When Alexandra Marcus was 8 years old, she decided that she was going to be a cantor one day.
A lot of kids have a profession in mind for themselves when they’re younger. Not many of them stick to that into adulthood and eventually fulfill those dreams.
For Marcus, there was never a question that her goal would one day come true.
“It’s been my dream my whole life,” she said. “I was very lucky as a child to have a very influential cantor, and decided that I was going to be a cantor. And that’s really been the only thing I ever wanted to do.”
Today, Marcus proudly serves as cantor at Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom. She joined the congregation in July 2021, moving from Chicago. When she committed to becoming a part of the Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom community, she had never been to Baltimore before. That wasn’t too intimidating, however, largely because Marcus has spent time bouncing between a variety of places.
She is from the Detroit area, went to college on Long Island, cantorial school in New York, and lived in Jerusalem, California and Chicago.
What really made Marcus sure that this job was the right one for her was what she learned about Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom in her interview.
“It was very clear through the interview process that the lay leaders of the congregation are extraordinarily committed, more so than I’ve ever seen in a congregation before,” Marcus said.
Most important to her is the value that Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom places on music.
“It was also pretty clear to me that, musically speaking, the congregational culture has a sophisticated palate for music, which is not a given for a Reform congregation,” Marcus said. “That was extraordinarily appealing to me.”
Marcus said while the Reform movement encompasses a large spectrum, her personal experience has shown her that Reform congregations don’t always have the same breadth of music that Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom does.
“Not every congregation appreciates every part of the wide range of music that we use in the Reform movement. Anything from the folksy style with guitar, to the more classical pieces — bigger pieces with a choir and organ or piano, and then also the traditional cantorial chat,” Marcus said. “Those are kind of the big three epicenters of Reform Jewish music, and it’s not entirely common for Reform congregations to love and appreciate all three of those.”
At Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom, that is not the case.
“It was made very clear to me from early on in the interview process that HSOSC enjoyed all of that, and so I have a lot [more] musical freedom than a lot of my colleagues do across the country,” Marcus said.
Since Marcus began her tenure at Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom in 2021, the synagogue has hired a new accompanist, Andrew Stewart, who she described as her “partner in crime.”
Together, they plan music for each and every service and holiday at the shul.
“Each week for Shabbat and for holidays, I try to think creatively more than anything else,” Marcus said. “How can I, from week to week, use music to bring forward the feelings that our people are feeling, the events of the world, or whatever is going on in the secular calendar … really having the ability to be creative with all of that, and draw from wherever, whether it be a contemporary composer or a composer from 200 years ago, having the flexibility to reach into whatever kind of source I want in partnership with Andrew is something that I never take for granted.”
Marcus said that, outside of Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom, she has grown to love Baltimore, too. Typically, she has lived in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods, but right now, her family lives in Hampden.
“We love the city. We explore different restaurants, we love going on walks with our dogs and our son, and we’ve met some people in the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s been really great for me to be able to kind of create a community outside of the Jewish community.”
For Marcus, where she is now as a cantor has been part of the plan since she was a kid. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not still special everyday.
“It’s very much [surreal],” she said.
