Growing up, Hillel Friedman was afraid to sing. Now he leads the Woodbury Jewish Center as cantor.
Friedman said his family has always listened to and appreciated Jewish music. He recalled attending the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem as a child and listening to the choir perform.
“I really loved it from an early age and wanted to understand it and know how to do it,” he said.
But as much as he loved music, he said he was scared to sing for a long time. He was trained in classical piano, but when he was asked to sing—including at Passover Seder—he would do anything not to.
“I would hide under the table and whisper the four questions,” he said.
But his stage fright ended once he got to Princeton University, majored in philosophy and music. Being at a school where nobody knew who he was allowed him to “just go for it,” Friedman said.
After what he called his exciting revelation,” he said he pursued music “full force” by taking voice lessons and participating in musical ensembles on campus. His a cappella choir even performed at the White House for former U.S. President Barack Obama
Friedman began performing in New York City choirs as well as the Hampton Synagogue Choir after he graduated from college. Friedman said he began singing at more concerts and services through the group before deciding he wanted to pursue cantorial work on his own. Friedman said he has found cantorial work especially rewarding and meaningful.
“I had some amazing opportunities to sing on the great stage in New York: at Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center. And those were super exciting, but I often felt like the thing that is most spiritually moving is in the synagogue when you’re leading services,” he said.
Friedman said one of his favorite things about his work is when the rest of the congregation joins in and participates in the music with him.
“When I hear the congregation joining in, that’s always a very special moment,” he said.
Forming connections with the congregation is important to him, Friedman said. At one of his most recent services in Woodbury, Friedman said a Holocaust survivor approached him afterwards, saying that she hadn’t heard that kind of service since she was in “the old country.”
“That’s beyond meaningful to hear that…It just shows the connection through history, and that each one of us is manifesting the tradition in a different way,” he said.
In addition to his cantorial work, Friedman, who currently lives in Brooklyn with his fiancé, works at a Broadway production and management company.
Friedman, a gay man, said that growing up, he never could have imagined that a community would be open to having a gay cantor. He said the Woodbury Jewish Center has been welcoming of him, as well as his partner, and he looks forward to his future work there.
“I’ve just been extremely grateful for that, and I’m excited to kind of represent that in the world,” he said.
