All the world’s a stage for Rabbi Deborah Zecher

Music has always been a part of Rabbi Deborah Zecher’s life.

The Pittsburgh-area native grew up in Monroeville and was passionate about music, despite her high school not having a musical theater program.
The fact that she decided to become a rabbi rather than a cantor may have come down to circumstance.

“I had never seen a cantor,” she said.

What Zecher said she did have growing up was a strong role model in Rabbi Jason Edelstein at Temple David, the Reform congregation her family helped found in Monroeville.

Knowing that music was something she would always return to, Zecher left the area, first for college and then Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she was ordained in 1982, becoming one of the first 50 female rabbis in the world.

Her vocation allowed her to wed her two passions: Torah and music, serving as both rabbi and cantor at all the congregations she served after her first pulpit.

In 1995, Zecher was asked to deliver a guest lecture at a synagogue. Instead, she asked if she could sing. That led to the creation of her first production, “Broadway Bible.”

The singing rabbi’s focus began to shift after that initial night of song when she began taking cabaret classes.

In 2008, Zecher created “Warm Up the Winter,” a concert to raise money for fuel assistance in Massachusetts, where she was living.

“I’m really proud to say that program still exists 17 years after I did the first and they’ve raised $200,000 for fuel assistance,” she said.

In 2014, Zecher decided to make cabaret her full-time focus, retired from the congregation she was serving and moved to New York.

The now professional performer thought that when she stepped away from the bimah that she would be leaving behind the Jewish part of her vocation. That would change after a brief conversation with someone at a concert.

“She said, ‘That’s the essence of cabaret. Cabaret is a way of telling your story, speaking your truth through music and storytelling.’ I thought, you know what, she’s right. So, my cabaret shows all have a Jewish component to them,” Zecher said.

She now travels the country bringing her passion for both cabaret and Judaism to different synagogues and nightclubs.

“I’m really proud that my shows have been recognized with nominations for awards from the organization that does that kind of thing,” she said. “And I love doing the work and continuing to work on the craft.”

Her work has taken her to locales like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Venice, Italy, and will bring her back to Pittsburgh Sept. 20-21. She will be return to Temple Sinai, the congregation her family joined in the late 1990s, as the Reform congregation’s artist-in-residence.

Zecher will present “Jewish Caroling: The Music of Carole King, Carole Bayer-Sager and Carolyn Leigh,” Saturday night. The concert is the finale of a weekend of learning and music.

“Friday night I’m doing a program called ‘Sermon in a Song,’” she said. “The idea is that when a rabbi writes a sermon you have to try to have a theme, a text that you play with. So, I have put together a list of 20 themes and instead of using Bible or Talmud text, I will sing a song that illustrates one or more of those values and I’ll ask the congregation to decide what value is demonstrated.”

During a lunch-and-learn Saturday morning, Zecher will perform “Broadway Bible-Torah study through the Lens of Musical Theater.” The program connects familiar Torah and Midrashic texts with show tunes.

Zecher will be coming to Pittsburgh with her accompanist Tracy Stark.

“She’s an exceptional songwriter, musical director and singer,” she said. “Tracy has played at Carnegie Hall, she played with Brenda Braxton, Lilias White. She plays with some of the great musical theater people in the city. I’m lucky I get to work with her.”

Temple Sinai’s Cantor David Reinwald said the combination of Torah and cabaret that Zecher presents is unique.

“I’m excited to say, I think a lot of what she’s going to do will be fun,” he said. “It’s a fun new perspective of looking at Jewish concepts in a way that, I think, some of will be kind of lighthearted. Some it will also draw new perspective, tying old stories of the Torah in ways we haven’t always looked at them.”

All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required for both of Saturday’s events at templesinaipgh.org/event/rabbi-deborah-zecher-concert.html. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.