Hazzan Dr. Evlyn Gould will again serve as our High Holiday Cantor for 2022/5783. Evlyn recently received her cantorial ordination from Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal and comes highly recommended by the dean of that school, Hazzan Jack Kessler.

Aleph’s innovative and rigorous curriculum combines video-conference distance-learning with intensive retreat-based training.

Cantor Evlyn, Professor Emerita of French at the University of Oregon in Eugene, says “the choice to be a cantor was clear – I love the exquisite discipline that releases the voice and heart into beauty and prayer.”
In addition to serving as cantor for the High Holidays, Cantor Evlyn has led  monthly Rosh Chodesh  and weekly counting the omer teachings, as well as an educational presentation on French Jewish actress Sarah Bernhardt.

Serving as a cantor is a second career for Evlyn, one she has been pursuing for over 10 years. She has been a cantorial soloist and service co-leader for several years, and has been mentored by Rabbi Yitzach Husbands-Hankin, a leader in Jewish Renewal, Reb Zalman ordainee, and friend of THZ’s rabbi emeritus, Rabbi Richard Simon. Evlyn has studied with numerous teachers and is familiar with both traditional and Renewal-style services.

Evlyn is currently working on a CD project, “Sounds of the Sephardim,” as part of the Ladino Music Preservation Project, as well as a study project on kabbalah and magic in 19th-century France. She is a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Humanities and Professor Emerita of French Literature, Department of Romance Languages, at the University of Oregon.

We know that her lovely voice and spiritual presence will bring special meaning to this year’s services.


Cantor Evlyn, 5th from left, at Aleph ordination