Volunteer of the Month: Cantor Jacqueline Marx

Cantor Jacqueline Shuchat Marx is our "Caring Committee" chairperson.  She lives with her husband and two children in Manalapan, NJ.  Jacquie was invested by the School of Sacred Music in 1997.

How do you make the time in your busy cantorate for the ACC? And why, when there are many other things you probably need to do?

Actually, how could I not make the time? My gut response to "ACC" is "my brother and sister cantors" and the concept of family resonates with me.  As a functioning member of this family, it's my responsibility not only to ask of the ACC what I need, but to fulfill those needs by bringing them home to reality.  I hand-write notes to ACC members for life's occasions because I want to return some old-school grace and dignity to our increasingly fast-paced movement in the Internet age.

What do you like to do completely unrelated to your cantorate?
 

I like to hang out with family and friends, play with my children Harry (6) and Xiao-Ling (5 1/2) and my cats; read, sing classical music and Broadway tunes, play music, see movies, watch classic sitcom reruns on DVD, travel, and feed my Facebook addiction. When I retire (God willing and the creeks don't rise), I want to have a second career on Broadway playing great ladies in musical theatre: the Witch in Into the Woods, Bertha in Pippin, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Auntie Mame, Desiree [and later, Madame Armfeldt] in A Little Night Music, and. if I'm lucky enough to get away with it in dog years, Elphaba in Wicked.

How do you try to inspire young people toward Judaism and Jewish music?

I serve on faculty at URJ Camp Harlam for two weeks every summer, where I'm privileged to teach shiur and to lead Harry Potter- and Simpsons- themed services; things totally outside the norm at synagogue unless it's Purim. Humor is a great bridge to learning. When I tap my inner Jewish kid that never grew up, campers see that Jewish learning is cool in any crowd. When a
songleader or other camp staffer approaches me to say that they're considering the cantorate, I know I'm doing my job well. This year I'm taking time off from full-time pulpit life to teach music in one religious school and tutor B'nai Mitzvah in another. I also have a Yamim Nora'im pulpit in Corpus Christi, TX and do quite a bit of Shabbat subbing around New Jersey, where I live. When you're privileged to teach the next generation, don't forget the love. You're the professional; the lofty inspiration, but if the kids feel the love in what you do and for whom you do it, they'll love what they learn - and it doesn't hurt if they love you, too.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you want to live?
 

Jerusalem, New York City, San Francisco, and Manalapan, NJ, simultaneously, with the power to zap myself anywhere in the world for a visit.