Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller

Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller came to Bet Am Shalom synagogue in 1989 with her husband, Rabbi Lester Bronstein. Together they lead our Shabbat and holiday services in spirited, heartfelt song and prayer. Cantor Schiller founded and directs our congregational choir “Shirat Ha’am.”

Cantor Schiller serves as the Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman Professor of Liturgy, Worship and Ritual and Professor of Cantorial Arts at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. Her compositions include “Halleluhu,” a multi-rhythmic setting of Psalm 150, “Lamdeini,” “U’kratem D’ror– Proclaim Liberty,” an American/Jewish response to 9/11, and various commissioned works for choirs, synagogues and interfaith liturgical groups. “A World Fulfilled,” a solo recording of her compositions, was released in 2002. A collection of her synagogue compositions, “Azamrah, Songs of Benjie Ellen Schiller” was published in 2019by Transcontinental Music. In 2019, Cantor Schiller received the “Hallel v’zimrah” award from the Jewish Choral Foundation for her compositions of Jewish choral music.

Cantor Schiller has served on the faculty of the Institute for JewishSpirituality rabbinic and cantorial programs and the North American Jewish Choral Festival. She is certified by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality as a Jewish mindfulness meditation teacher.