Rabbi Leo Michel Abrami Cantor David Montefiore Sisterhood
Rabbi Leo Michel Abrami
Was born in Paris, France. He was a hidden child in Normandy during World War II.
He studied at the Séminaire Israélite de France and the University de Geneva, Switzerland, where he obtained a B.S. degree. He graduated from the Charles Baudouin Institute of Psychoanalysis, Geneva, and from the Institute of Logotherapy, Berkeley, California. He then enrolled at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, OH, where he received a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters degree and was ordained as a rabbi. He served congregations in Berkeley and Long Beach, CA, Johannesburg, South Africa and Beth Emeth Congregation, Sun City West, AZ. After retiring from the pulpit ten years ago, he returned to his first vocation, existential analysis, and undertook a literary career.
He taught Judaic studies at the Bureau of Jewish Education, Scottsdale, AZ and various courses at the Sun City Grand Learning Program. He is the director of the Arizona Institute of Logotherapy accredited by Viktor Frankl Institute, Vienna, Austria
He has published several books in French and English: Une Démarche Thérapeutique, la Logothérapie, Editions Téqui, Paris, 2006; A l’Ombre de l’Etoile, Souvenirs d’un Enfant Caché, L’Harmattan, 2010; The Eleventh Commandment, A Jewish Childhood in Nazi-Occupied France, Albion-Andalous, Boulder, 2012; La Recherche du Sens en Analyse Existentielle et Logothérapie, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2015 and a translation from the French, The Mission of Abbé Glasberg, Righteous Among the Nations, by Lucien Lazare, Amsterdam Publishers, Netherlands, 2016. He has contributed to The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, Eisenman and Wise and Logotherapy and Existential Analysis, Proceedings of the Viktor Frankl Institute, Vienna, vol.1 (2016).
He has made presentations at the conferences of the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy, Houston, TX; Viktor Frankl Institute, Vienna, Austria; the International Network on Personal Meaning, Toronto, Canada; lectured at the Sigmund Freud University-Paris branch, in May 2016 and is planning to deliver a paper at the Conference of Holocaust Survivors which will take place in Los Angeles in November.
Cantor David Montefiore
David Montefiore was born in war-torn London, England to a life of music, where his father was First Cantor of the United Synagogue in London. David’s vocal diversity has brought him international acclaim. His vast repertoire, which includes opera, oratorio, lieder, musical theatre, and cantorial recitatives, has been performed for audiences throughout North America, Europe and Israel. The tenor made his Carnegie Hall debut with the St. Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus, followed by a European debut with the Rome Festival. In 1985, with the Haifa Symphony, Montefiore was introduced to Israeli audiences as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata.
Alfredo remains one of Montefiore’s favorite operatic roles, along with Nemorino, Nadir, Edgardo and the Duke of Mantua. His oratorio performances include Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Haydn’s The Creation, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Mendelsohn’s Paulus and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. On radio, Montefiore has appeared on a wide range of programs, such as WNYC’s Opera Stars of TomolTow and WQXR’s The Listening Room. Television and film guest appearances include Constitution Hall Anniversary (PBS), The Ninth Miracle (WPIX), A Matter of Conscience (Emmy Award winner, CBS), The Joe Franklin Show (WWOR), and NBC Today.
As Artistic Director and founding member of the American Opera Repertory Company, David Montefiore directed and performed many of the standard operas in New York City.
Montefiore studied voice with Giulio Gari and Milan Petrovic of the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Olga Ryss of the Julliard School of Music. In England, he received a scholarship to study opera repertoire with Maestro Manfredi Argento at La Scala, Milan.
Today, Montefiore is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, Actors’ Equity, and a Voting Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. His recordings of opera and cantorial recitatives are available through his international representatives, BEHAR/BERG, U.S.A.
Note: A number of U Tubes recorded by the cantor are freely available on the Internet.
Sisterhood
You know that old joke “Behind every successful man is an exhausted woman”?
Well behind every thriving synagogue is an enthusiastic and willing Sisterhood and Beth Emeth is no exception. Our members conduct the annual Sisterhood Shabbat service, fund-raise, cater, decorate the sukkah, present community programs and generally are even more indispensable than you can imagine.
Below is the framework of our plans for the year, additions often happen and we’re always interested in new members and new ideas.
Usually all Board Meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m.
All Sisterhood Membership Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month usually at 1:00 p.m. Please mark the dates of the Sisterhood Meetings. Any woman who has joined Beth Emeth Congregation since March 2016 is a member of Sisterhood until Dec. 2016.
Watch this site for coming activities.