Denise Moser could never have imagined that a small favor she did for a friend of a friend would morph into a 25-year career as a cantor at Beth Chaim Reform Congregation, but that’s what happened.
Today, Beth Chaim has its own building in Malvern. But in 2000, when Moser was asked by a rabbi she was studying Hebrew with if she wanted to sing one song at a Yom HaShoah service, the congregation was housed in a barn.
Needless to say, Moser has seen quite a bit of growth at Beth Chaim, and it was hard to say goodbye to the congregation at the end of June. However, it was time.
The synagogue made the decision to hire a full-time cantor educator who will serve as both the song leader of the synagogue and the head of the religious school and B’nai Mitzvah program.
“It’s the right time for me to be moving on and doing something new, [but] it’s also been very difficult because I’ve done this for 25 years,” Moser said. “Every single service, when we [would] get to the silent prayer, my silent prayer was always like, ‘Thank you for my ability to use my voice and guitar and spirituality to connect with these people.’”
Moser was never the full-time cantor, but she was an integral part of the Beth Chaim community. During her first decade, she only played and sang at Shabbat services before working a High Holiday service for the first time in 2010. After that, she served as cantor at Beth Chaim High Holiday services for 15 years.
But she did a lot more than standard cantorial duties. When the synagogue purchased land for a new building, Moser stood behind the yellow police caution tape and gazed over the property, imagining what would come. She was asked to sing at the groundbreaking ceremony, but she wasn’t sure what song would fit. She asked around and nobody had an idea that satisfied her.
So, she wrote her own song.
“The Ground Beneath Our Feet” talked about the synagogue’s new home and what they wanted to gain from it, as well as how the building was a physical manifestation of the synagogue’s hopes and dreams. It mixed Hebrew and English over a soft guitar backdrop.
“That’s something I’ve enjoyed — merging my singer-songwriter self with my cantorial self. I’ve actually written many songs for the congregation over the years,” she said.
Moser, as a singer-songwriter and a therapist, is adept at picking up symbolism. She described something that exemplified Beth Chaim’s growth. The synagogue has a decorative tree of life on a wall in its lobby with leaves that can be engraved for different events, and watching those leaves get filled in has been satisfying for Moser.
“I just remember years ago just being in the building and watching them install that, and now, if you go in there, so many of the leaves are dedicated,” she said.
Looking back to that time before the tree was even present and Beth Chaim still practiced in a barn, Moser said that she connected well with the rabbi and the congregants at the first service. She was invited back to serve as the cantor for a Shabbat service, and then again and again.
“It just snowballed,” Moser said.
While Moser’s tenure at Beth Chaim may be over, her impact on the shul will continue to be felt. She said she thinks that one of her original songs will outlive her at Beth Chaim.
“It’s called ‘Community of Shalom,’” she said. “Our current rabbi, Michelle Pearlman, in her first year of doing High Holidays, wanted to do a sermon on building community. She wanted me to sing a sermon anthem after her sermon was over. … I thought about it and couldn’t figure it out, so I wrote something, and it’s something that the community has really embraced.”
Moser has been a part of many special moments at the synagogue.
“I’ve been invited into powerful moments of families — all of the bar and bat mitzvot; I was a part of some wedding ceremonies, some funerals, some baby namings,” she said. “It’s just been such a powerful thing.”
On June 27, her final day at the synagogue, Moser had one last wish fulfilled: the chance to lead her own service for a final time.
“I’ve done them periodically, but I wanted to have an opportunity to just kind of lead one last service by myself. It’s like a closing ritual. I did that, and then it was followed by this really lovely dinner that they put together to honor me,” she said. “It was humbling and really touched my heart. It was a very emotional and powerful evening for me and for the congregation.”
Moser’s silent prayer has a second aspect to it: thanking God for bringing her into the Beth Chaim community.
“Thank you for my role here,” she said, reiterating her prayer. “It’s been something that I have not taken for granted for one heartbeat.”
