Volunteer of the Month and Volunteer of the Year 2008: Cantor Andrew Bernard

Cantor Andrew Bernard of Temple Beth El of Charlotte, NC, received the first ever ACC President’s Award for Volunteerism. The award was presented at the 2008 ACC/GTM Convention in San Francisco, CA, on July 2, 2008. Andy was interviewed by Cantor Rosalie Boxt of Temple Emanuel of Kensington, MD. Rosalie is an officer of the ACC. 

How do you make the time in your busy cantorate for the ACC?  And why, when there are many other things you probably need to do?

All of us in the cantorate have the challenge of balancing a wide range of demands on our time. I've worked hard over the years to focus on the areas in which I can make the best use of my talents and to shift off of my plate those activities that can be better handled by others. It's been a long process, but I think it makes me a more valuable cantor to everyone. The other crucial element has been to make sure that all of my activities that are not directly related to my congregation still bring a benefit here to the Temple. Whether I'm attending meetings or teaching, I'm gaining new insights, sharing ideas with and being challenged by the best people our movement has to offer, and learning new techniques and repertoire – all of which I can bring home. It inspires me as a professional and gives me new tools for my work at home. I feel like I get at least as much out of volunteering my time for the ACC as I give.

What do you like to do completely unrelated to your cantorate?

Swimming. It's all about the swimming...and occasionally hanging out in my favorite coffee shop (it's a Seattle thing).

How do you try to inspire young people toward Judaism and Jewish music?

Perhaps the thing I'm most proud of is the b'nei mitzvah program I've been able to create over the past nine years. When I arrived in Charlotte, our numbers were growing so fast I knew I would be unable to handle the program alone. In my second year, I asked five of my 8th grade students if they'd help me tutor. Now I have 45-50 eighth through twelfth graders who teach for me. Six of my best tutors just left for college, one of them begging me to help him figure out how he could continue teaching when he went off to school. Giving kids the responsibility and helping them develop their own skills so they can pass Judaism onto others – it doesn't get any more rewarding than that. We've also developed a teen band and teen vocal ensemble program over the past few years. They are very high-maintenance and full of themselves, but have made a huge Impact on congregational worship. Some of them can actually chant services while I'm away. Before I went to cantorial school, I worked with a rabbi who told me that our job as Jewish professionals is to put ourselves out of business. I figure that this is a good first step.

What do you enjoy most about your work on WMRL?

Sitting on the Joint Commission on Worship, Music and Religious Living is to engage in conversation about the work I love most with some of the most thoughtful, brilliant and creative minds in the Reform movement. WMRL is a laboratory for the most high-level creativity I'm involved in. To have the opportunity to share ideas with such a diverse and dynamic group of people is a dream for me.

What's your favorite piece for YN?

There is so much music that is powerful for the holidays. But I'd have to say that the most moving moment for me doesn't involve any of the "big" pieces. Rather, chanting Bar'chu on Erev Rosh Hashanah – with the melody that we hear again for the first time in a year – represents the very moment in which we can leave the old year behind and open ourselves to all the possibilities that the new year can bring.