Cheshire congregation welcomes first permanent ordained cantor
Special to the Ledger

CHESHIRE – As Congregation Kol Ami prepares to celebrate its “bar mitzvah” — its 13th anniversary – the Cheshire congregation welcomes a new member to its clergy staff. Cantor Dorothy Goldberg, who previously served as cantor at Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, is Kol Ami’s first ordained congregational cantor
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According to Kol Ami spiritual leader Rabbi Andrew Hechtman, the new cantor will lead services, teach young people and adults, train students for bar/bat mitzvah, create new programs, officiate at life cycle events and offer pastoral care. She has particular experience and interest in interfaith issues, women’s worship opportunities, and pastoral and ritual aspects of death and dying. “Since its inception, Kol Ami has celebrated ‘thinking outside the box’ and meeting the ever expanding needs of families in their journey,” says Rabbi Hechtman. “Cantor Goldberg brings a wealth of creativity and extensive experience reaching out both to interfaith families and seniors that will help us to broaden our program base while experimenting with new ways of reaching further to serve the diverse needs in our community,” said Hechtman. “A truly gifted musical talent, she is an outstanding scholar and teacher. Her impact on our ritual experience is just the tip of our plans! It is rare to have the chance to work closely with such a dear friend and colleague and I am tremendously excited for what we hope to achieve in central Connecticut together.”
Cantor Goldberg started training in voice as a high school student at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division. After earning a B.A. at Bryn Mawr College and an M.A. in journalism and public affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., she moved to England and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She later returned to the States, eventually settling in Wallingford. She was co-owner, with Ruth Sack, of Goldberg & Sack Creative Communications, before attending seminary at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR). She was ordained as a cantor in 2005 and certified through the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) in 2008. She served Beth Tikvah for the past nine years, beginning as a student cantor. After her ordination, she became Beth Tikvah’s first permanent ordained cantor. She serves today as chair of the AJR board of trustees.
Goldberg and her husband, Dr. David Ross Russell live in Wallingford and are the parents of two children, Rebecca and Adam. When she isn’t on the bima, Goldberg enjoys singing with the jazz/swing trio MOXIE, along with Diane Orson and Kate O’Brien.

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