Adina Klein Ackerman
Summary
I am a skilled, highly-motivated, Conservative-ordained hazzan with extensive experience serving Conservative congregations of all sizes and styles as a service leader, educator, tutor, and life-cycle facilitator. My many years of davening, solo performance, and choral/ensemble work have made me adept at understanding the personality and needs of a community, and at helping that community learn and grow together as a kahal kadosh, a holy congregation.
Overview
37
37
years of professional experience
Work History
Cantor
Shaare Tefila Congregation
07.2018 - Current
- Lead Shabbat, holiday, and High Holiday services
- Collaborate on planning and leading multi-congregational services and events (e.g. S'lichot, Tish'a b'Av)
- Tutor b'nai mitzvah, conventional learners as well as those with learning differences
- Recruit, conduct, and arrange music for a High Holiday congregational choir
- Lead services and songs, read Megillah, and coach youth and adult Megillah readers for our Purim Eve Megillah reading
- Pre-pandemic, taught prayer and music in our Religious School; organized and led alternative Friday night services
- Have periodically conducted funerals and burials
B'nai Mitzvah Tutor and Religious School Teacher
Congregation Olam Tikvah
09.2012 - Current
- Tutor b'nai mitzvah, conventional learners as well as those who learn differently
- Teach prayer and prayerbook Hebrew in small-group settings
- Pre-pandemic, taught Torah trope to Religious School 5th and 6th graders
Cantor and Music Teacher
Gesher Jewish Day School
09.2005 - 06.2012
- Taught Jewish and general music, grades K-5
- Ran weekday morning and Friday afternoon (Kabbalat Shabbat) all-school prayer services
- Taught Torah and Megillah chanting
- Directed a yearly all-school musical production
Cantor
Congregation Rodfei Zedek
07.1992 - 06.1995
- Led all Shabbat, holiday, and High Holiday services (High Holidays with a professional choir)
- Tutored all b'nai mitzvah
- Chanted Torah, Haftarah, and Megillot
- Trained and led a youth choir, which participated in numerous services and congregational music programs
- Taught synagogue skills, Jewish music, and Hebrew to learners ranging in age from seniors to kindergarteners
- Offered adult education classes and lectures
- Helped to plan and represented the congregation at community musical and ritual events
Cantor
Congregation Shomrei Emunah
07.1988 - 06.1992
- Led Shabbat, holiday, and High Holiday services
- Read a full Torah portion every other Shabbat, and on most holidays including the High Holidays
- Taught all b'nai mitzvah (7-15 students/year), individually and as a group
- Purim services and Megillah reading
- Lifecycle events: weddings, baby-namings, funerals and burials
- Ritual Committee membership
- Community and interfaith services and events
- Crafted and led alternative Shabbat services
- Crafted and led children's Shabbat services
Education
Post-Graduate Study - Ethnomusicology
University of Chicago
Chicago, ILMaster of Sacred Music (MSM), Cantorial Ordination -
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
New York, NY05-1992
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Illustration/Design
Massachusetts College of Art And Design
Boston, MA05-1988
Skills
- Engaging congregants in Jewish prayer, study, and culture
- Experienced educator of students ranging in age from preschoolers to elders
- Choir conducting
- Music composition and arrangement
- Creating an environment that invites participatory prayer
- Teamwork: I rarely work alone!
Accomplishments
- One of the first women to be ordained as a Conservative hazzan, and to be commissioned by the Cantors Assembly
- Co-composed and arranged the music for a Friday night service in American folk style
- Taught music to Jewish preschoolers, and they liked it!
- Led services for groups ranging from undergraduate/graduate Hillel minyans, to Jewish summer campers, to large and small synagogues, to a Jewish old age home, and they liked it!
- Sang in many concerts and on recordings, in the USA and in Israel
- Taught courses and gave lectures on subjects ranging from Torah to Jewish music to Israeli culture
Languages
English
Hebrew
Yiddish
French
Timeline
Cantor
Shaare Tefila Congregation
07.2018 - Current
B'nai Mitzvah Tutor and Religious School Teacher
Congregation Olam Tikvah
09.2012 - Current
Cantor and Music Teacher
Gesher Jewish Day School
09.2005 - 06.2012
Cantor
Congregation Rodfei Zedek
07.1992 - 06.1995
Cantor
Congregation Shomrei Emunah
07.1988 - 06.1992
Post-Graduate Study - Ethnomusicology
University of Chicago
Master of Sacred Music (MSM), Cantorial Ordination -
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Illustration/Design
Massachusetts College of Art And Design
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