May 27, 2005/Iyar 18 5765, Volume 57, No. 39
Shalom, l'hitraotCantor Mikhal Shiff-Matter returns to Jerusalem
VICKI CABOT
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 Cantor Mikhal Shiff-Matter says one of the joys of her tenure here was the opportunity to participate in intimate lifecycle events. Here she officiates at the July 21, 2002, wedding of Marla and Edmond Shapiro in Boulder, Colo. Photo courtesy of Stuart Cohen |
I glance around the room with its book-lined shelves, b'nai mitzvah invitations prominently displayed, family pictures perched on a desk strewn with papers and files, and I get a sense of what she is leaving behind.
But nibbling on buttery halvah filled with crunchy whole almonds and sipping the strong coffee her husband thoughtfully delivered to her door, I begin to understand where she is going.
This summer, she and her family are returning to Jerusalem, where they lived before coming to the Valley.
"We believe our lives were meant to unfold there," she says of her return to Israel with husband Shai Shalom Matter and their two daughters Rivital, 13, and Odeliya, 11.
Shiff-Matter spent more than a decade prior to taking the TBI position in Israel teaching at Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music. What had begun as a year of sabbatical from full-time cantorial duties in 1988 turned into a life-changing segue.
"That year in Jerusalem turned into 12," she recalls with a smile. She met her husband, who coincidentally had grown up in Miami, as did she; they married, had children and stayed.
Shiff-Matter, who holds a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Miami, a master's degree in sacred music from HUC and trained at the Manhattan School of Music, comes by her musical inclination naturally. Both her father and her grandfather were choir conductors; her birth mother, who died when Shiff-Matter was 10, was a pianist, her second mother is a violinist.
She speaks lovingly of her father, who passed away just after the High Holidays this year.
"He collected music all his life," she says of her dad, who was a metalworker by vocation and a choir director by avocation. She pulls out one of her dad's books, "Songs of Zion," copyright 1942, and points out his penciled notes indicating what pieces he thought good, those very good.
Shiff-Matter has pursued both cantorial music and opera, at 18 singing the lead in the Miami Opera's production of Rossini's "Centerentola," as she related to Jewish News when she first arrived in the Valley, and going on to be ordained as a cantor in 1986.
She spent 10 years in New York serving as cantor at three area congregations, before heading to Israel.
Shiff-Matter says the offer to come to Phoenix came at just the time the family was considering a move. "We wanted to try living in the States," she says. "We wanted to expose the girls to America."
In addition, the economic situation in Israel was deteriorating due to the impact of the second intifida. Shiff-Matter's husband, who made aliyah in 1977, worked as a tour guide, an industry hit hard as violence escalated and tourism plummeted.
Shiff-Matter brought to the Valley a depth of musical knowledge, a beautiful voice and a desire to reach out and engage others, both within her temple community and beyond.
"She was able to introduce the congregation to a variety of Jewish liturgical music that I do not think had been offered for a long time," says TBI's Rabbi Stephen Kahn.
Donna Harris, who sings in the TBI choir, credits Shiff-Matter with expanding her appreciation of the breadth of Jewish music.
"I never would have been introduced to lots of music if it were not for her," says Harris, mentioning old Chasidic melodies as one example.
And Shiff-Matter brought an infectious enthusiasm to the endeavor.
"You want to embrace it," says Harris, who teaches first grade in the temple's religious school.
Adds Jackie Huber, who has worked as an accompanist at the temple for the past six years, "She is an educator at heart. She is excited about what she is teaching and wants you to know."
Her passion is reflected in her voice, says Kahn, who shares the bimah with her weekly.
"It's not just singing," he says. "It comes from her soul, from her kishkes."
Shiff-Matter says she sees music as a unifier, bringing people together and enhancing their faith experience.
"Her spirit is contagious," says Huber. "She is always looking for ways to get more people involved and tie people into the community." Huber's father is founding pastor of neighboring Chaparral Christian Church and the two congregations have enjoyed many events together.
Shiff-Matter loved participating in joint choir concerts with other congregations, communitywide events such as the Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration and interfaith services.
"She was out there," says Kahn, noting Shiff-Matter's willingness to share her music with the larger community.
And the cantor was always looking to innovate, to try something new.
"She was very open to new ways to do things," says Huber.
Shiff-Matter increased the temple's musical offerings, including last year's cultural arts series in collaboration with Kahn.
"She has gone above and beyond looking for ways to expand," says Huber.
Earlier this month, the cantor organized a Friday night Israel Independence Day celebration, complete with music, dancing and Israeli food. That was preceded by the annual Purim spiel.
Shiff-Matter's day-to-day responsibilities include tutoring the temple's b'nai mitzvah students, leading services, working with both the TBI children's and adult choirs, officiating at lifecycle events and counseling congregants. "What we do (at the temple) is very relationship-oriented," she explains.
And her personality, too, lent itself to such intimacy.
"She is so open, so real and just so warm, so genuine," says Huber. "She will be greatly missed."
Shiff-Matter says she looks forward to a reduced work load, and more time to spend with her daughters, when she returns to Israel and freelances as a soloist.
But she is sad to leave Arizona.
"I'll miss the relationship with the community," she says. "Shai and I really feel part of it."
Yet, the pull of extended family in Israel coupled with the joy that comes from living as Shiff-Matter describes it "in Jewish time and space" is too strong to ignore.
"Living in Israel is being a Jew in a Jewish place," she says. And living in a place with Jews from all over the world lends a "rich exoticism" and excitement to the experience, she says.
Still, she says, while the family is looking forward to settling back in their apartment in Armon H'natziv in southeast Jerusalem and her daughters reconnecting with friends at the Tali school they attended there, the departure is bittersweet.
"We enjoyed being in Arizona," she says. "It is a beautiful place, a peaceful place," she says.
The Shiff-Matters may be saying goodbye, but with the traditional Israeli farewell that leaves the door always open.
Shalom. L'hitraot.
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Details
- What: Celebrate Shabbat and Salute the Shiff-Matter Family
- When: 7:30 pm Friday, June 3, Shabbat Service preceded by 5:30 pm reception and 6 p.m. Shabbat dinner
- Where: Temple Beth Israel, 10460 N. 56th St., Scottsdale.
- Cost: Reception and dinner, $18 adults; $10 children under 13; free for children under 3
- Call: 480-951-0323