Volunteer of the Month: Cantor Dick Botton

Rabbi-Cantor Dick Botton is a graduate of HUC-SSM and holds a PHD in Music.  He also holds a degree from Adelphi University. He is Cantor Emeritus at Central Synagogue in New York City.  He is a past-President of the ACC, and also former Director of Placement. He was a co-teacher of the senior seminar at HUC-JIR, DFSSM and also counseled students on life after graduation. He also taught at the Academy for Jewish Religion and currently runs the Botton Voice Studio, and still does Cantorial work. Dick comes from a Sephardic background and has a major interest in Ladino music. He still travels performing his “Ladino Reverie” show.  He is also one of the first to officiate at same-sex marriages. On Sunday, April 21, Dick will be performing at the Metropolitan Room in New York. It will be his first cabaret show.  

In what capacity have you volunteered for the ACC?

I can’t remember all of them. I was head of the Joint Committee for Cantorial Placement (JCPC) for a while. I was both Vice-President and President of the ACC. I was the first Cantor to serve on the HUC-JIR New York Board of Overseers and was responsible for getting Doctorates for Cantors. I am the Emeritus Placement Director. People still call me regarding interview process. I get calls all the time about doing Ladino programs and questions about pronunciation of the Ladino language. I have a book of Ladino music, Anthology of Jewish Art Song Vol. 1 The Ladino Collection, arranged by Richard Neumann. It is available through Transcontinental Music. I help whenever I can. I still love the ACC, the profession, the cantorate.

What’s the best thing about being a Cantor?

Winning the hearts of the people in the congregation, and winning their trust. And loving everything that I do.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the cantorate, looking to the future?

I think that one of the biggest challenges, musically, is trying to keep a Nusach America, which is tasteful and true to liturgical text. Now, I did the first service in the Jazz idiom, I commissioned Chuck Davison to write  “David Danced Before the Lord” many years ago.  So I’m not an old fuddy-duddy. I love some of the new stuff people have written, like Debbie Friedman.  A lot of the things that are written today are delicious, and wonderful interpretations of our text; I like to use certain things, but some things like the Kiddush is done in the Adonai Malach mode.  We have to be true to the liturgical text, that’s the most important thing we can do. Otherwise it’s a cabaret or a hootenanny. I think we need to do a ‘Nusach America’ that is tasteful, appropriate and is an up-to-date interpretation of what we want to say to God for our congregation.

What influenced you to become a Cantor?

First of all, I come a Sephardic home. My family was very traditional. Then I became a professional singer. At 17 I was in the Professional Choir at Temple Emanuel of New York. Through there Lazar Saminsky and Arthur Wolfson talked me into it.  They said I should go to school to be a cantor. I was a substitute Cantor whenever Lazar Saminsky went on vacation. I had a friend of mine, Albert Sturmer, who going to start at the Seminary (JTS). I studied at the seminary for a year then switched to HUC, because it was a better school. I loved every minute of it, and still love every minute of it. I still do occasional weddings, and sub for people.

Tell us one thing about yourself that we might not know that you would want us to learn about you?

I am politically active. I worked on the Obama campaign.  I’ve become an exercise fiend. I exercise every day now.  And I’m trying to eat healthy.