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April 2, 1999/16 Nisan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 27
Cantor leads synagogue solo, coaches sports and teaches
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Cantor Andrew Mayer, the only clergy for almost five years at Temple Beth Emeth in Scottsdale, leads prayers with Dorothy Kohn, co-president (at right). An unidentified couple is in the background.
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Some call him Coach Mayer. To others, he is Cantor Andrew Mayer.
Still others know him as their teacher and as the person who presides at their lifecycle events and worship services.
Andrew Mayer leads a congregation, teaches full-time at a local Jewish day school, preps children for bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies and officiates at weddings and funerals.
He also teaches athletics at a summer camp, fishes, golfs - and feels most comfortable wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
"It's hard for me, at times, trying to be there for so many people," he admits.
As the sole clergy at Temple Beth Emeth in Scottsdale for almost five years, Mayer, 38, is responsible for everything from planning liturgy to reading from the Torah and singing.
"I feel fortunate to have this opportunity," he says of his work at the 16-year-old Conservative congregation. "I get to do a lot of things that cantors don't normally do. ... I can use more of my talents in this congregation than I might be able to use in a congregation with two or three rabbis. When (congregants) need to call someone, they call me, their cantor. It's nice."
Yet sometimes the responsibilities of leading the 100 members of the congregation can be stressful, he notes - especially since his cantorial work accounts for only half his busy schedule.
Two years ago, Mayer accepted a full-time position at Solomon Schechter Day School in Phoenix. This was a nice change for him, he says, because Beth Emeth does not have a Hebrew school.
His duties at Solomon Schechter are diverse. He teaches Torah, haftorah, Purim megilla studies and Jewish history, in addition to leading student chapel services. He also fits in physical education classes into the school day, then coaches after-school sports.
"I have two passions in life," he says. "(Teaching Judaism) and sports, and I get to do both."
Mayer expects to continue his job when the school becomes the independent King David School in the fall and moves to Temple Beth Israel in Scottsdale.
Even when he is not at the synagogue or at school, Mayer is at work. In the evenings at his home, he prepares children for bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies.
During the summer, he serves as the athletic instructor at Camp Ramah, a religious day camp in Ojai, Calif. - a camp he attended as a child, then worked at for several years before moving to Arizona in 1987. He returned to Ramah last summer after a 14-year hiatus.
Mayer dates his interest in music to when he was a 5-year-old, leading Passover seders for his family in his native Los Angeles. Eight years later, when Mayer was studying for his bar mitzvah, his mentor and "favorite cantor," Allan Michelson, recognized his vocal a capella talent. Michelson, then a performer with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera, insisted that Mayer begin cantorial studies with him.
"Michelson was the best I had ever heard," Mayer said. "He knew the exact meaning of every word he sang. And when he sang, you felt like you were inside of him, like you were right there."
When Mayer was 19, he began substituting for Michelson as cantor at Temple Adat Ari El in North Hollywood, Calif. For the next seven years, he traveled throughout the state, singing at synagogues and assisting rabbis with other congregational work, in addition to attending school.
Mayer received his associate of arts degree from Los Angeles Valley College. He earned a bachelor's degree from California State University in Northridge, and then graduated with a degree in Judaic studies from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. In 1984, Mayer became a member of the Cantors Assembly, a national group for Conservative cantors.
When he first moved to Arizona, he worked at the former Ahavat Torah Congregation in Scottsdale. Soon afterward, he married his wife, Marla, who is the controller for the Valley-wide Weiss Guys Car Wash chain. Together, the couple are raising two daughters: Erica, 9, and Ali, 4.
When Mayer began at Beth Emeth, not much had changed in its 11-year history. It has never had more than one part-time cantor at a time. It was and remains a small congregation without its own building. Congregants gather for Shabbat services at a facility on Civic Center Boulevard and High Holiday services at the Kerr Cultural Center in Scottsdale.
When they anticipate a larger than normal turnout, they move to a hotel and Mayer brings along a portable ark given to him by one of his bar mitzvah students. "It's a marvelous thing to have, because a synagogue is wherever the Torah is," Mayer says. "It's not necessarily a building."
His congregation doesn't mind the occasional inconveniences, he says. In fact, they are content with being part of this intimate and comfortable temple with one man to guide them.
Co-president of Beth Emeth, Dorothy Kohn, says she feels Mayer is part of her family. "We love him and have a rare relationship with him," she says. "There is a certain chemistry between him and the congregation, and he always puts the congregation first before anything else."
While the temple is looking for a permanent location, Mayer says, for now "they just want to enjoy Shabbat and Judaism."
"Being the (only clergy) has helped me to build a love between the congregation and myself," he said. "When I look out at them, I can feel them with me.
"I look forward to someday being a part of a large congregation again. I have not ruled that out. But I may not have this opportunity later in my cantorial career, so I feel fortunate to have it now, because these congregants are my extended family, and that's the key to our successful relationship."
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