taking the initiative and leading the way. Once discussed, they will expect you to complete the tasks you lead as per the agreed on plan, doing so within the timeline established and completed in line with the expected results. Compensation & Benefits: Salary ($125,000-$200,000), Housing, Health Care & Pension. Contact: [email protected]. www.bettorah.org. 

(11/28/25)