Cantor marks 40 years

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“In a place where there is no man, be a man,” is a teaching from Jewish literature called Ethics of the Fathers in which Cantor Steven Sher, 68, finds both passion and strength. After 40 years in the cantorate and connecting with Jewish people all around the world, Sher has found peace at the Temple B’nai Torah in Wantagh.

“It’s so profound that it hasn’t hit me yet,” Sher said. “Forty years has come with everything — good, bad and otherwise. In some ways, it comes with a sense of achievement and accomplishment, and in other ways, I maximized my skills to the best of my ability.”

Sher, originally from St. Paul, Minn., worked as a counselor and therapist in residential treatment settings before studying for the cantorate. He specialized in adolescent crisis intervention and treatment and worked in group, family and music therapy with client populations in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York. Once he became a cantor, he served in that role in congregations in New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania. He has been the cantor at Temple B’nai Torah for seven years.

“I became a cantor because it satisfied a profession that allowed me to use the skills that I have and the things that I like to do all rolled into one,” Sher added.

It wasn’t until he was 22 that he made the decision to move to New York. After being offered two positions as a youth director, in Minneapolis and Great Neck, he decided to take a chance and move halfway across the country.

“I like to say that I took the wrong way on the highway of life,” Sher said. “It was a very difficult decision, because the comfort zone was going back to Minneapolis and the unknown was in New York. I chose what was uncomfortable because I wanted to take the road less traveled.”

“When you look around my office, you will see 40 years in the making,” Sher said. “I have a series that I have done for many years called the ‘Wandering Jew,’ in which I go and visit exotic Jewish communities around the world.”

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